PWI Editors Note: Much of this text was inspired by the work of Tom Vague in his book Televisionaries, which was used as one of the primary sources for this biography.

ANDREAS BAADER: Let The Gun Speak
By R. Wilson

1967
During a protest against the Berlin visit of the fascist shah of Iran, a young college student (Benno Ohnsberg) is executed on the street by the police. At a meeting later that night the future RAF founder and lover of Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, summed up the radical student feeling. “They’ll kill us all! You know what kind of pigs we are up against. This is the Auschwitz generation. You can’t argue with the people who made Auschwitz. They have weapons and we haven’t. We must arm ourselves!” Baader wasn’t at the protest because he was otherwise detained in a borstal (youth “apprentice” or detention center) for stealing a motorcycle.

1968
Gudrun and Andreas run hand in hand up the escalator of a large Frankfurt department store, roll around on the beds in the showroom, and plant timed incendiary devices all around. That night it burns to the ground, as does another nearby department store. They watched from the nearby cafe, the Club Voltaire. This was part of a campaign against the Vietnam War by attempting to share with the rich capitalists a little bit of the reality of war.
The two of them, along with Thorwald Proll and Horst Sohnlein, were arrested for the firebombings. After disrupting court quite a bit, they were all convicted and given 3 year sentences. Radical chic journalist, Urlike Meinhof, defended their actions in her widely read weekly column.

1969
The four are released on parole, but must return to prison if their appeal isn’t successful. Baader and Ensslin organize the Frankfurt Apprentices Collective, and again Meinhof championed their efforts. A popular student cause at the time was the plight of the young people in the state homes (borstals), and the student activists had built an underground for any young apprentices that ran away.

Baader was especially loved by the kids because, while most of the students attempted to educate the kids radically with Hegel, Marx, and Kant, Baader used his practical experience to give them a radical education of a somewhat different variety. He taught “sports”, which to him was stealing cars and racing them around the traffic circles, and he held “Go-Ins” on restaurants (and skipped the check). Baader dreamed of emptying all the homes in the Federal Republic, and unleashing an army of thousands of inmates. This happy period comes to an end when they are ordered back to jail, but go on the run instead.

1970
Baader lives all over Europe, tries to acquire machine guns, is betrayed by an infiltrator and captured. Urlike Meinhof finally gives up her career as a journalist to help a commando team of three secretly armed women and a masked gunman break Baader out of jail. Back on the run. The RAF releases a communique: “Did the pigs really think that we would let Comrade Baader languish in prison for 2 or 3 years?...Those who don’t defend themselves die, those who don’t die are buried alive in prisons... Start the armed resistance now, Build up the Red Army!”

Many of the core RAF then went to Amman, Jordan for formal guerilla training by the PLO. En route they were twice arrested by the Lebanese police and twice rescued by armed commando’s of the PLO. A rift occurred in camp when the Palestinians, many of whom had never seen a naked woman, were scandalised by the German girls, who would sunbathe nude on the roof. In answer Baader declares “The anti-imperialist struggle and sexual emancipation go hand-in-hand, fucking and shooting are the same thing!” Soon, as the Germans are also too wacked out crazy for the PLO guerilla’s, their welcome is worn out and they return to cause trouble in Europe.

The RAF is quite large at this point, and in the fall they simultaneously rob three banks, netting hundreds of thousands of DM. Would have been four, but one was closed. Unfortunately, in the huge police sweep following the raids, much of the core membership is arrested. Baader sums up “Now don’t shit in your pants, so the pigs got a few of us, that’s no reason to lose your nerve”. The survivors now focus on stealing cars, id’s, and blank passports, as well as acquiring machine guns, bombs, and pistols. Their popularity grows among those sick of passive protest, and marches, rallies, and graffiti art are done in their support.

1971
Baader makes plans to kidnap US, British and French Nato zone commanders, bombard police barracks with anti-aircraft guns, and rescue the RAF prisoners. Many more successful bank raids. Shootouts between RAF and police become common. Sweep checks, roadblocks, and house searches instituted around West Germany. Massive RAF bombing campaign begins in the fall/winter, again in Frankfurt first.

1972
Baader nearly caught, but produces shotgun. Still, even though he is the most wanted man in Europe, he cannot control his urge to drive crazily in expensive sports cars, and as such is routinely stopped by traffic cops, who he then has to shoot at. The RAF raid more banks, and begin a campaign against the US military. Officers clubs, military corporations, and damn near a whole air for base are destroyed by pipe and car bombs.

The German police got it’s big break when an anonymous tip told them that young people in big cars were bringing gas cylinders into a garage. Baader, Holger Meins, and Jan-Carl Raspe pull up to the garage the next day (in a Porsche Targa) and realize that they’re not alone. Raspe ran and was captured. Baader and Meins dove in the garage, and a huge firefight ensued. One of the surveillance cars was pushed up against the doors of the garage, Baader fired through its windows. Holes were knocked into the back of the shed. At this point Baader and Meins were laughing and waving their guns at the police.
Tear gas shot into the shed and all is quiet. The police, thinking they are about to surrender, remove the car, and Baader flings the grenades back out. Armoured car driven through shed, but it is repelled. Sniper gets Baader in the leg. Holger Meins surrenders, Baader stays put and runs out of ammo. The armored car crashes into the garage again, supported by an army of bullet-proof vested police. Even wounded it takes 4 police to move him. He emerges, still cool while being dragged with his sunglasses on.

1973-77
Special courtroom built onto Europe’s strongest prison, Stammheim, to try the RAF prisoners. A huge show trial commences, with much fun on both sides. Massive protests in the streets. In Stockholm, the West German Embassy is seized and their release demanded. Three separate plane hi-jackings by the PLO demanded their release, and leading German industrialist Shleyer was kidnapped and held with the same demands. The German govt. considered Baader, Meinhof, Ensslin, Heis, and Raspe too dangerous to let out for any reason, so in the end all of these efforts failed. They were all killed in their cells, and a clumsy attempt was made by the Germans to make it look like suicide. Riots and street battles follow news of their deaths.