Ulrike Meinhof

Ulrike Meinhof was a German left-wing journalist and militant who co-founded the Red Army Faction (RAF) in 1970. She was born in Oldenburg, Germany, in 1934 and lost both her parents to cancer by the age of 15. She was raised by her mother's friend, Renate Riemeck, who influenced her political views. She studied philosophy, sociology, education and German studies at the University of Marburg and the University of Münster, where she joined the Socialist German Student Union (SDS) and participated in protests against the rearmament of West Germany and its involvement with nuclear weapons. She became a journalist for the monthly left-wing magazine konkret, where she met her husband Klaus Rainer Röhl, the editor-in-chief. They had twin daughters, Bettina and Regine, in 1959. Meinhof was a prominent voice of the radical left in West Germany during the 1960s. She wrote articles and essays on topics such as anti-imperialism, anti-fascism, feminism, social justice and civil disobedience. She also supported the student movement that emerged in 1967 after the killing of Benno Ohnesorg by a police officer during a demonstration against the visit of the Shah of Iran. She became friends with some of the student leaders, such as Rudi Dutschke and Andreas Baader. She also sympathized with the anti-colonial struggles in Vietnam, Algeria and Palestine. In 1968, Meinhof divorced Röhl and moved to Berlin with her daughters. She became increasingly radicalized and disillusioned with the parliamentary democracy of West Germany, which she saw as a continuation of the Nazi regime. She also criticized the role of the media in legitimizing the state violence and repression against the left-wing opposition. She began to advocate for armed struggle as a means of overthrowing the capitalist system and creating a socialist society. In 1970, she helped Baader escape from prison by participating in a shooting at a library where he was allowed to study. She then joined him and his girlfriend Gudrun Ensslin in forming the RAF, also known as the Baader-Meinhof Group, a Marxist-Leninist urban guerrilla organization that carried out bombings, shootings, kidnappings and bank robberies against targets such as US military bases, police stations, embassies, corporations and politicians. Meinhof is credited with writing the main ideological document of the RAF, The Urban Guerilla Concept (1971), which outlined the strategy and tactics of the group. She also wrote several communiqués and letters from underground, explaining the motives and goals of the RAF. She was arrested in June 1972 after a police raid on an apartment in Hamburg where she was hiding with other RAF members. She was charged with multiple counts of murder, attempted murder and forming a criminal association. She was held in solitary confinement in Stammheim Prison near Stuttgart, where she was subjected to harsh conditions and psychological pressure. She attempted suicide several times and went on hunger strikes to protest her treatment. In November 1974, she was sentenced to eight years in prison for her involvement in Baader's escape. Meinhof continued to stand trial along with Baader, Ensslin and another RAF leader, Jan-Carl Raspe, for other crimes committed by the group. On May 9, 1976, she was found dead in her cell, hanging from a rope made from towels. The official verdict was suicide, but some of her supporters and relatives suspected that she was murdered by the state. Her death sparked a wave of violence and retaliation by the RAF and other left-wing groups, who accused the West German government of killing her. One year later, on April 7, 1977, two RAF members assassinated the Federal Attorney-General Siegfried Buback as revenge for her alleged murder. Meinhof remains a controversial figure in German history and culture. She is seen by some as a revolutionary martyr who fought against the injustices and oppression of the capitalist system. She is seen by others as a terrorist who betrayed her journalistic principles and caused the deaths of innocent people. Her life and death have inspired numerous books, films, documentaries, songs and artworks.