PRESS KIT RAF – Terrorist Violence 21 November 2014 to 8 March 2015 Contents Press talk 1 Facts and dates 3 Exhibition texts 4 Accompanying programme 10 Press photos 13 Press talk on the exhibition on 20 November 2014 at 11 am An exhibition of the Haus der Geschichte Baden-Württemberg in cooperation with the Deutsches Historisches Museum The Deutsches Historisches Museum is showing the exhibition “RAF – Terrorist Violence” from 21 November 2014 to 8th March 2015. How did the German state and society deal with the terrorist violence? How did the Red Army Faction justify their attacks and assassinations? What consequences did the acts of violence have for the families of the 34 victims and the people who survived the attempted murders? These questions are central to the exhibition, which was originally shown under the title “RAF – Terror in the Southwest” in the Haus der Geschichte Baden- Württemberg. The presentation in the Deutsches Historisches Museum has been expanded to include other important aspects of the topic, in particular a perspective on the occurrences in Berlin. The radicalisation of the student protest movement in West Berlin and the forcible freeing of Andreas Baader from prison in May 1970, seen as the birth of the Red Army Faction, provide a prologue to the exhibition. New objects and documents supplementing the original exhibition give evidence of the RAF’s acts of violence and calls for attacks on state and police, not only in Berlin. The abduction and murder of Hanns Martin Schleyer in 1977 as well as the hijacking of the Lufthansa machine “Landshut”, where the newly formed anti-terror task force GSG 9 was deployed to free the passengers, mark the culmination of this phase of the escalation of violence. In the 1970s the attacks of the RAF were concentrated in the German Southwest. The state reacted to the murders with the largest dragnet operations since the end of World War II. The escalation during the “German Autumn” of 1977 spread fear and a feeling of helplessness throughout the country. Letters, sound documents and film clips show how the public and politicians participated in bringing the violence to an end while at the same time advocating an atmosphere of constructive debate. The RAF “drop-outs” who lived in the GDR under a new identity as a result of a cooperation between the RAF and the Ministry of State Security have their say in the exhibition, as well. Moreover, headlines from French, English and Italian newspapers reflect the international interest in the acts of violence of the RAF. 1 Speakers: Prof. Dr. Alexander Koch, President of the Stiftung Deutsches Historisches Museum Prof. Dr. Paula Lutum-Lenger, Head of the department exhibition and collection, Haus der Geschichte Baden-Württemberg Dr. Sabrina Müller, Curator „RAF – Terrorist Violence“, Haus der Geschichte Baden-Württemberg 2 Facts and dates Venue Deutsches Historisches Museum Exhibition hall, first floor Duration 21 November 2014 to 8 March 2015 Opening time Daily 10 am – 6 pm Entrance fee Admission free under 18 years Day ticket 8 €, reduced 4 Information Deutsches Historisches Museum Unter den Linden 2 | 10117 Berlin Fon: +49 30 20304-444 | E-Mail: [email protected] Internet www.dhm.de/ausstellungen Exhibition space 550 m² Exhibited objects About 220 Objects Lenders 27 Project coordination, HdGBW Prof. Dr. Paula Lutum-Lenger Project coordination, DHM Ulrike Kretzschmar Curators, HdGBW Dr. Sabrina Müller and Dr. Rainer Schimpf Exhibition design Büroberlin, Ruth Schroers Publication „RAF – Terror im Südwesten“ Haus der Geschichte Baden-Württemberg Stuttgart, 2013 160 pages, 19,90 €, ISBN 978-3-933726-45-2 3 Exhibition texts Introduction From 1970 to the beginning of the 1990s the Red Army Faction terrorised people in the Federal Republic of Germany with their attacks. Dead and wounded, fear and distress were the result. How did the violence come about? How did the state and society react to it? What did the violence mean for those who were affected? How did it come to an end? These are questions posed by the exhibition on the RAF, which was first presented in the Haus der Geschichte Baden-Württemberg in Stuttgart. The Haus der Geschichte Baden-Württemberg has added a number of objects and films to the original Stuttgart exhibition for presentation in the German Historical Museum. Moreover, the exhibition has been broadened to include an international perspective on the happenings. A further addition is the opening section, which tells of the origins of the RAF in West-Berlin. The RAF dissolved itself in 1998. Isn’t the violence of the RAF meanwhile a closed chapter of history? In view of current terrorist attacks and threats, isn’t it superfluous to look back at this history? The many still unanswered questions regarding the Red Army Faction suggest that this is not the case. Scenes of Violence 1967–1970 The situation in West Berlin in the second half of the 1960s played a decisive role in the genesis of the Red Army Faction. Several members of the group, founded in 1970, directly experienced the growing tensions in the city. After the Berlin Wall was erected in 1961, the divided city continued to be seen as the front line of the Cold War. West Berlin lost contact with the economic modernisation in the Federal Republic. On the other hand, an increasing number of students came to West Berlin. They launched protests against the politics of the grand coalition then in power and especially against the USA’s escalating Vietnam War. The shooting of the student Benno Ohnesorg and the attempted murder of Rudi Dutschke, a leader of the student movement, added fuel to the growing radicalisation. Many people began to see violence as a legitimate means to achieve their political aims. For some radical factions words were not enough and from 1969 on they began carrying out acts of violence in the city on a regular basis. 4 Acts of Violence From the founding of the Red Army Faction (RAF) on 14 May 1970 until its official dissolution on 20 April 1998 their members killed 34 people. Of these, 26 died in attacks and bank robberies, while eight policemen and customs officers were murdered during search and surveillance operations. From 1972 to 1981 the Red Army Faction concentrated their assassination attempts in southwest Germany. Their political motivation led them to set their sights above all on the highest federal judicial authorities in Karlsruhe and the headquarters of the US Army in Europe in Heidelberg. The RAF’s bomb attacks of 1972 have disappeared from collective memory to a far greater degree than the “German Autumn” of 1977, which dominated the media. The violent crimes targeted not only representatives of the state, the judiciary and the economy. The explosion of a car bomb in a residential street could have struck children at play. One passerby, Edith Kletzhändler, was killed just because she stood in the way of fleeing RAF members. Call for Violence The Red Army Faction wanted “to draw a clear line of distinction” between themselves and the “ruling system”. They saw themselves as urban guerrillas, as a warring faction in combat with the Federal Republic of Germany. Their aim was the destruction of the democratic constitu•tional state and the establishment of a communist system. Assassinations, murders and attacks were supposed to create insecurity among the segments of the population they considered as enemies. At the same time the RAF wanted to generate sympathy among potential supporters through their actions and claims of responsibility. To achieve a widespread effect it was imperative to communicate their acts of violence and so-called “commando declarations” through the media. While they still used the Vietnam War to justify the bomb attacks of May 1972, they concentrated their assassinations after 1975 on freeing arrested RAF members and carrying out punitive actions against judicial representatives. 5 Mourning “There is the very personal overcoming of loss, an emotional attempt to deal with what has happened; this takes place, hidden from the public, in oneself and with the family,” said Hanns-Eberhard Schleyer in an interview 30 years after the murder of his father. The interest of journalists and photo•graphers after the murders was a burden to the families of victims of the RAF. Even today these experiences motivate many family members to exercise great restraint toward the media. At the time there was no psychological support for the bereaved. Learning to deal sympathetically with the victims of violent crime remains a difficult process for the state and the public, though greater support is available to the families nowadays. Monopoly on the Use of Force Terrorist attacks and assassinations were a provocation of the powers that be. The state responded to the acts of violence of the Red Army Faction with extensive search and surveillance activities. The presence of the police in the public sphere was intended to underline the state’s monopoly on the legitimate use of force and reinforce the trust of the citizens in the security services. This was linked with an appeal to the general public to support the police in their fight against the common enemy. In their everyday work, however, the officers on the beat and the detectives ran into many difficulties during security checks and searches. There was no adequate training available for dealing with heavily armed terrorists. Cases in point were the shooting of an innocent citizen in Stuttgart in 1972 as well as the fate of policemen who were killed or seriously injured during ID checks. 6 Imprisonment The RAF continued their fight against the state from within the prisons. Hunger strikes served to mobilise supporters and win over potential terrorists.