Editing Camilla Hall

{{Short description|Symbionese Liberation Army member (1945–1974)}}
{{Infobox person
|name           = Camilla Hall
|birth_date    = March 24, 1945<ref name=CDI>"California Death Index, 1940–1997" [database on-line]. Provo, UT, US: The Generations Network, Inc., 2000. Original data: State of California. California Death Index, 1940–1997. Sacramento, CA, US: State of California Department of Health Services, Center for Health Statistics. Retrieved from Ancestry.com (subscription) July 19, 2009</ref>
|birth_place   = [[St. Peter, Minnesota]], U.S.
|death_date    = {{death date and age|1974|05|17|1945|03|24}}
|death_place   = [[Los Angeles]], California,  U.S.
|death_cause = [[Gunshot wound]] to the head
|image          =
|caption        = Camilla Hall as an adult
|other_names    = Gabi
|movement       = [[Symbionese Liberation Army]]
|organization   = 
|alma_mater     = [[Gustavus Adolphus College]], [[University of Minnesota]]
}}

'''Camilla Christine Hall''' (March 24, 1945 – May 17, 1974) was a member of the [[Symbionese Liberation Army]] (SLA),<ref name="post">{{cite web |url=https://nypost.com/2022/12/31/why-did-a-camilla-hall-join-symbionese-liberation-army/ |title=What made Camilla Hall, a nice Midwestern girl, join the Symbionese Liberation Army? |last=Farley |first=Todd |date=December 31, 2022 |website=New York Post |access-date=May 16, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221231164307/https://nypost.com/2022/12/31/why-did-a-camilla-hall-join-symbionese-liberation-army/ |archive-date=December 31, 2022}}</ref> a small, far-left militant group that committed violent acts between 1973 and 1975. They assassinated [[Marcus Foster]], Superintendent of the Oakland Public Schools and the first black superintendent of any major school system, kidnapped heiress [[Patty Hearst]], and committed armed robbery of banks. 

Hall, one of the majority of white members in the group, died on May 17, 1974, with five other SLA members in a shootout with the [[Los Angeles Police Department]] in that city.<ref name="post" /> During this, the house where the SLA members were making their stand caught fire. Police fatally shot both Hall and [[Nancy Ling Perry]] as they left the house, firing their own pistols.

==Early life==
 
On March 24, 1945, Camilla Christine Hall was born in [[Saint Peter, Minnesota]].<ref>''O'Brien, Susan. Research Files on Camilla Hall, 1967–1976.'' CAMC Collection 30. Gustavus Adolphus Archives, St. Peter, Minnesota.</ref> Both her parents, George Fridolph Hall (1908–2000) and Lorena (Daeschner) Hall (1911–1995), were academics with positions at [[Gustavus Adolphus College]] in Saint Peter from 1938 to 1952.<ref name="mankato">{{cite web |url=https://today.magazine.mnsu.edu/s/1913/bp21-micro/interior.aspx?sid=1913&gid=2&pgid=863  |title=The curious, tragic life of Camilla Hall |last=Dyslin |first=Amanda |website=Minnesota State University, Mankato Today |access-date=May 16, 2023}}</ref> In addition, her father was a minister in the [[Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church]] and later the [[Evangelical Lutheran Church in America]].<ref name="post" /> Her mother, Lorena (Daeschner) Hall, helped found Gustavus Adolphus College's Art Department and served as the department head.<ref name="gustavus.edu">{{cite web |title=Hall Family. Papers Concerning Camilla Hall and George F. and Lorena Hall, 1938–1995 CAMC Collection 13. |website=Gustavus Adolphus College Archives |place=St. Peter, Minnesota |url=http://gustavus.edu/academics/library/archives/CAMC0013.pdf |access-date=May 16, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160109135602/https://gustavus.edu/library/archives/college/manuscripts/CAMC0013.pdf |archive-date=January 9, 2016}}</ref> 

Camilla Hall was the only surviving child of four. Firstborn son Terry died of congenital heart disease in 1948; Peter died in 1951, and Nan died in 1962, both of a congenital kidney disease. The family seemed burdened by grief.<ref name="staff">{{cite web |url=https://people.com/archive/camilla-hall-ends-her-long-journey-home-vol-2-no-8/ |title=Camilla Hall Ends Her Long Journey Home |last=People Staff |work=People magazine/Archive |date=19 August 1974 |pages=14–15 |access-date=May 16, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190307035749/https://people.com/archive/camilla-hall-ends-her-long-journey-home-vol-2-no-8/ |archive-date=March 7, 2019}}</ref><ref name="O'Brien, Susan 1976">{{cite web |url=http://gustavus.edu/academics/library/archives/CAMC0030.php |title=O'Brien, Susan. Research Files on Camilla Hall, 1967–1976 CAMC Collection 30. |website=Gustavus Adolphus Archives |place=St. Peter, Minnesota |access-date=May 16, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100608030438/http://gustavus.edu/academics/library/archives/CAMC0030.php |archive-date=June 8, 2010}}</ref>

In 1952, the Hall family moved to what is now Tanzania in East Africa. George and Lorena Hall taught in schools and did mission work, while Camilla and Nan played with the native children.<ref name="ReferenceA">''Camilla Hall's Place in the Symbionese Liberation Army'' by Rachel Hanel, Minnesota State University, Mankato, Minnesota (2004)</ref> In 1954, when Camilla was nine, the family returned to Saint Peter because of seven-year-old Nan's poor health. While Camilla attended elementary school in Minnesota and lived with relatives, her birth family moved to Montclair, New Jersey. 

In Minnesota, Hall attended [[Washburn High School]] in Minneapolis, where she was involved in many activities. The 1963 Washburn Yearbook states, "Candy was a member of Blue Tri, Class Play, Poplars Staff, Quill Club, Forensics, Pep Club, and Hall of Fame".<ref name="gustavus.edu"/> Blue Tri club was an organization that encouraged Christian ideals and put together service projects.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> In addition, Camilla Hall was voted class clown in high school.<ref name="gustavus.edu"/><ref name="post" /> In 1963, she graduated from Washburn High School.

==Education==
Hall attended [[Gustavus Adolphus College]] in St. Peter, Minnesota. She transferred to the University of Minnesota after her freshman year.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> On June 10, 1967, Hall graduated with a humanities degree. <ref name="gustavus.edu"/>

==Post-college==

After graduation, Hall moved to [[Duluth, Minnesota]], where she started as a caseworker for social services in St. Louis County.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> She also began to participate in Democratic Party activities. In early 1968, she was elected to carry the Eugene McCarthy banner for the St. Louis County precinct, in support of [[Eugene McCarthy presidential campaign, 1968|McCarthy's presidential campaign]] that year.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> 

Although Hall enjoyed helping people in her work, she found it difficult to keep distance from some of their problems while being a caseworker.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> For her job in Duluth, Hall used her musical and poetic talents in an advertising campaign.<ref name="ReferenceB">''Camilla Hall's Place in the Symbionese Liberation Army'', by Rachel Hanel, Minnesota State University, Mankato, Minnesota 2004</ref>

In June 1968, Hall returned to Minneapolis, where she was a caseworker for the Hennepin County, Minnesota welfare office.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Co-workers and friends of Hall described her as witty, sympathetic, helpful, and compassionate.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> She had an outgoing personality and had a passion for literature. At the same time, Hall frequently talked with family and friends about philosophy and how she was disappointed with the state of welfare.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://gustavus.edu/library/archives/guides/CAMC/CAMC0013.php |title=Hall Family. Papers Concerning Camilla Hall and George F. and Lorena Hall, 1938–1995. CAMC Collection 13. |website=Gustavus Adolphus College Archives |place=St. Peter, Minnesota |access-date=May 16, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130105043/https://gustavus.edu/library/archives/guides/CAMC/CAMC0013.php |archive-date=January 30, 2023}}</ref> In 1968, Hall was 23 years old. She carefully monitored the political situation in America, including the [[1968 Democratic National Convention]] in Chicago where there was so much violence.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> She was active in the [[peace movement]] and food boycotts, including the [[Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam]].<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Despite Hall's participating in political activities, urging social change, and working to aid individuals and families, her mother could see that Camilla became dissatisfied with her work.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

==Move to California==
 
In November 1969, Hall moved to Topanga, a northern suburb of [[Los Angeles, California]].<ref name="ReferenceA"/> In March, she moved into Los Angeles proper in west Los Angeles. According to Rachael Hanel, "She lived off her savings, interest income from a trust, money from her parents, and selling her simple, Rubenesque line drawings."<ref>Rachel Hanel, ''Camilla Hall's Place in the Symbionese Liberation Army'', Mankato, Minnesota: Minnesota State University, 2004, p.55</ref> Although Hall didn't express dissatisfaction at being an artist, she decided to move again.

Hall moved to Berkeley in northern California in February 1971, which had become a center of political activism and social movements. In May 1971, Hall moved into an apartment complex on Channing Way where she met [[Patricia Soltysik]].<ref name="ReferenceA"/> The two women began a lesbian relationship, which was the first time Hall had done so publicly.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> Hall wrote about Soltysik in a love poem named "Mizmoon", and nicknamed her that.<ref name="O'Brien, Susan 1976"/><ref name="Toobin">{{cite book| last = Toobin | first =Jeffrey |author-link=Jeffrey Toobin | title =American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst | publisher = Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group | year = 2016| isbn = 978-0385536714}}</ref>

In Berkeley, Hall continued being politically active. She participated in the [[People's Park (Berkeley)|People's Park]] reoccupation during the summer of 1972, following the shootings there the year before. She and Soltysik became involved with the [[Venceremos (political organization)|Venceremos]] prison outreach project, through which they became associates of two white men, [[Russell Little (SLA)|Russ Little]] and [[Willie Wolfe]], who were also assisting in prisoner outreach.  

In October 1972, Hall traveled to Europe. She stayed with friends while she traveled for three months. Once she returned to California, she continued being politically active. Through her association with Soltysik, Little, and Wolfe, she became a founding member of the [[Symbionese Liberation Army]], a small, radical leftist group.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="Toobin" /> [[Joe Remiro]] and [[Thero Wheeler]] trained the other members in handling weapons and explosives. Remiro was a veteran of Vietnam.

The SLA gained notoriety in November 1973 by claiming credit for the assassination of [[Marcus Foster]], Superintendent of the Oakland Public Schools and the first black to be superintendent of any major city's school district. Three "soldiers" also wounded his deputy. In January 1974 the SLA base was moved to [[Concord, California]], where [[Nancy Ling Perry]] rented a house under an assumed name. Russ Little and Joe Remiro were arrested after a police stop and confrontation, convicted and sentenced to prison.

In February 1974 the SLA kidnapped heiress [[Patty Hearst]]. They indoctrinated her and she said she chose to join them. Hall and Hearst were identified from security camera images as participants in the April 15, 1974, armed robbery of the Hibernia Bank in San Francisco. Two civilians were shot during the robbery.

==LA shootout==
{{Main|Symbionese_Liberation_Army#Move_to_Los_Angeles_and_police_shootout|l1=Symbionese Liberation Army}}
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Camilla Hall.jpg|thumb|left|Camilla Hall takes part in the April 1974 Hibernia bank robbery with other Symbionese Liberation Army members.]] -->
The police kept up pressure on the group, which moved to a house in Los Angeles. There Hall died in a shootout (May 17, 1974) with police in which five other SLA members also died.<ref name="post" /> As their hideout burned, Hall and [[Nancy Ling Perry]] exited from the back door. Police claimed that Perry came out firing a revolver and Hall was firing an automatic pistol. Police shot them immediately, killing both. Perry was shot twice. One shot hit her right lung, the other shot severed her spine. Hall was shot once in the forehead. [[Angela Atwood]], another SLA member, pulled Hall's body back into the burning house. Atwood died in the fire.  

Investigators working for Hall's parents claimed that Perry had walked out of the house intending to surrender.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bryan |first=John |url=https://archive.org/details/thissoldierstill00brya |title=This Soldier Still at War |publisher=Harcourt Brace Jovanovich |date=1975 |isbn=0151900604}}</ref>

==Funeral==
Hall's parents held a funeral for their daughter on May 23, 1974, at St. John's Lutheran Church, in [[Lincolnwood, Illinois]], a Chicago suburb, where he was pastor. Seven of his fellow Lutheran ministers conducted the service. Camilla Hall's name was not mentioned. Her ashes were buried on August 19, 1974, in a small country graveyard where her late siblings were buried, who each died before she was 16. Her parents also have plots there.<ref name="staff"/>

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==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://libguides.gustavus.edu/CAMC013 Papers Concerning Camilla Hall and George F. and Lorena Hall]  and [http://libguides.gustavus.edu/CAMC030 Research Files on Camilla Hall] are available for research use at the [https://gustavus.edu/library/archives/ Gustavus Adolphus College and Lutheran Church Archives]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Camilla}}
[[Category:1945 births]]
[[Category:1974 deaths]]
[[Category:University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts alumni]]
[[Category:People from St. Peter, Minnesota]]
[[Category:Deaths by firearm in California]]
[[Category:People shot dead by law enforcement officers in the United States]]
[[Category:LGBTQ people from Minnesota]]
[[Category:Symbionese Liberation Army]]
[[Category:20th-century American LGBTQ people]]
[[Category:Gustavus Adolphus College alumni]]