Editing Red Army Faction (section)

== German Autumn ==
{{Main|German Autumn}}
On 30 July 1977, [[Jürgen Ponto]], the head of [[Dresdner Bank]], was shot and killed in front of his house in [[Oberursel]] in a botched kidnapping.<ref>{{cite news |first=Gretel |last=Spitzer |title=Cartridges used to kill banker found by police |newspaper=[[The Times]] |date=5 August 1977}}</ref> Those involved were [[Brigitte Mohnhaupt]], [[Christian Klar]], and [[Susanne Albrecht]], the sister of Ponto's goddaughter.

Following the convictions, [[Hanns Martin Schleyer]], a former officer of the [[Schutzstaffel|SS]] who was then President of the German Employers' Association (and thus one of the most powerful industrialists in West Germany), was abducted in a violent kidnapping. On 5 September 1977, Schleyer's convoy was stopped by the kidnappers reversing a car into the path of Schleyer's vehicle, causing the Mercedes in which he was being driven to crash. Once the convoy was stopped, five masked assailants immediately shot and killed three policemen and the driver and took Schleyer hostage. One of the group ([[Sieglinde Hofmann]]) produced her weapon from a pram she was pushing down the road.<ref>{{cite news |first=Patricia |last=Clough |title=Four die in kidnap of German industrialist |newspaper=The Times |date=6 September 1977}}</ref>

A letter was then received by the federal government, demanding the release of eleven detainees, including those in Stammheim. A crisis committee was formed in [[Bonn]], headed by Chancellor [[Helmut Schmidt]], which, instead of acceding, resolved to employ delaying tactics to give the police time to discover Schleyer's location. At the same time, a total communication ban was imposed on the prison inmates, who were now allowed visits only from government officials and the prison chaplain.

The crisis dragged on for more than a month, while the [[Federal Criminal Police Office (Germany)|Federal Criminal Police Office]] carried out its biggest investigation to date. Matters escalated when, on 13 October 1977, [[Lufthansa Flight 181]] from [[Palma de Mallorca]] to [[Frankfurt]] was [[Aircraft hijacking|hijacked]]. A group of four [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine|PFLP]] members took control of the plane (which was named ''Landshut''). The leader introduced himself to the passengers as "Captain Mahmud", and was later identified as {{ill|Zohair Youssef Akache|de}}. When the plane landed in Rome for refueling, he issued the same demands as the Schleyer kidnappers, plus the release of two Palestinians held in Turkey and payment of US$15 million.

The Bonn crisis team again decided not to give in. The plane flew on via [[Larnaca]], then [[Dubai]], and then to [[Aden]], where flight captain Jürgen Schumann, whom the hijackers deemed not cooperative enough, was brought before an improvised "revolutionary tribunal" and murdered on 16 October. His body was dumped on the runway. The aircraft again took off, flown by the co-pilot Jürgen Vietor, this time headed for [[Mogadishu]], [[Somali Democratic Republic|Somalia]].

A high-risk rescue operation was led by [[Hans-Jürgen Wischnewski]], then undersecretary in the chancellor's office, who had been secretly flown in from Bonn. At five past midnight [[Central European Time|CET]] on 18 October, the plane was stormed in a seven-minute assault by [[GSG 9]], an elite unit of the German federal police. All four hijackers were shot; three of them died on the spot. None of the passengers were seriously hurt and Wischnewski was able to phone Schmidt and tell the Bonn crisis team that the operation had been a success.

=== "Stammheim Death Night" ===

[[File:Grabstätte Baader, Raspe, Ensslin.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.7|Burial site of Baader, Raspe and Ensslin]]
After the conclusion of the Landshut hostage crisis was announced in the late evening of 17 October, all the RAF members incarcerated in Stammheim committed suicide during the following night. Their lawyer, Arndt Müller, had smuggled pistols into the prison.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}} Andreas Baader and Jan-Carl Raspe shot themselves with these weapons{{snd}}Baader in the back of his head<ref>{{cite book |last1=Aust |first1=Stefan |title=Baader-Meinhof |date=2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=411 |url=https://thelul.org/library/stefan-aust-the-baader-meinhof-complex#toc164}}</ref>{{snd}} while Gudrun Ensslin hanged herself. [[Irmgard Möller]] tried to kill herself with a knife, but survived severely injured. The suicides went unnoticed until early next morning. Doctors were rushed in. Baader and Ensslin were already dead when found. Raspe was still alive and moved to the hospital where he died soon after. Möller recovered after being brought to a hospital.<ref>{{cite book |last=Terhoeven |first=Petra |year=2013 |title=Deutscher Herbst in Europa: Der Linksterrorismus der siebziger Jahre als transnationales Phänomen |trans-title=The German Autumn in Europe: The leftwing terrorism of the 70s as a transnational phenomenon |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3486855586 |language=de |pages=17–21}}</ref> Authorities claimed that the prisoners{{snd}}who had been held in isolation for weeks<ref>{{cite book |last1=Aust |first1=Stefan |title=Baader-Meinhof |date=2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=346–347 |url=https://thelul.org/library/stefan-aust-the-baader-meinhof-complex#toc145}}</ref>{{snd}}learned of the failure of the hijacking through smuggled radio equipment, and coordinated the group suicide over an improvised electronic communication system between their maximum-security cells, which had been under surveillance during previous hostage crises.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Aust |first1=Stefan |title=Baader-Meinhof |date=2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=426–432 |url=https://thelul.org/library/stefan-aust-the-baader-meinhof-complex#toc168}}</ref>

The coordinated attempt sparked numerous [[conspiracy theories]]. It was alleged that the RAF members did not kill themselves, but instead were killed by the German authorities, the [[Federal Intelligence Service|BND]], [[CIA]], the United States and [[NATO]]. These theories were spread by RAF supporters and sympathizers, and some were taken up by the mainstream press. Available evidence shows that these suicides were planned and prepared for a long time by the RAF members.{{sfn|Terhoeven|2013|pp=17–21}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Kraushaar |first=Wolfgang |author-link=Wolfgang Kraushaar |year=2006 |volume=I |title=Die RAF und der linke Terrorismus |trans-title=The RAF and leftwing terrorism |publisher=HIS |isbn=978-3-936 096-65-1 |language=de |page=53}}</ref>

On the very same day, [[Hanns Martin Schleyer|Hanns-Martin Schleyer]] was shot to death by his captors en route to [[Mulhouse]], France. On 19 October, Schleyer's kidnappers announced that he had been "executed" and pinpointed his location. His body was recovered later that day in the trunk of a green [[Audi 100]] on Rue [[Charles Péguy]]. The French newspaper {{lang|fr|[[Libération]]}} received a letter declaring:
{{blockquote|After 43 days we have ended Hanns-Martin Schleyer's pitiful and corrupt existence{{nbsp}}... His death is meaningless to our pain and our rage{{nbsp}}... The struggle has only begun. Freedom through armed, anti-imperialist struggle.}}