Baader-Meinhof Gang

Andreas Baader and his girlfriend, Gudrun Ensslin, bombed a department store in Frankfurt, Germany, in April 1968. This followed many tumultuous years of leftist revolution among German citizens and students. Their motives were to overthrow the post–World War II democracy, which they deemed oppressive. After Baader and Ensslin had spent 2 years in prison for their bombing, a left-wing journalist named Ulrike Meinhof helped them to escape. The media began to call their terrorist organization the “Baader-Meinhof Gang.” Supporters of this leftist terrorist faction referred to themselves as the “Red Army Faction” (RAF). By 1972, most of the leaders had been captured. The RAF followers retaliated by kidnapping and killing nearly a dozen people in hopes of securing their leaders' release.

The effort failed, and the leaders remained in custody. The Baader-Meinhof terrorists began receiving assistance from Middle Eastern terrorist organizations to aid in pressuring the German government to release their leaders. Once it was clear that the government would not concede to the faction's pressures, three of the main leaders, Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, and Jan-Carl Raspe, committed suicide in prison. By 1977, the Baader-Meinhof era was over, although remnants of the group stayed active until they completely disbanded in 1998. Overall, the Baader-Meinhof Gang and the RAF are believed to be responsible for the killing of 30 to 50 people, including German government officials and U.S. military personnel. A final letter from the terrorist group noted the strategic errors that had contributed to its demise but expressed no apparent remorse for the terrorism or murders.