Library:Ulrike Meinhof: The Biography: Difference between revisions

Ulrike Meinhof: The Biography
Ulrike Meinhof: The Biography
Author	Jutta Ditfurth
Translated by	Prolewiki
Original language	German
First published	2009

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Revision as of 20:34, 11 May 2024

Even so we realised
Hatred of oppression still distorts the features,
Anger at injustice still makes voices raised and ugly.
Oh we, who wished to lay for the foundations for peace and friendliness,
Could never be friendly ourselves.
And in the future when no longer
Do human beings still treat themselves as animals,
Look back on us with indulgence.

from Bertolt Brecht, "To those born afterward"'

Prisoner Liberator-West Berlin, May 14, 1970

She had put her twin daughters with friends, and now 35-year-old Ulrike Meinhof was waiting at a large table in the reading room of the German Central Institute for Social Issues in the West Berlin district of Dahlem. Wearing jeans and a sweater, she sat between chairs and half-height cabinets full of index cards. Her handbag contained a mortgage deed for 40,000 German marks. Her fingers nervously rolled the band on a pack of cigarettes. Sometimes she glanced out of the high window at the garden of the Wilhelminian style villa. Her fingers rolled the band tighter and tighter. Because of the man she was meeting, the institute was closed to other visitors. When she rang at eight o'clock on Thursday, May 14, 1970, she was expected. Since then, she has hurriedly leafed through index boxes and occasionally had books brought to her. She smoked and pretended to read.

Ulrike Meinhof had convinced the left-wing publisher Klaus Wagenbach to sign a contract with Andreas Baader and her for a book on the subject of “Organization of Marginalized Young People.” She was a well-known left-wing journalist who had been writing impressive reports and radio programs about institutionalized children for years. But in reality it was about something different this time: “We want to free Andreas from prison,” Ulrike Meinhof explained to Klaus Wagenbach. He had said yes, because he, like most leftists, supported the liberation of political prisoners. With the help of this book contract, Andreas Baader's lawyer Horst Mahler persuaded the prison management of the Berlin-Tegel correctional facility (JVA) to have his client taken to the institute in Dahlem in order to be able to work on the manuscript with the journalist.

Ulrike Meinhof was involved in the planning of this operation from the beginning. She helped decide that the liberators-initially all women-would carry weapons in order to intimidate Andreas Baader's escorts, who were also armed. But it was agreed that during the action they only wanted to threaten, not shoot. And Ulrike Meinhof had raised money for the weapons.

The circle around Ulrike Meinhof, Gudrun Ensslin, Andreas Baader, Horst Mahler and other leftists had discussed for months what the left should do next; the extra-parliamentary movement was in ruins; many groups were divided; The Spaßguerilla^[1] was exhausted and the Republican Club (RC), which had been an action center for the left for some time, had now become too academic again. At the end of the revolt, many comrades returned to civil life and concentrated on their careers at universities or in parties. The SDS had disbanded six weeks earlier. But in Vietnam, clouds of the defoliant Agent Orange from US Air Force planes continued to poison millions of people; Proxy wars also continued in other states in the so-called Third World. Words and explanations didn't seem to have any effect.

Many dissidents did not want to accept this decline in their rebellion, which had started out so promisingly. They came to a variety of conclusions: some founded communist organizations of various orientations, others continued the anti-authoritarian concept in grassroots groups. After long discussions, Ulrike Meinhof and her political friends agreed to build an urban guerrilla unit modeled after the Uruguayan Tupamaros. Meinhof knew full well that her decision to carry out illegal activities and occasionally use weapons would lead to a life that would force her, at least temporarily, underground. But the group had no plans to go underground just yet. Everyone wanted to continue their civil life for as long as possible.

In contrast to her mostly younger friends, Ulrike Meinhof had experienced what illegality could mean, as she had belonged to the banned and persecuted German Communist Party (KPD) for several years. This time it would be different. Different circumstances, harsher consequences. She prepared herself. She sorted out her circle of acquaintances. She broke off contact with people who did not approve of her decision. She warned others who wouldn't take part but wouldn't betray her either. She said to a friend: “Don’t come into the kitchen when you’re with us. You have nothing to do with what we're discussing there because you don't pick up a weapon."

Ulrike Meinhof was originally supposed to leave the institute around half an hour before the liberation and Andreas Baader was to sit alone in the reading room. She was supposed to appear uninvolved so that she could continue to live legally for the time being. There were good reasons for this: she enjoyed a certain reputation and reached many people with her journalistic work. With her political and professional connections, she could have been of use to an illegally operating left.

But a few days before Andreas Baader's liberation, Horst Mahler burst into a preparatory meeting with bad news. The head of the prison suddenly ordered that Baader was only allowed to stay in the library as long as Meinhof was present there. The group trusted Horst Mahler, so no one checked his information. The action now depended on whether Ulrike Meinhof would be willing to stay. She decided to join in. Four years later, she justified the liberation of Andreas Baader as that a revolutionary action was indispensable for the development of the urban guerrilla movement.

A few days before the prisoner was freed, she visited her sister Wienke, who was three years older than her, in Hesse. The sisters, war children and orphans, looked back on their shared political past in the Adenauer era. Ulrike Meinhof wanted at all costs to prevent her daughters from falling into the hands of her divorced husband Klaus Rainer Röhl, nor did she want them to live with Renate Riemeck, as for personal and political reasons, both of them had long maintained a decided distance from the professor of history, their former foster mother.

Wienke also had two daughters. The two sisters had promised each other that they would care for each other's children should circumstances require it. Ulrike Meinhof was reassured when her sister now willingly readily renewed her promise. She didn't tell anyone about the planned action and her sister didn't ask.

↑ Directly translated to "fun guerrilla", Spaßguerilla was a faction of the student protest movement in Germany that advocated for socially libertarian and against authority.

[1] Directly translated to "fun guerrilla", Spaßguerilla was a faction of the student protest movement in Germany that advocated for socially libertarian and against authority.

[1]

Library:Ulrike Meinhof: The Biography: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 20:34, 11 May 2024

Contents

Prisoner Liberator

A Very German Family

Childhood

Elementary School Student

Between Tents

Postwar Years

Foster Daughter

Beatnik

High School Graduate

Student

Nuclear Weapons Opponent

SDS Comrade

Communist

Editor

Editor-in-Chief and Wife

Mother of Twins

Anti-Fascist

Publicist

Anti-Authoritarian

Extra-Parliamentary Opposition

Filmmaker

Border Walker

Anti-Authoritarian Authority

Mother

Partisan

Bank Robber

Assassin

Prisoner

In Solitary Confinement

Object

Stammhein

Accused

Last Offensive

Death

Appendix

Prisoner Liberator-West Berlin, May 14, 1970

@@ Line 127: / Line 127: @@
 Thanks
+== Prisoner Liberator-West Berlin, May 14, 1970 ==
+She had put her twin daughters with friends, and now 35-year-old Ulrike Meinhof was waiting at a large table in the reading room of the German Central Institute for Social Issues in the West Berlin district of Dahlem. Wearing jeans and a sweater, she sat between chairs and half-height cabinets full of index cards. Her handbag contained a mortgage deed for 40,000 German marks. Her fingers nervously rolled the band on a pack of cigarettes. Sometimes she glanced out of the high window at the garden of the Wilhelminian style villa. Her fingers rolled the band tighter and tighter. Because of the man she was meeting, the institute was closed to other visitors. When she rang at eight o'clock on Thursday, May 14, 1970, she was expected. Since then, she has hurriedly leafed through index boxes and occasionally had books brought to her. She smoked and pretended to read.
+Ulrike Meinhof had convinced the left-wing publisher Klaus Wagenbach to sign a contract with Andreas Baader and her for a book on the subject of “Organization of Marginalized Young People.” She was a well-known left-wing journalist who had been writing impressive reports and radio programs about institutionalized children for years. But in reality it was about something different this time: “We want to free Andreas from prison,” Ulrike Meinhof explained to Klaus Wagenbach. He had said yes, because he, like most leftists, supported the liberation of political prisoners. With the help of this book contract, Andreas Baader's lawyer Horst Mahler persuaded the prison management of the Berlin-Tegel correctional facility (JVA) to have his client taken to the institute in Dahlem in order to be able to work on the manuscript with the journalist.
+Ulrike Meinhof was involved in the planning of this operation from the beginning. She helped decide that the liberators-initially all women-would carry weapons in order to intimidate Andreas Baader's escorts, who were also armed. But it was agreed that during the action they only wanted to threaten, not shoot. And Ulrike Meinhof had raised money for the weapons.
+The circle around Ulrike Meinhof, Gudrun Ensslin, Andreas Baader, Horst Mahler and other leftists had discussed for months what the left should do next; the extra-parliamentary movement was in ruins; many groups were divided; The Spaßguerilla<ref>Directly translated to "fun guerrilla", Spaßguerilla was a faction of the student protest movement in Germany that advocated for socially libertarian and against authority.</ref> was exhausted and the Republican Club (RC), which had been an action center for the left for some time, had now become too academic again. At the end of the revolt, many comrades returned to civil life and concentrated on their careers at universities or in parties. The SDS had disbanded six weeks earlier. But in Vietnam, clouds of the defoliant Agent Orange from US Air Force planes continued to poison millions of people; Proxy wars also continued in other states in the so-called Third World. Words and explanations didn't seem to have any effect.
+Many dissidents did not want to accept this decline in their rebellion, which had started out so promisingly. They came to a variety of conclusions: some founded communist organizations of various orientations, others continued the anti-authoritarian concept in grassroots groups. After long discussions, Ulrike Meinhof and her political friends agreed to build an urban guerrilla unit modeled after the Uruguayan Tupamaros. Meinhof knew full well that her decision to carry out illegal activities and occasionally use weapons would lead to a life that would force her, at least temporarily, underground. But the group had no plans to go underground just yet. Everyone wanted to continue their civil life for as long as possible.
+In contrast to her mostly younger friends, Ulrike Meinhof had experienced what illegality could mean, as she had belonged to the banned and persecuted German Communist Party (KPD) for several years. This time it would be different. Different circumstances, harsher consequences. She prepared herself. She sorted out her circle of acquaintances. She broke off contact with people who did not approve of her decision. She warned others who wouldn't take part but wouldn't betray her either. She said to a friend: “Don’t come into the kitchen when you’re with us. You have nothing to do with what we're discussing there because you don't pick up a weapon."
+Ulrike Meinhof was originally supposed to leave the institute around half an hour before the liberation and Andreas Baader was to sit alone in the reading room. She was supposed to appear uninvolved so that she could continue to live legally for the time being. There were good reasons for this: she enjoyed a certain reputation and reached many people with her journalistic work. With her political and professional connections, she could have been of use to an illegally operating left.
+But a few days before Andreas Baader's liberation, Horst Mahler burst into a preparatory meeting with bad news. The head of the prison suddenly ordered that Baader was only allowed to stay in the library as long as Meinhof was present there. The group trusted Horst Mahler, so no one checked his information. The action now depended on whether Ulrike Meinhof would be willing to stay. She decided to join in. Four years later, she justified the liberation of Andreas Baader as that a revolutionary action was indispensable for the development of the urban guerrilla movement.
+A few days before the prisoner was freed, she visited her sister Wienke, who was three years older than her, in Hesse. The sisters, war children and orphans, looked back on their shared political past in the Adenauer era. Ulrike Meinhof wanted at all costs to prevent her daughters from falling into the hands of her divorced husband Klaus Rainer Röhl, nor did she want them to live with Renate Riemeck, as for personal and political reasons, both of them had long maintained a decided distance from the professor of history, their former foster mother.
+Wienke also had two daughters. The two sisters had promised each other that they would care for each other's children should circumstances require it. Ulrike Meinhof was reassured when her sister now willingly readily renewed her promise. She didn't tell anyone about the planned action and her sister didn't ask.