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Members of the Red Army Faction (RAF) can be split up into three generations. The first (founding) generation existed from 1970 onwards. The second generation emerged from 1975 and included people from other groups such as the Socialist Patients' Collective (SPK) and the 2 June Movement. The third generation began in 1982. The group announced its dissolution in 1998.

Overview

The Red Army Faction (RAF) existed in West Germany from 1970 to 1998, committing numerous crimes, especially in the autumn of 1977, which led to a national crisis that became known as the "German Autumn". The RAF was founded in 1970 by Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, Ulrike Meinhof, Horst Mahler, and others. The first generation of the organization was commonly referred to by the press and the government as the "Baader-Meinhof Gang", a name the group did not use to refer to itself.

The RAF was responsible for 34 deaths, including many secondary targets such as chauffeurs and bodyguards, and many injuries in its almost 30 years of activity.

Eileen MacDonald stated in Shoot the Women First (1991) that women made up about fifty percent of the membership of the Red Army Faction and about eighty percent of the RAF's supporters. This was higher than other similar groups in West Germany, in which women made up about thirty percent of the membership.

The RAF announced its dissolution in 1998 with the paper Die Stadtguerilla in Form der RAF ist nun Geschichte (The Urban Guerilla in the form of the RAF is now history).

First generation Red Army Faction (1970–75)

Founding first generation members

Other first generation members

Second generation Red Army Faction (1975–1982)

By 1972 a large number of the core members of the Baader-Meinhof Gang had been captured and imprisoned. However, new members swelled the dwindling ranks of the Gang. These revolutionaries mostly had similar backgrounds to the first generation, e.g. they were middle class and frequently students. Most of them joined the Gang after their own groups dissolved e.g. the Socialist Patients' Collective (SPK) and Movement 2 June (J2M).

Former SPK members

The SPK, the leftist 'therapy-through-violence' group, dissolved in 1971, and those members who had turned militant forged links and joined with the Baader-Meinhof Gang. Brigitte Mohnhaupt, Klaus Jünschke Carmen Roll, and Gerhard Müller had already joined as part of the first generation of the RAF but originally started in SPK.

Former M2J members

The Movement 2 June was founded in 1972 and was allied with the RAF but was ideologically anarchist as opposed to the Marxist RAF. In the early 1980s, the movement disbanded and many members then joined the RAF.

The Haag/Mayer Group

The Haag/Mayer Group was a minor group of members within the second generation of the RAF. They were recruited by Siegfried Haag, who organised the regrouping of the RAF in the mid 1970s together with Roland Mayer before Brigitte Mohnhaupt took over the leadership after their arrest in 1976. Knut Folkerts from SPK and Verena Becker from J2M were also part of this group.

Other second generation members

Third generation Red Army Faction (1982–1998)

This generation was active mostly throughout the 1980s and early 1990s until the group disbanded in 1998.

References

1. Buchar, Robert (2010). And reality be damned : undoing America : what media didn't tell you about the end of the Cold War and the fall of communism in Europe. Durham, Conn.: Eloquent Books. p. 245. ISBN 978-1-60911-166-3.
2. Martin, Gus; Kushner, Harvey W (2011). The SAGE Encyclopedia of Terrorism. Gus Martin, Harvey W. Kushner (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications. p. 385. ISBN 9781412980166.
3. Mahan, Sue; Griset, Pamala L. (2013). Terrorism in Perspective (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications. p. 259. ISBN 978-1-4522-2545-6.
4. ^ Smith, J.; Moncourt, André (2009). The Red Army Faction, a Documentary History: Volume 1: Projectiles for the People (eBook ed.). PM Press. ISBN 978-1-60486-029-0.
5. ^ Moncourt, André; Smith, J. (2013). The Red Army Faction Volume 2: Dancing with imperialism. Montreal, Quebec: Kersplebedeb. ISBN 978-1-60486-030-6.
6. Schiller, Margrit (1999). "Es war ein harter Kampf um meine Erinnerung" : ein Lebensbericht aus der RAF. Konkret Literatur Verlag. p. 256. ISBN 3-89458-181-6.
7. Holmes, Amy Austin (2014). Social Unrest and American Military Bases in Turkey and Germany Since 1945. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. p. 105. ISBN 978-1-139-92199-2.
8. Sargeant, Jack (2003). Guns, Death, Terror : 1960s & 1970s Revolutionaries, Urban Guerrillas and Terrorists. London: Creation. ISBN 1-84068-099-7.
9. ^ Moghadam, Assaf (February 2012). "Failure and Disengagement in the Red Army Faction". Studies in Conflict & Terrorism. 35 (2): 156–181. doi:10.1080/1057610X.2012.639062.
10. Aust, Stefan (2017). Der Baader-Meinhof-Komplex (1. Auflage der Neuausgabe, erweiterte und aktualisierte Ausgabe ed.). Hoffmann und Campe. p. 710. ISBN 978-3-455-00033-7.
11. Peters, Butz (2017). 1977 RAF gegen Bundesrepublik. München: Droemer Verlag. pp. 41–42, 506. ISBN 978-3-426-27678-5.
12. Wunschik, Tobias (1997). Baader-Meinhofs Kinder: Die zweite Generation der RAF. Opladen: Westdt. Verl. ISBN 978-3-531-13088-0.
13. Becker, Jillian (1978). Hitler's children: the story of the Baader- Meinhof terrorist gang (3. impr ed.). London: Joseph. ISBN 0-7181-1582-1.
14. "Terrorism: The Red Army Faction". The Independent. 18 February 2007. Archived from the original on 19 February 2011. Retrieved 12 February 2009.
15. "Top W. German Fugitive Killed". Los Angeles Times. Reuters. 7 September 1978. p. I-8.
16. Aust, Stefan (2009). Baader-Meinhof : The Inside Story of the R.A.F. Translated by Bell, Anthea. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 436. ISBN 978-0-19-537275-5.
17. Sweet, Kathleen M. (2009). Aviation and airport security : terrorism and safety concerns (2nd ed.). Boca Raton: CRC Press. p. 116. ISBN 978-1-4200-8816-8.
18. Provan, John (2020). The History of Rhein-Main Air Base : A chapter coming to a close. IMAGUNCULA. p. 51. ISBN 9798569467327.
19. Aust, Stefan (2009). Baader-Meinhof : The Inside Story of the R.A.F. Translated by Bell, Anthea. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 436. ISBN 978-0-19-537275-5.
20. Sweet, Kathleen M. (2009). Aviation and airport security : terrorism and safety concerns (2nd ed.). Boca Raton: CRC Press. p. 116. ISBN 978-1-4200-8816-8.
21. Scribner, Charity (2014). After the Red Army Faction : Gender, Culture, and Militancy. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 57–58. ISBN 978-0231538299.
22. "German Red Army Faction radicals 'bungled armed robbery'". BBC News. 19 January 2016. Archived from the original on 19 February 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
23. "A former member of Germany's Red Army Faction has been arrested after decades in hiding". AP News. 27 February 2024. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
24. "German Red Army Faction radicals 'bungled armed robbery'". BBC News. 19 January 2016. Archived from the original on 19 February 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
25. "German Red Army Faction radicals 'bungled armed robbery'". BBC News. 19 January 2016. Archived from the original on 19 February 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2018.

Further reading

• Aust, Stefan (2008). Baader-Meinhof Complex. Vintage. ISBN 978-1-84792-045-4.
• Becker, Jillian (1981). "The Red Army Faction: Another final battle on the stage of history" (PDF). Terrorism. 5 (1/2): 1–4. doi:10.1080/10576108108435505. Retrieved 20 December 2008.
• Becker, Jillian (1998). Hitler's Children: The Story of the Baader-Meinhof Terrorist Gang. Diane Publishing Company. ISBN 0-7881-5472-9.
• Boock, Peter-Jürgen (2002). Die Entführung und Ermordung des Hanns-Martin Schleyer (in German). Eichborn. ISBN 3-8218-3976-7.
• Dartnell, Michael York (1995). Action directe: ultra-left terrorism in France, 1979–1987. Routledge. ISBN 0-7146-4566-4.
• Schiller, Margrit (1999). "Es war ein harter Kampf um meine Erinnerung" : ein Lebensbericht aus der RAF. Konkret Literatur Verlag. ISBN 3-89458-181-6.
• Strassner, Alexander (2003). Die dritte Generation der "Roten Armee Fraktion": Entstehung, Struktur, Funktionslogik und Zerfall einer terroristischen Organisation (in German). VS Verlag. ISBN 3-531-14114-7.
• Vague, Tom (1994). Televisionaries: The Red Army Faction Story, 1963–1993. Rev Update edition (August 1994). AK Press. ISBN 1-873176-47-3.

v t e Members of the Red Army Faction
First generation	Andreas Baader Ingeborg Barz Monika Berberich Gudrun Ensslin Horst Mahler Ulrike Meinhof Irene Goergens Holger Meins Irmgard Möller Astrid Proll Jan-Carl Raspe Petra Schelm Ingrid Schubert Tommy Weissbecker
Second generation	Verena Becker Peter-Jürgen Boock Knut Folkerts Siegfried Haag Siegfried Hausner Sieglinde Hofmann Christian Klar Norbert Kröcher Gabriele Kröcher-Tiedemann Silke Maier-Witt Brigitte Mohnhaupt Rolf Ludwig Pohle Margrit Schiller Adelheid Schulz Ina Siepmann Angelika Speitel Sigrid Sternebeck Rolf Wagner Stefan Wisniewski
Third generation	Wolfgang Grams Eva Haule Birgit Hogefeld Daniela Klette Ernst-Volker Staub

• Members of the Red Army Faction
• Red Army Faction