The terror-action of the BAW, BKA, and VS [1],
carried out by their killer-troops in the GSG-9 and MEK - the arrest of
Birgit Hogefeld and the cold-blooded murder of Wolfgang Grams [2] - have deeply
affected us.
Even after our one-sided de-escalation in April 1992 [3], we never assumed that the state
security apparatus would cease with its actions against us - the fact
that their line is that of destruction was made clear in the new
escalation of their terror against our imprisoned comrades.
But still, it is a great shock to be confronted with such coldness and
brutality. Even the thought that Wolfgang might still be alive today,
had it not been for the fact that these special murderers didn’t feel
internally justified in their murder and protected from above, it’s
still not so easy to let such emotion pass you by. They violently took
a female comrade and a male comrade away from their common life.
We especially think of the past two years, on the common effort to come
to a break in our history, to see ourselves through different eyes, and
to
admit that we are on a search and that we don’t have all the answers.
This
on-going process has required prolonged courage from everyone for
criticism
and self-criticism, something which was often painful.
It was very important for us to examine our own history and to be
conscious of its strong points and its faults - that meant making our
own experiences into a genuine reality. Recently, this was made easier
due to the fact that the discussions generally concerned our future:
The will to discover new things
and the need to have knowledge of the changed situation and to make our
own
possibilities from out of this, to learn from the experiences of other
struggles,
and to introduce and utilize our own criteria and proposals in the
building
of a social counter-power from below.
Now, Wolfgang is dead, murdered. We mourn for him. We will miss him
dearly.
Be skeptical of quick decisions, have the patience to think things over
more than once, these were demanded by the precision in the discussions
and
this was not always easy - for example, he always saw to it that all
aspects
of the situation or his own proposals were examined, not merely those
aspects that others upheld. This, too, we will miss.
We will keep alive a memory of him in our hearts, our comrade, who
based his life on the struggle for liberation from oppression.
On April 10, 1992, we toned down the escalation against the State from
our side: We stopped our attacks on representatives of State and
capital. That was in our interest, because we wanted to take a decisive
step towards a re-orientation
of our politics and of left-wing politics in general. The priority of
political
discussion, instead of an escalation of the conflict, was necessary. We
made
a break in our 22-year history, and we had the idea that the struggle
for
the freedom of the political prisoners could be pushed through at this
phase.
Against this stood, and still stands, a State whose clearest
orientation
seems to be a destructive posture against all fundamental opposition. A
political
decision by the State was necessary, but the elite of State and capital
are
still not prepared to do this. They prove this fact time and time
again.
Political decisions about crucial questions are shoved aside by the
justice
department, police, and army, and are replaced by their measures.
The State saw our de-escalation and self-criticism as a sign of
weakness. They only worsened the situation of the political prisoners,
and they have opened a new series of trials against our imprisoned
comrades.
All of the developments of the past few years, and the State terror of
June 27 in particular, should open peoples’ eyes to what human rights
really mean in this country, which is in deep crisis due to the
collapsing capitalist system and to this country’s attempt to become a
world-power, thus it thrashes about even more. Wherever human rights
stand in the way of State concepts, they are meaningless - and the same
is true when they stand in the way of economic concepts.
Capitalism always marches forward over corpses.
This system must be overthrown - we will find our way in this process,
as we have always stated in our communiqués since April 10, 1992.
But the starting-point is new: Wolfgang has been executed.
The ruling powers want to cripple everyone on our side.
We Call On Everyone That Has Been Affected By This Terror: Do Not
Accept The Order Of The Day! Do Not Accept This!
The big circus around Wolfgang’s murder is supposed to lead to a more
effective apparatus. Penner (SPD [4]) made that clear when he said: “Such things can
always happen.” And then he goes on to complain about bad information
politics. This brings back memories of the state of affairs back in
‘77, when the SPD government ruled with a total news black-out and when
the lies were prepared beforehand [5].
The scandal for them is the fact that they were not able to get their
lies straight. The killer-hunt and murder of Wolfgang they inhumanely
call bad luck. After Seiters pulled his head out of the noose just in
time, a Republikaner-sympathizer was named would-be minister of
internal affairs, thereby showing which way things are headed in
Germany [6].
The last 23 years have shown that neither the RAF nor the resistance
can be defeated by military means. And that will always be the case,
just as long
as inhumanity and injustice rule this country and the world.
Birgit, we send you our warmest embrace!
Red Army Faction
July 6th 1993
Footnotes
N.B. All footnotes in this document were
added by the editor. None are originally from the RAF.
[1] German police and security agencies. [return to text]
[2] RAF members Birgit Hogefeld and Wolfgang Grams had
been lured to Bad Kleinen by a police informant – Klaus Steinmetz.
While Steinmetz and the two RAF members sat talking at the train
station, 54 officers deployed around the building to close in as the
three departed. Grams managed to get away, but was quickly captured.
According to two witnesses the cops held Grams on the ground and shot
him to death at point-blank range. Said Joanna Baron, a sales clerk at
a station food stand: “Two policemen walked
up to Grams, who was lying motionless. One bent over and shot him
several
times from close up. Then the second officer shot at Grams, but more at
his
stomach and legs. He shot several times.” The subsequent medical
examination supported eyewitness accounts : it showed that the shot
that caused the fatal wound to Grams head was fired from close range.
[return to text]
[3] On April 10th 1992 the RAF released a
document – To All Who Are Looking For Ways to Organize and to Push
Through a Human Life in Dignity Here and Worldwide On Really Concrete
Issues
– in which they stated that they would no longer carry out attacks on
representatives of the State or capital. This document can be read at
http://www.germanguerilla.com/red-army-faction/documents/92_04_10.html [return to text]
[4] The Social Democratic Party, at that point in
opposition. [return to text]
[5] SIn 1977 the Social Democratic government of
West Germany was involved in an intense confrontation with the RAF,
when the
guerillas executed the banker Jürgen Ponto and kidnapped the
industrialist Hanns Martin Schleyer. A Palestinian commando intervened
in the conflict, hijacking a Lufthansa airliner as an act of support to
the RAF. The SDP tightly controlled the media, initiated political
repression of the radical left and
finally opted for a “hardline” solution to the situation: the Lufthansa
airliner
was stormed by West German shocktroops in Mogadishu, Somalia, and three
RAF
prisoners (Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Jan-Carl Raspe) were
“suicided”
in their cells. [return to text]
[6] Rudolf Seiters was the Christian Democrat
Minister of Internal Affairs at the time of Grams’ murder. Forced to
resign when details of how Grams was executed became public, he was
replaced by Manfred Kanther, from the hard right-wing of the Christian
Democratic Union, known to b close to the far right Republikaner Party.
[return to text]
