A Little Story

So this is one of those historical essays I write, and it's a fairly twisting tale.

Around 1970, social events in West Germany went 'south'.....with the Red Army Faction (RAF) or Baader-Meinhof Gang being organized. To orientate you....the RAF were anti-fascism, pro-Maoism, anti-imperialism, pro-Communism, pro-Marxism, pro-Leninism, etc.

It's safe to say that the bulk of their original crew were university-educated and came primarily out of the Frankfurt area.  They made a name for themselves, and brought terror to the front doorstep of the West German government.

I could probably 500 lines of text over the 1970s and the achievements of the RAF....but I'll limit it to the tail-end of the RAF era (1990s period).

The 'steam' in the RAF purpose for existence began to run out as the Wall came down, and East Germany consolidated itself into the West German 'machine'.

But there's this interesting turn of events that occurs from the 1989 Wall episode.  As the West Germans arrive and manage this 'mess'....they've come to note that various state-owned companies can't survive.  The management quickly decides to move on....put the properties and businesses up for sale (fire-sale would be a good term).

Detlev Karsten Rohwedder is the West German who is in charge of this sale business.  Because of the hostile nature in eastern regions.....the RAF decides that Rohwedder needs to be eliminated.  On 1 April 1991....someone takes a rifle, and kills Rohwedder (wounding his wife in the action as well).  From the scene, there is absolute DNA evidence collected....leading to this RAF member Wolfgang Grams (originally out of Wiesbaden).  In later discussions, the state prosecutor will say that the hair found at the scene is not enough to prosecute Grams.  But the cops are more worried about his continued actions at this point....if he were on an agenda situation.

Grams, as part of this discussion.....has a girlfriend....Brigit Hogefeld. 

Things get heated after the 1 April killing of Rohwedder.  The police put a lot of pressure on finding Grams before he does more damage.

At some point in the early spring of 1993 (two years after Rohwedder is killed)....the police have some indications over where Hogefeld and Grams are located. 

On 27 June 1993, the special police task force on terrorism....GSG-9, had Grams and Hogefeld tracked to the Bad Kleinen region (about an hour's drive east of Hamburg).  The game-plan was to arrest them at the train platform there in the Bad Kleinen. 

This didn't go too well.  Grams reacts to the attempted arrest....pulls a weapon on the two policemen....wounding one and killing the other.  The arrest of the girlfriend (Hogefeld) goes off without a problem.  So in this brief moment or two with Grams holding a weapon....things get tense.

Grams either falls off the platform or is pushed.  In this fall....either before or after....the accusation is that the police simply put a gun to his head, and shot him dead.  Yep, execution-style.  Grams is dead on the tracks. 

In the days that follow....the newspapers shape the theme and message here....that the GSG-9 folks murdered the RAF guy....Grams.  A hearing was held, and the court system said no....that Grams had actually put the gun to his head and went out via suicide.  The newspapers continued with their story, and for three decades....that's been the belief in the general public.

Well....this weekend, the story got changed.

Shortly after this event, some witness came to the Spiegel news magazine and wanted to share their view of the event.  Why not approach the police?  Unknown. 

So the witness sat down with a reporter and provided what was roughly sixty-pages of knowledge and information over what happened there on the platform.  In simple terms, yes....the RAF guy....Grams....had committed suicide.

Spiegel's journalist (Leyendecker) took the 60 pages to his boss (Foerster).  The story was discussed briefly as a cover-story for the news magazine.  It would have shifted blame away for the execution story, and to a simple story of suicide.

What happened?  Well....Spiegel dropped the entire story.  No mention.  The 60 pages got shuffled away into the archieves of the magazine.  Focus (the magazine) brought up the whole story, and it's well worth reading.  For some reason, in the last month....someone came across the 60 pages and it's being reviewed again.  It'll probably be told as some page four story via Spiegel.

So what really happened?  Fake news....more or less.  Spiegel decided that the anti-government story was the big story, and simply refused to discuss anything other than that.

Rather than the story at this point.....let me tell the end-piece of this.

You see....the girlfriend of Grams matters.  Hogefeld goes off to jail, and has a fair amount of time to think over what happened throughout the 1970s and 1980s.  She's also witnessing the culture war that the RAF is waging. 

Hogefeld will write an essay piece that basically says the 'war' is no longer valid. There is no purpose for the Red Army Faction.  It's blasted in public by their anonymous voices but the simple truth is....Hogefeld is correct.  The times have changed.

Delays occur with the court action over Hogefeld, and her conviction does not occur until November 1996 (four years after the arrest).  She's given life in prison.

On 20 April 1998 (two years after her conviction)....there is a 8-page letter released by the Red Army Faction.  They agree.....it's time to end the war.  There is no purpose to exist anymore.

What happened to Hogefeld?  At the 15-year point, in 2011, the German government releases her.  Since that point, she's maintained a low profile. 

So you turn and face the Spiegel 'problem'.  The slant was....Grams was executed and they could have easily cleared the air.  They failed.  I doubt if that many Germans are shocked by the twist here.  But this is the world we live in and why people are so skeptical about things now.

Final note....what if Grams and Hogefeld had kept a low-profile, and just never been arrested?  Well....Hogefeld would have never reviewed the RAF purpose and the Red Army Faction would still be in existence today....killing German political figures as needed.