- TOP STORIES
- Media Center
- PROGRAM
- LEARN GERMAN
Learning German
German XXL
Community D
Deutsch unterrichten
Brigitte Mohnhaupt, a former leader of the Red Army Faction (RAF), which committed a series of murders in the 1970s, has asked for a new identity. Germany's most notorious terrorist was paroled in March.
She might not be Mohnhaupt for long
Mohnhaupt, 57, spent 24 years in prison for the role she played in RAF, a left-wing group which launched a campaign of terror against the West German state in the 1970s.
Now she wants to change her identity to avoid publicity. Mohnhaupt reportedly lives in southern Germany and will work at a factory that produced automobile parts.
The group which is helping Mohnhaupt settle into life outside prison said she wants a "new start," according to the newspaper Bild.
The German media has closely followed her case and her parole this spring remains controversial.
Terrorist campaign
The RAF is blamed for 34 deaths
The RAF's campaign reached its bloody high point in the so-called German Autumn in 1977. The group kidnapped and killed leading industrialist and former Nazi Hanns-Martin Schleyer and hijacked a Lufthansa passenger plane with the help of Palestinian militants.
The RAF is believed to have killed 34 people during its existence. Its other victims include the head of Dresdner Bank, Jürgen Ponto, who was shot dead on the doorstep of his home.
The group also launched attacks against US military personnel stationed in Germany. In 1981, Mohnhaupt helped to launch a rocket attack on an American general, Frederick Kroesen. He barely survived.
The former philosophy student was finally arrested at an RAF arms cache in a forest near Frankfurt in 1982.
While Mohnhaupt is no longer considered a threat, the families of the victims of the RAF, also known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang, have bitterly opposed the release, in part because Mohnhaupt has never expressed remorse for the murders.
Few RAF members still behind bars
Mohnhaupt's crimes continue to generate interest
She was part of the second generation of RAF leaders who took over after Ulrike Meinhof, Andreas Baader, Jan-Carl Raspe and Gudrun Ensslin were caught and committed suicide in jail.
Some 20 former militants of the group have been freed after serving lengthy sentences. Only three remain behind bars, including Christian Klar, who led the group along with Mohnhaupt.
Klar had applied for clemency from German President Horst Köhler, but was refused in May. Part of the reason for the denial was a statement he written for a Marxist meeting in Berlin that called for "the total defeat of the capitalists' aims."
