Latest news with #RedArmyFaction
Wall Street Journal
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
The Alienated ‘Knowledge Class' Could Turn Violent
In the 1970s, Western democracies faced a wave of political violence. In the U.S., a radical left-wing group called the Weather Underground bombed federal buildings to protest the Vietnam War. In West Germany, the Red Army Faction waged armed resistance against what it saw as a fascist state. Italy's Red Brigades kidnapped and assassinated public figures, including former Prime Minister Aldo Moro. These groups shared a trait: Many members were highly educated, middle- or upper-middle-class young people. These weren't the oppressed proletariat of Marxist theory, but the disillusioned children of privilege and university lecture halls. A similar dynamic could take root in the U.S. As the Trump administration downsizes public agencies, dismantles DEI programs and slashes academic research funding, it risks producing a new class of people who are highly educated but institutionally excluded. History suggests this group may become a source of unrest—and possibly violence.
Al Jazeera
25-03-2025
- Al Jazeera
Germany launches trial of former Baader-Meinhof gang member
A German court has opened the trial of a former member of the notorious far-left Red Army Faction (RAF) who was arrested last year after being found living quietly in Berlin. Now 66, Daniela Klette was brought to the court near Hanover in northern Germany on Tuesday on charges of attempted murder, illegal possession of firearms and aggravated robbery. She is accused of committing the offences alongside accomplices Ernst-Volker Staub and Burkhard Garweg, who were also part of the 'third generation' of the group, also known as the Baader-Meinhof gang. Largely active in the 1970s and 80s, the RAF was responsible for the deaths of at least 30 people. By 1998, the group had disbanded. However, the trio is alleged to have committed violent robberies to fund their lives on the run. They are accused of stealing a total of 2.7 million euros ($2.9m) between 1999 and 2016. Police are still searching for Staub and Garweg, who would be aged 56 and 71, respectively, if they are still alive. Klette is reported to have acted mainly as a getaway driver. However, she also carried a 'realistic looking' dummy bazooka during the heists and faces a charge of attempted murder stemming from one robbery in 2015. Prosecutors opening the trial said the three suspects had 'proceeded in an extremely conspiratorial manner', renting cars and apartments under false names and sometimes setting fire to vehicles to cover their tracks. A spokesperson for the German court told the Reuters news agency that Klette potentially faces life in prison. The trial is expected to last about two years, and 12 witnesses will be heard from, according to the court. Klette had evaded arrest for more than 30 years when the police raided her Berlin apartment in February 2024 following a tip-off from a member of the public. She had reportedly been using a fake Italian passport in the name of Claudia Ivone. In her house, police found an automated assault rifle, explosives, and large sums of cash. The trial is being held in a secure room at the Higher Regional Court in Celle near Hanover due to security concerns. The building was secured by police and judicial officers armed with machine pistols and sniffer dogs as a crowd of about 50 people held a solidarity protest. Playing punk music, they held up a banner that read 'Defend revolutionary history – Freedom for Daniela and all political prisoners'. Named after early leaders Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof, the armed group formed from the radical fringe of the 1960s student protest movement. In its early days, the group mobilised against what it saw as US imperialism and a 'fascist' German state riddled with former Nazis. It targeted representatives from the government, business, and judiciary. At the height of its notoriety, the RAF shot a German bank chief dead and kidnapped and killed industrialist and former SS officer Hanns Martin Schleyer. In separate proceedings to the trial launched on Tuesday, Klette is accused of playing a role in a 1991 RAF attack on the US embassy in Bonn, the German capital at the time, and a 1993 explosives attack against a prison.
The Guardian
25-03-2025
- The Guardian
Former Baader-Meinhof militant goes on trial after decades on the run
A former member of the Red Army Faction has gone on trial in Germany for robberies she allegedly committed during three decades hiding in broad daylight. Daniela Klette, the last female member of the far-left terror network still on the run before her arrest, appeared before a court in the north-central city of Celle on Tuesday charged with 14 criminal offences including armed robbery and attempted murder. Police detained the 66-year-old last February in her flat in Berlin's gentrified Kreuzberg district where, unsuspected by her neighbours, she had walked her dog, danced capoeira and reportedly tutored schoolchildren in maths. Investigators found an anti-tank grenade and a Kalashnikov in her flat. The RAF, also known as the Baader-Meinhof gang, was responsible for a campaign of domestic terror in the 1970s and 1980s that included dozens of murders. With Ernst-Volker Staub and Burkhard Garweg, who are still on the run, Klette belonged to the so-called third generation of the group. It disbanded in the 1990s but the trio are alleged to have financed their lives in hiding through at least a dozen armed robberies in northern Germany. The trial will cover Klette's alleged involvement in the robberies but not the group's terror-related activities, which are expected to be covered by a further indictment. Klette is suspected of being involved in terror attacks on Deutsche Bank in 1990, the US embassy in Bonn in 1991, and a prison in Hessen in 1993. The trial is being held before Verden lower regional court, but because of security concerns the proceedings are taking place in the high-security building of Celle upper regional court. A protest of about 50 people from leftwing and far-left groups gathered outside the court in solidarity with Klette on Tuesday morning, the regional public broadcaster NDR reported. Klette is alleged to have been a driver for a spate of armed robberies spanning three decades. The Verden public prosecutor's office has alleged that in 2015 the group drove to a supermarket car park near Bremen to rob an armoured car holding €1m (£835,000). Klette is said to have carried a 'non-functional RPG-7 anti-tank gun and a submachine gun', while Garweg is said to have shot an automatic rifle at the window of the passenger door of the vehicle from close range. When Klette was arrested last year she allegedly texted Garweg, buying him time to run. He, too, is thought to have been living in Berlin under an alias. One of Klette's lawyers, Ulrich von Klinggräff, in an interview with the leftwing newspaper taz last week, criticised the trial for conflating Klette's alleged involvement in the robberies with 'completely arbitrary and unsubstantiated allegations about the RAF'. He cited the heavy security measures in the court and repeated references to the RAF in the indictment, which runs to 600 pages. Von Klinggräff said Klette was 'quite nervous' about the trial but would 'approach it with a fighting spirit'. The court has scheduled hearings until the end of the year. 'Yes, it's likely that Ms Klette had something to do with the robberies,' said Undine Weyers, another of Klette's lawyers, in the taz interview. 'But there's not a single piece of evidence that she was at any of the crime scenes or what role she played.'
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Yahoo
Ex-member of far-left German terror group on trial after years on run
High security was in place at a courtroom in northern Germany on Tuesday as the trial of a former member of a disbanded far-left terrorist organization began. Daniela Klette is on trial at the Verden Regional Court on charges of attempted murder, illegal possession of firearms and aggravated robbery allegedly committed during more than 30 years on the run. The 66-year-old was part of the Red Army Faction (RAF), a well-known German terrorist group that was founded in 1968 and remained active well into the 1990s. Due to security reasons, the trial is taking place in a secure room at the Higher Regional Court in Celle, near Hanover. A dpa reporter on the scene saw police and judicial officers securing the building armed with machine pistols, with sniffer dogs also in operation. Around 50 people gathered outside the court in support of Klette, carrying banners calling for "freedom for political prisoners." Klette is accused of committing a number of crimes after going underground in the late 1980s along with accomplices Ernst-Volker Staub and Burkhard Garweg, who are still at large. She was detained in Berlin in 2024 following a tip-off from a member of the public. The trio allegedly targeted cash-in-transit vans and supermarkets in northern and western Germany between 1999 and 2016 to finance their life on the run. They reportedly stole more than €2.7 million ($2.9 million) in the process. Klette is expected to submit a plea after prosecutors presented the indictment against her. The proceedings only involve suspected offences committed after the RAF disbanded in 1998. Klette has also been accused of involvement in three RAF attacks between 1990 and 1993, which could result in separate charges including attempted murder. More than 30 people were killed in Germany in attacks by the RAF.
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Yahoo
Long-sought Red Army Faction militant goes on trial in Germany
CELLE, Germany (Reuters) - One of the last surviving members of the Red Army Faction group that carried out murders and kidnappings in Germany from the 1970s went on trial on Tuesday after she hid from authorities for three decades. Daniela Klette, who was arrested in Berlin in February 2024, is being tried for attempted murder, robbery and illegal possession of firearms, potentially facing life in prison, a spokesperson for the court in the northern city of Celle told Reuters. Prosecutors in November brought charges against Klette, accusing her of going on a robbery spree with two accomplices to sustain themselves financially after the RAF group formally wound itself up in 1998. Police are still searching for the two other members of the so-called third generation of the militant group, Ernst-Volker Staub and Burkhard Garweg. Both men are wanted for the same charges as Klette. Klette is standing trial for her role in the trio's raids on money transport vehicles and supermarkets between 1999 and 2016, robbing about 2.7 million euros ($2.9 million) in cash. The left-wing militant group, known in Germany for short as RAF, sprang out of Germany's anti-Vietnam war protests and killed some 30 people - German politicians and businessmen and U.S. soldiers - during the 1970s and 1980s. ($1 = 0.9242 euros) (Writing by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Matthias Williams)
