German Autumn (1977)

The German Autumn refers to a period in West Germany (September‒October 1977) when the Red Army Faction did a series of terrorist attacks. The Red Army Faction was a far-left terrorist group. 

Overview

The German Autumn involved the kidnapping and murder of German industrialist Hanns Martin Schleyer, the hijacking of Lufthansa Flight 181, and the suicides of the jailed Red Army Faction members.

Events

Murder of Jürgen Ponto

On July 30, 1977, Jürgen Ponto, Dresdner Bank AG's spokesman, was murdered in a failed kidnapping attempt. RAF member Susanne Albrecht, who knew Ponto personally, visited him along with Brigitte Mohnhaupt and Christian Klar. Unaware of Albrecht's beliefs, Ponto hosted her at his home. When Ponto resisted the kidnapping, Klar and Mohnhaupt shot him several times. The three fled the scene.

Kidnapping of Hanns-Martin Schleyer

On September 5, 1977, Hanns Martin Schleyer, President of the Confederation of German Employers' Associations and the Federation of German Industries, was kidnapped in Cologne. His driver and three police officers were murdered. The kidnappers demanded the release of eleven jailed terrorists of their group.

Lufthansa Flight 181 hijacking

As the German government did not give in to the blackmail, terrorists from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, allied with the Red Army Faction, hijacking Lufthansa Flight 181 on October 13, 1977. 

They murdered the pilot Captain Jürgen Schumann, and landed the plane at Somalia's Mogadishu International Airport, where it was stormed by the West German counter-terrorism unit GSG 9 on October 18 at around 00:05 Central European Time (CET). 

Later that morning, a special report on Deutschlandfunk announced that "all hostages have been freed. We do not yet know whether there were any dead or injured among them..." All 87 hostages were rescued, including four of the five crew members. Three of the hijackers were killed and one hijacker heavily wounded.

Footnotes

References

Category:Cold War
Category:Terrorism
Category:History of Germany