Red Army Faction

Red Army Faction
Rote Armee Fraktion
Later design of the RAF's insignia showing a red star and a Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine gun
Founder	Andreas Baader † Ulrike Meinhof † Gudrun Ensslin † Horst Mahler
Dates of operation	14 May 1970 – 20 April 1998 (1970-05-14 – 1998-04-20) (27 years, 11 months and 6 days)
Active regions	West Germany (until 1990) Germany (from 1990) France Netherlands Sweden
Ideology	Communism Marxism–Leninism Maoism[1][2] Revolutionary socialism Anti-fascism Anti-imperialism
Political position	Far-left
Allies	East Germany  PFLP  PLO Action Directe Brigate Rosse
Opponents	West Germany (until 1990)  Germany (from 1990)  United States
Battles and wars	West German Embassy siege in Stockholm German Autumn
Designated as a terrorist group by	West Germany

The Red Army Faction (RAF, German: [ɛʁʔaːˈʔɛf] ^ⓘ; German: Rote Armee Fraktion, pronounced [ˌʁoː.tə aʁˈmeː fʁakˌt͡si̯oːn] ^ⓘ),^[a] also known as the Baader–Meinhof Group or Baader–Meinhof Gang (German: Baader-Meinhof-Gruppe, Baader-Meinhof-Bande, German: [ˈbaːdɐ ˈmaɪ̯nˌhɔf ˈɡʁʊpə] ^ⓘ), was a West German far-left militant group founded in 1970 and active until 1998. The RAF described itself as a communist and anti-imperialist urban guerrilla group. It was engaged in armed resistance against what it considered a fascist state. Members of the RAF generally used the Marxist–Leninist term faction when they wrote in English.^[3] Early leadership included Andreas Baader, Ulrike Meinhof, Gudrun Ensslin, and Horst Mahler. The West German government considered the RAF a terrorist organization.^[b]

The RAF engaged in a series of bombings, assassinations, kidnappings, bank robberies, and shootouts with police over the course of three decades. Its activities peaked in late 1977, which led to a national crisis that became known as the "German Autumn". The RAF has been held responsible for 34 deaths, including industrialist Hanns Martin Schleyer, the Dresdner Bank head Jürgen Ponto, federal prosecutor Siegfried Buback, police officers, American servicemen stationed in Germany,^[4] as well as many cases of collateral damage, such as chauffeurs and bodyguards, with many others injured throughout its almost thirty years of activity; 26 RAF members or supporters were killed.^[4] Although better-known, the RAF conducted fewer attacks than the Revolutionary Cells, which is held responsible for 296 bomb attacks, arson and other attacks between 1973 and 1995.^[5] The group was motivated by leftist political concerns and the perceived failure of their parents' generation to confront Germany's Nazi past,^[4] and received support from Stasi and other Eastern Bloc security services.^{[6][dubious – discuss]}

Sometimes, the group is talked about in terms of generations:

• the "first generation", which consisted of Baader, Ensslin, Meinhof and others;
• the "second generation", after the majority of the first generation was arrested in 1972; and
• the "third generation", which existed in the 1980s and 1990s up to 1998, after the first generation died in Stammheim maximum security prison in 1977.

On 20 April 1998, an eight-page typewritten letter in German was faxed to the Reuters news agency, signed "RAF" with the submachine-gun red star, declaring that the group had dissolved.^[7] In 1999, after a robbery in Duisburg, evidence pointing to Ernst-Volker Staub and Daniela Klette was found, causing an official investigation into a re-founding.^[8]

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