German Red Army Faction

A descendant of the Baader-Meinhof Gang, the German Red Army Faction (RAF) perpetrated some of the most devastating terrorist attacks of the 1970s and has remained a threat for more than 20 years.

The Baader-Meinhof Gang grew out of the German student movement of the 1960s; many students believed that the West German government was fascist and corrupt and wanted to replace it with communism. The name “Red Army Faction” had been adopted by the members of the Baader-Meinhof Gang in honor of the Japanese Red Army soon after its formation; however, this self-designation was at first largely ignored by the press and the public. Many of the gang's leaders were arrested in the summer of 1972, including Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof, but the group was by no means destroyed.

The German RAF took on a character different from that of Baader-Meinhof. ...