Editing Andreas Baader (section)

== Death ==
[[File:Grabstätte Baader, Raspe, Ensslin.jpg|thumb|right|Burial site of Baader, Raspe and Ensslin in Stuttgart]]
According to official accounts of his death, Raspe learned about GSG 9's success on a smuggled [[transistor radio]] and spent the next few hours talking to Baader, Ensslin, and Möller, who agreed to a [[suicide pact]]. In the morning, Baader and Raspe were found dead in their cells, having died from gunshot wounds, while Ensslin was found hanging from a noose made from the speaker wire. RAF member [[Irmgard Möller]] was found with four stab wounds to her chest, but survived.{{sfn|Bielby|2012|p=11}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=Colin |author-link=Colin Wilson |title=[[A Criminal History of Mankind]] |publisher=Diversion Books |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-62681-867-5 |chapter=Violence}}</ref>

All official inquiries on the matter concluded that Baader and his two accomplices committed collective suicide, and Baader-Meinhof biographer [[Stefan Aust]] argued in the original edition of his book, ''The Baader-Meinhof Group'' (1985), that they did kill themselves. But there was a controversy about the weapons they used to commit suicide.<ref>{{cite news |title=Who were Germany's Red Army Faction militants? |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35354812 |access-date=29 May 2022 |work=BBC News |publisher=[[BBC News]] |date=19 January 2016}}</ref>

Aspects of the deaths have been debated: Baader was supposed to have shot himself in the base of the neck so that the bullet exited through his forehead; repeated tests indicated that it was virtually impossible for a person to hold and fire a gun in such a way.{{sfn|Aust|2009|p=424}} In addition, three bullet holes were found in his cell: one lodged in the wall, one in the mattress, and the fatal bullet itself lodged in the floor, suggesting that Baader had fired twice before killing himself.{{sfn|Aust|2009|p=411}} Finally, Baader had powder burns on his right hand, but he was left-handed. Raspe showed no signs of powder burns.{{sfn|Smith|Moncourt|2008|p=28}}

The theory itself that guns had been smuggled into Stammheim depended on the testimony of Hans Joachim Dellwo (brother of prisoner [[Karl-Heinz Dellwo]]) and Volker Speitel (husband of [[Angelika Speitel]]). Both had been arrested on 2 October 1977, and charged with belonging to a criminal association; under pressure from the police, they subsequently became [[Crown witness (Germany)|crown witnesses]] and admitted to acting as couriers and testified that they were aware of lawyers smuggling items to the prisoners during the trial. In consideration of this testimony, authorities reduced their sentences and provided them with new identities. In 1979, two defence attorneys were tried and convicted for smuggling weapons. However, as noted above, the lawyers had been unable to meet with their clients after 6 September 1977 due to the ''Kontaktsperre'' order.{{sfn|Smith|Moncourt|2008|p=28}}

=== Study of brain ===
Following their apparent suicides, the [[German government]] had the [[human brain|brains]] of Baader, Meinhof, Ensslin and Raspe removed for study at the Neurological Research Institute at the [[University of Tübingen]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hooper |first1=John |title=The dead guerrillas, the missing brains and the experiment |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/nov/18/germany.science |access-date=29 May 2022 |work=The Guardian |date=18 November 2002 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Broomby |first1=Rob |title=Red Army Faction brains 'disappeared' |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2484745.stm |access-date=29 May 2022 |work=BBC |publisher=[[BBC News]] |date=16 November 2002}}</ref> Meinhof's brain contained scar tissue, the result of surgery to remove a benign tumor in 1962, that could have affected her behavior.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2455647.stm | work=BBC News | title=Meinhof brain study yields clues | date=12 November 2002 | access-date=23 April 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100420210300/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2455647.stm| archive-date= 20 April 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref> The results of the study of the others' brains are not known.

Aside from the removal of his brain, a [[death mask]] was made of Baader. The brains of all but Meinhof have apparently been lost and cannot be accounted for by German authorities.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2484745.stm | work=BBC News | title=Red Army Faction brains 'disappeared' | date=16 November 2002 | access-date=23 April 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100420200416/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2484745.stm| archive-date= 20 April 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref>