Original subtitles

SYLT JUNE 1967

Hello!

Come on now, sweethearts, out of the water!

Oh, mama, just a little more!

You're coming out now, right away!

You are already blue.

Oh, she's pretty, who are they?

This is the Shah of Persia and his wife.

Ah, my three graces.

Dad, what is a shah?

It's something like an emperor.

A shah is allowed to chop off the head of all people he doesn't like!

Come on, don't always tell the children such nonsense.

Truth is reasonable for man.

You can't joke with something like that.

Hello Klaus.

So, how's the revolution going?

At the moment - on vacation.

You will come to our party later, won't you?

Sure we will.

Well, see you then.

Yes.

Oh, Klaus, stop doing that.

Woohoo!

- Yes, you see, there we go! - You're totally getting on our nerves.

Yes, not bad either, at least she's smiling.

The Shah and Empress Farah had landed at 11:05 a.m.

with a special flight at Tempelhof Airport.

Upon arrival Empress Farah wore a fox-red complet with a black and white striped hat.

Stefan.

Hello, Stefan!

During the presentation march,

Shah Reza Pahlavi inspected the honor guard of Berlin's police force.

Stefan, my friend.

Fresh off the presses.

Okay.

Everybody listen up.

My star columnist

and smart wife has written an open letter to Her Majesty Farah Diba.

Now don't make a show of it again.

Come on, Ricky Baby.

This will be published in the next issue of Konkret.

But 5,000 of these leaflets have already been distributed at the universities.

Alright then.

"Good day Mrs. Pahlavi.

You tell about your Iranian homeland that it's very hot there in summertime.

And you, like most Persians, go to the Caspian Sea with your family.

'Like most Persians.'

Isn't that an exaggeration?

Most Persians are farmers with an annual income of less than 100 Marks.

And most Persian women

lose every second child to hunger, poverty, and disease.

And also the children who weave carpets in 14-hour days, do they too,

most of them, go to the Persian Riviera on the Caspian Sea in the summer?

You write that the Shah of Persia must have a son.

The Iranian constitution, you write, is very strict about this.

Strange that the Shah is otherwise so unconcerned about the constitution

that not a single uncensored line may be published in Persia.

That Mossadegh's minister of justice's eyes were torn out.

That court trials are held to the exclusion of the public.

That torture is part of everyday life in the Persian judiciary.

We don't want to insult you.

But we also do not wish

the German public to be insulted by articles like yours in the "Neue Revue".

Yours respectfully, Ulrike Meinhof."

Long live the Shah!

Shah, shah, charlatan! Shah, shah, charlatan!

Shah, Shah, charlatan!

Murderer!

Shah, shah, charlatan!

Tyrant!

Is he crazy or what?

Fascists!

Are you crazy?

Man, do something.

Don't touch me, motherfucker!

Hey, stop it!

Is there a doctor around here somewhere?

- Is there a doctor around here? - Let us through here!

- We need a doctor! - See what's going on here!

Are you guys stupid or what? Just look at that woman!

Can you help us? We have an injured person here!

What are you doing?

It just went off on me.

Are you insane?

Let's get out of here.

He needs a doctor.

It went on very peacefully and very privately at a fashion reception in a...

Has anyone seen my husband?

It was the personal wish of the Persian empress to get an

overview of the achievements in the fashionable field in Berlin...

Where is the bath?

Up the stairs.

Hello Ricky baby.

I didn't mean to interrupt.

They shot one of us!

They shot one of us!

Hey, listen up!

The cops shot one of us!

What do you mean by that?

They just shot him down!

These fascists want to kill us all!

This is the generation of Auschwitz, you can't argue with them!

They have weapons and we don't.

We have to arm ourselves!

Mrs. Meinhof, you have taken the side of the demonstrating students.

Why?

In the right-wing press, the blame for the disaster on June 2nd

has been put on the students themselves.

The Springer group in particular tries in its newspaper

to demonize the critical voices of the student body as rowdies and rioters.

"For these rowdies, noise is no longer enough, they need to see blood."

But the truth is that the protests of these students

have exposed our state as a police state.

That police and press terror reached its peak on June 2nd in Berlin.

And that we have realized that freedom in this state

is freedom for the police's truncheons.

But Mrs. Meinhof, with all due respect.

We all know that Kurras shot Ohnesorg dead and that Kurras will be acquitted.

This is pure demagogy.

This...

this is demagogy.

BATTLE FOR JERUSALEM

While America is discussing the use of nuclear weapons in Vietnam,

Israel, with the help of the Americans, is plunging into a war of aggression,

which is shamelessly dubbed here as a preemptive war.

I think it's Israel's right to defend its country.

Then I guess Hitler's attacks on Poland, France and Russia were also preemptive.

That's completely one-sided.

This is not the way to discuss, Mrs. Meinhof,

with all due respect, I must say.

Now, please take the child into consideration.

This woman is not having a factual discussion.

How can you say such a thing?

American imperialism will stop at nothing!

First Vietnam, Bolivia and now the Middle East.

America has been pumping Israel full of weapons for years.

Every combat aircraft, every missile, every tank,

everything comes from the US and the Western industrialized countries.

Do you think the Americans are doing this out of humanitarianism?

Those bastards are just doing it to control the oil fields in the Middle East.

Now leave it!

They don't give a damn if tens of thousands of people kick the bucket.

I'm sorry, I have to go to church now.

Yes? But then also preach that over half the world's population

don't have enough to eat, while others bathe themselves in luxury.

That there is no point in just praying for a better world!

That they have to fucking fight back!

You should get married soon.

Ulrike, wait!

Wait!

At last.

Hello baby!

Well, Kitty?

So, here we go.

I hope that's enough.

What are you doing?

Why?

- Like this. - Hey!

What?

Well, I think we want to scorch the department store, not torch it!

Only hard actions get you somewhere, otherwise you can shit on it.

The wankers have to understand that we ain't bluffing.

What if there are still people in the store?

Now don't act like some half-gay chick.

Who's going to be in there in the middle of the night?

And if there is, then there's a fatter headline.

- Are you crazy or what? - Shut the fuck up!

Andreas knows what he's doing.

Open up already!

All right.

On my way.

Police, you're under arrest.

Police.

What's going on, man?

Police. Get up, put your hands behind your back!

- You are under arrest for arson. - Hey, hey, hey!

Good morning.

Under the continuing bombardment of U.S. planes on alleged Viet Cong positions,

the civilian population suffers most,

The harrowing images have prompted student protests in the U.S.,

especially at universities.

Thousands are also demonstrating against the Vietnam War in West Germany,

as here in Berlin, where anarchist Rudi Dutschke,

head of the extraparliamentary opposition, is mobilizing resistance.

Comrades, we don't have much time left!

In Vietnam, we are being crushed every day!

Vietnam is in tragic loneliness!

It is not a matter, says Che,

of wishing success to the victim of aggression,

but of participating in his fate.

To accompany it either to death or to victory.

From German soil...

From German soil wars are still being prepared!

The Germans help and garrison towns are turned by the American military power

into bases for the war in Vietham!

We will not allow the German government to be abused

by the Americans as a henchman for their imperialist war in Vietnam!

Rudi.

- You're Ulrike Meinhof, right? - Yes.

That forces us to start legally not legitimate actions, sabotage and blockade!

We protest against this conference!

Ladies and gentlemen, this conference is over!

Get lost!

Reactionary!

Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh!

Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh!

Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh!

Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh!

Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh!

Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh!

Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh!

Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh!

Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh!

Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh!

Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh!

Are you Rudi Dutschke?

Yes, I am.

You dirty communist pig!

He has a gun, get down!

He is dead. Let him live.

Father, mother, I have to go to the hairdresser.

I have to go to the hairdresser.

Look at that.

When it comes to dying, that one also calls for father and mother.

He went down there!

He hast to be here somewhere!

Take cover!

Come out with your hands up!

I can't stand communists.

Rudi Dutschke is undergoing yet another emergency surgery at the hour.

According to doctors, one of the two bullets could be removed from his head.

Meanwhile, young people are forming demonstrations across the country,

accusing the Springer publishing group of being complicit

in the assassination attempt against Rudi Dutschke.

Springer, murderers!

Springer, murderers!

Springer, murderers! Springer, murderers!

Rudi Dutschke! Rud...

I would't have thought that you'd be part in something like this!

This is the police...

You are illegally trespassing on private property!

Leave the premises immediately!

Leave the premises immediately!

Come with us!

Mrs. Meinhof?

What are you doing here?

Release her! Mrs. Meinhof is a journalist.

You fucking cops.

Dresden!

Hiroshima!

Vietnam!

Dresden!

Hiroshima!

Vietnam!

In a battle with the Bolivian army and the CIA

Che Guevara was captured and then murdered.

Yesterday, Martin Luther King fell victim to an assassination attempt.

Republican candidate Richard Nixon becomes the 37th President of the United States.

On Mexico City's Square of the Three Cultures,

5,000 students and workers demonstrate.

2,000 soldiers sealed off the square and fired into the crowd.

...With up to 500 dead.

...with the first Soviet vehicles.

Half an hour later came 100...

Students have described the events in Paris these days as a cultural revolution.

The state speaks of anarchy.

The more I hear clamor of this sort,

the clearer it becomes to me how necessary it is to establish order in our country.

In agreement with Andreas Baader, I'd like to make a statement.

He and I did this in the Schneider department store.

We placed the incendiary device.

We did it to protest

the apathy with which people watch the genocide in Vietnam.

We learned that talk without action is wrong.

Silence, please!

Silence, please!

Mr. Mahler...

Mr. Mahler, could you do the Court the honor

of letting it participate in your conversation?

I don't suspect that the judges are able

to comprehend the thinkings of Miss Ensslin and Mr. Baader.

Otherwise, you would have to take off your robes

and head the protest movement.

Silence!

Silence, please!

As father of Gudrun you belong to the generation

which your daughter wanted to admonish.

What she wanted to say is this:

A generation that experienced first hand how, in the name of the people,

concentration camps are built, anti-Semitism, genocide,

cannot allow that new beginning, reformation, new birth are wasted.

How was your relationship with your daughter

before the crime and how is it now?

For me it was astonishing that Gudrun,

who always thought very rationally and cleverly,

almost reached the state of a euphoric self-realization as a result of the deed.

Of a sacred self-realization.

I sense that with her deed she has achieved something liberating, even in the family.

Suddenly I feel myself freed from a constriction and also fear

that had determined my life before.

She released me from my fears.

If you throw one stone, it's a punishable offense.

If 1,000 stones are thrown, it is a political action.

If you set a car on fire, it's a punishable offense.

If hundreds of cars are set on fire, it is a political action.

Protest is when I say such and such doesn't suit me.

Resistance is when I ensure that what doesn't suit me no longer takes place.

Thank you for making that possible.

That's okay.

I'm familiar with your columns.

Do you think that with actions like the department store fire,

you can stop the genocide in Vietnam??

No.

In that sense the action was a mistake.

But I have already said that in court.

Look at it as rebellion.

This time we won't sit idly as Fascism spreads like under Hitler.

This time we will put up resistance.

We have a historical responsibility.

The people in our country and in America, they have to eat, eat and shop,

so they don't ever get the idea to reflect.

So that they just don't come to consciousness.

Otherwise they might have to do something at some point.

Is that why you set fire to the department store?

I will never resign myself to the fact that nothing is done.

Never.

If they shoot our people like Ohnesorg and Dutschke,

then we will shoot back in the future.

That is only consistent.

You can't be serious.

All over the world, comrades are fighting with guns in their hands.

We must declare solidarity with them.

But we do.

Even if the Fascists throw you in jail for it?

Such sacrifices have to be made.

Or maybe you think that your theoretical masturbation will change anything?

Sorry, I didn't mean it like that.

I have something for you, assholes!

Stop it, there is no point!

Do you see that?

Come on! Come on!

I'm burning! I'm burning!

Cop, are you afraid of fire or what?

Smoke them!

Tear gas!

Is Baader or Gudrun here?

Gudrun's upstairs.

Oh, sorry.

Hello.

Who are you?

My name is Peter Boock.

I am Gudrun.

Did you run away?

Youth detention center.

Same as the others.

They are all coming to us now,

we are putting together something ourselves here.

Can I take a bath later?

Come on in, no waste of water.

You can tell me about yourself.

Where did you get that?

Gllckstadt juvi.

I heard about it, you guys almost burned the place down.

The scumbags almost beat us to death for it.

If they catch me, I won't get out until I'm 21.

Don't worry, you're family now.

You guys got busted for arson, right?

Yes, we did.

But they let us out pending the appeal.

One of the conditions was that we do social work.

And we are doing that now.

I think that's great.

Andreas and I might have to disappear again in case our appeal is rejected.

Tell me, am I seeing this right?

You want to fuck my woman?

Hey, Kitty?

Ey!

Andreas, this is Peter.

What happened to you?

He got that from the bastard educators in Glicksstadt.

We'll tear them a new ass, too.

Great leather jacket.

Here, you can have it.

And now get going, we're going to Darmstadt. We'll party!

We don't have enough cars.

Oh, then we'll steal two more. Or three.

Only a gun makes it fun!

Go ahead! Fire away!

Fire away!

WIESBADEN FEDERAL CRIMINAL POLICE OFFICE

Our people need extraordinary effort to understand each other.

We want to dare more democracy.

These words by the new Chancellor Willy Brandt at his inauguration,

reconcile the student body and end the riots in the Federal Republic

which have been going on for almost three years.

His promises of reform had a calming effect at universities

and create the basis for integrating the extraparliamentary opposition

into the democratic processes.

And what do you think?

I think the spook is over.

The mass movement has long lost its momentum.

You see, I don't think that.

I think that groups that find the conditions oppressive,

and I mean existentially oppressive,

will not hesitate to throw bombs at what

they see as the society's rigid mentality.

ROME FEBRUARY 1970

Look,

are you looking for us?

Gudrun?

Andreas.

Hello Astrid.

The lawyer.

And? What are your plans now? What should be the next steps?

Say, can't you talk normally?

Or do you think that all Interpol is after us,

just because those bums in Frankfurt rejected our appeal?

Anyway, Andreas and I are not going back to jail.

Then come back to Berlin, illegally.

- We're forming a new group. - What kind of group should that be?

- Probably all clowns. - We're further than you think.

A lot has happened since you guys left. We have good contacts.

Apartments, papers, money, weapons, we can get it all.

Yes, and probably all under your leadership.

Mr. Lawyer and the illegal underground life.

I could shit myself.

Baby, at least let him finish.

Oh, he can't even steal an old granny's dog.

That is relatively unobjective now in the situation.

How is Dutschke actually doing?

He's living in London now, is still disabled, can hardly speak.

Since the assassination attempt, no one really knows how to continue the fight.

Bullshit! Rudi was already finished, before somebody shot at him. APO wanker!

Let's see what you are made of.

Huh?

Empty the old one's bag before she returns.

- Baby! - Give it a rest!

I just want to see if our lawyer has any guts.

It's all just talk after all.

Oh, man!

Holy shit, they're stealing my car!

Hey, stop, you fucking wops!

Shit!

You stupid chick must have left the car unlocked again!

Calm down, we'll steal a new one.

You cunts! Cunts! Damn it!

What?

What are you doing here?

And you?

You can call the cops.

Where's Ulrike?

In bed.

Where is the bedroom?

Back there.

Hold on.

Be quiet, you'll wake up the kids.

We're back.

But you're wanted.

So what? Can we stay here for now?

Yeah, sure.

We're looking for people here in Berlin and also in other cities.

We're forming a group.

We're going to change the political conditions.

How is that going to be done?

What kind of fucking bourgeois question is that?

We'll do it.

Or we'll die trying.

So, I've had enough for today, where can I crash?

I'll join you later.

Hey.

What does he mean by that?

He means exactly what he said.

Andreas makes no compromises.

You have to understand,

Andreas has more revolutionary drive than all of us together.

That sounds pretty stoned.

You look exhausted.

I shot a film in a girls' reformatory where they are treated like dirt.

I thought I could change the girls' situation with it,

but it all remained the same old shit.

Except Peggy ran away.

What we need is a new morale.

You have to draw a clear line between you and those you want to fight.

You have to get out of the system and burn all the bridges behind you.

And your son?

I mean, you can't see him anymore.

If you're serious, you have to be able to make such sacrifices.

Andreas has a little daughter as well.

I could never leave my children.

You're on fire, you're on fire!

Get out of here! Get out of here!

Now that would be a yellow press headline!

"Arsonist burns his balls off."

Go ahead, I'm going to get a new car quickly.

- Don't race this time. - Yeah, piss off already.

Shit.

Do you know how fast you were going?

Nope, do you?

Show your papers, please.

Also the vehicle documents, please.

This, eh...

I'm sorry about that, Officer, my friend must have forgotten to put them in.

You live in Rome, Mr. Hoger?

Yeah.

When were you born?

June 14th 19...

39.

You do not seem to be completely sure.

Well, that was a while ago.

- Hey. - Hey, so?

They took him to Moabit prison.

We have to get him out of there.

Count me in.

Me too.

And how, with a bed sheet?

You can write about it afterwards, you are not capable of anything else anyway.

Maybe Andreas should just do his ten months remaining sentence.

Don't say that kind of bullshit.

The liberation of prisoners is currently at the center of political discussion.

You have to teach the pigs that we do something

when they jail one of us.

We'll get Andy out of there!

Now!

In any case, we can't get into prison.

I know a publisher, I have a book contract with him.

MOABIT PRISON

Good day.

This is Dr. Gretel Weitemeier,

the editor from the publishing house that is putting out our book.

- Pleased to meet you. - The pleasure's mine.

Bam!

Are you crazy?

Man, it's just tear gas.

Hm, looks real, doesn't it?

Where did you get it?

From Gudrun, she got one for everybody.

And who is that, "everybody"?

That would be treason.

Then let me tell you: Gudrun, Astrid and Ingrid...

- I need an aspirin. - Ulrike.

She's just doing the decoy.

You told me you weren't going along with this.

I want to know what's going on.

So?

Mahler arranged that Andreas and I can do research

for a book in the Institute for Social Issues.

What do you mean, they're letting him out of jail?

Under police surveillance, of course.

And that's where we come in.

In the institute,

we stick our gun under the noses of the two cops, and Baader is out the door.

And you?

Why, what should be? I just remain seated and act surprised.

You'll have her back for lunch.

You are all women.

What if the policemen don't take you seriously at all?

Mahler knows another real pro. And he's in it as well.

Mahler says he's already done some hardcore shit.

I don't believe it.

The cops have real guns, not that junk.

This is madness.

I have to do this now.

Mr. Baader,

I must expressly point out to you that we must make use of the firearm

in the event of an attempted escape.

You don't have to worry about that.

I saw you on TV recently.

I hope it was interesting.

Yes, very.

Do you need anything else?

Thank you, I'm fine.

Hello.

Hello.

Sit down.

Can I have a cup of coffee?

Of course.

Are you married?

Do you have kids?

Yes, wife and kids.

Ah,

So, I would say we'll start right away.

We now have...

I asked you yesterday to come in the afternoon.

The reading room is occupied at the moment.

Then we'll just wait here.

- Might take a while. - We have time.

In a subsequent conversation...

Come on, quick!

Hey! What are you doing here?

Shit.

Hands up!

Against the wall there!

Come on, Kitty!

Gudrun! Help me!

Get down there!

Just stay there!

"KONKRET" 15TH ANNIVERSARY

...at the German Central Institute for Social Issues at Miquelstrasse 83.

According to reports so far,

the kidnappers first shot tear gas through the institute's open door,

then pushed the institute staff aside and freed Baader at gunpoint.

According to latest reports, an institute employee was critically injured

- by a gunshot to the abdomen. - My god, the kids.

We say, the guy in the uniform is a pig, not a human being.

And we have to deal with him that way.

This means we don't talk to him.

And it's wrong to talk to these people at all.

And of course it's O.K. to shoot.

What we're doing, and what we want to show,

is that armed confrontations are feasible,

that it is possible to take actions where we win.

And not where the other side is winning.

And where, of course, the important thing is that they don't catch us.

That's part of the success of the story, so to speak.

What's the next step?

The group around Andreas is getting bigger.

The Palestinians want to help us.

You want to go to el-Fatah?

You should come.

The cops are looking for you.

They think you were shooting.

How do you want to know that?

I still have many friends.

Where are the children?

Klaus has now gotten custody because I am wanted.

But he still won't get the children.

But who?

They are on their way to Italy to friends of Gudrun and Andy.

You once said that you could never leave the children.

Yes, that's what I said.

So, think about coming with us.

JORDAN 1970

The lawyer looking very Fidel Castro!

- Welcome, Andreas. Hi Gudrun! - Where's the Havana cigar?

This is Ahmed, the commander.

The men sleep here in the building, the women there.

What?

These are the rules here in the camp.

You can stick your rules up your ass. We sleep together, there!

What does that Ali say?

Forget it, come on.

So everybody in there, take any bed!

Everybody into that house here.

Fucking hell!

This has nothing to do with our job!

This has nothing to do with our job!

We are urban guerrillas, got it?

We don't have any deserts!

Yes, tell the camel driver what we're after is bank jobs! Bank jobs!

Bank boxes!

Tell him that!

What are you laughing at?

We were just admiring your pants.

Got a bit dirty.

I'll finish you off, you cocksucker!

Baby, leave it.

He's one of us.

Not him, he is not one of us.

He's only here because he's scared of the cops in Germany.

Come on, Petra.

SICILY

You want to go back, right?

So this means you're giving up.

These people here are at war.

What's that got to do with our situation in West Germany?

Do you seriously think

you can start a revolution in Germany with a Kalashnikov in your hand?

West Germany is only one front.

We are fighting together with comrades all over the world

against injustice and against oppression. I thought you knew.

Then why not start with your kids?

You've gone underground. What's to become of them?

Sooner or later it will come out that I was not present at the Baader liberation.

Then I can go back to legality.

I could take care of the kids.

That sounds an awful lot like betrayal.

Betrayal?

Of whom?

Take care of yourself.

What? It's gotta be fun!

He doesn't want to give us any more ammunition.

Then we'll go on strike.

What do they have to stare at?

Yeah, they've probably never seen a naked woman before.

Hey, look who's coming.

What happens to traitors?

People's court.

What did he say?

He wants us to put some clothes on.

Hey, what the fuck is this repressive group here?

Sexual liberation and anti-imperialist fight go together, you know?

He can't understand that at all, baby.

Fucking and shooting are the same.

Abu Hassan is the commander of all camps.

He wants to give you the chance to hear what your people are saying.

Also about you.

He wants to help us get back to Germany.

And what about weapons, logistics?

Translate what I said.

So, right now I don't think he'll help. Maybe later.

Asswipe.

Don't worry,

we'll get you out of here.

WEST BERLIN

- Hands up! - This is a robbery!

Hands up!

All down!

This is a robbery! Hands up!

Get away from the window!

Put all the bills in here!

Move over to the wall.

Robbery!

Robbery!

In West Berlin, three banks were robbed within 10 minutes today.

The Sparkasse on Breitenbachplatz

was invaded by three masked men and a woman carrying a sawed-off shotgun.

At 08:10, four men entered, they were dressed in parkas and...

The robbers looted about 200,000 Marks.

There was already a suspicion that the perpetrators

who carried out the three bank robberies

were to be sought in left-wing extremist militant circles.

Police later found a bag of masks made from bobble hats.

They left a leaflet that said: "Expropriate the enemies of the people.”

217,449 Marks 50.

Not bad for ten minutes.

Ulrike should write something. A statement.

To make it clear that this is the money of capitalists.

That the average Joe is not affected by this.

Yes, okay, write some shit like that.

The liberal jerk-offs love that shit.

Hey, hey, the police discovered another box

with 97,000 Marks in the Altona Sparkasse.

You must have overlooked it, huh?

Typical cunt.

Fucking chick, you can not pay attention or what?

- Did I miss anything? - Shit-for-brains!

And you want to be part of the revolution?

Your children are gone.

What?

I just called Sicily.

The guy who picked them up even knew the code word.

- Hey sweethearts! - That was Peter, the traitor pig.

- No, he didn't know anything. - Who brought them down there?

You betrayed the children, huh?

Admit it!

I'm going to count to three,

then I'll know who took the kids and where they are,

otherwise you can scratch your birdbrain off the floor.

So.

- One. Two. - I told Peter.

But he didn't take the children. He's a wanted man, after all.

Who was it then?

Who was it then?

Some friend of him, former "konkret" editor, I don't know him at all.

I don't know more than that, really.

- Man, they are comrades. - Shut up. They are rats.

We're going there now, and you check if there's police.

Meinhof and Baader want to kill you because of the children.

- What? - They are waiting downstairs in the car.

Man, get him out of here.

Peter, wake up! Wake up, Baader is coming!

- What? - Come on, we have to get out of here.

Come on, let's get out of here. You have to get up!

No one there.

Don't fuck with me.

Have a look yourself.

- Peter, take the back exit. - Okay.

Go, go, go.

- All is well. - We'll get that son of a bitch.

Evening!

I think tonight we need a hotel.

Some say robbing banks is not political.

But since when is question of financing

a political organization not a political question?

The urban guerrillas in Latin America call bank robberies expropriation actions.

In the robbery of the Bayerische Hypobank, the perpetrators used extreme brutality.

When a security guard got in their way...

It is politically correct because it is eminent domain.

It is strategically correct because it serves to finance the guerrillas.

In the process, passport forms, ID cards,

official seals and stationery were stolen.

I believe the Baader-Meinhof group pushes the revolutionary ideas to some degree.

The other groups just sit there and blather.

Hello, what are you doing there?

Hey, this is my car.

Hey, stop there.

There were five people arrested yesterday.

Lawyer Horst Mahler, student Peggy Schoenau, paralegal...

In the young woman's handbag, police found a Belgian pistol.

...illegal possession of a weapon and forgery of license plates and papers,

car jacking and aiding an escape, burglary, theft, robbery,

and attempted murder within a criminal organization.

Robberies in Mülheim, Dortmund and Constance

are attributed to the same group of perpetrators.

Show me your ID.

...found various calibers. Nine millimeter, 7.65...

All are armed.

Wanted for attempted murder of police officers,

for involvement in bank robberies, and for forgery of passports.

...was hit in the process, the second was uninjured,

but both were are arrested.

The fugitive couple, on whose arrest a reward of 10,000 Marks is offered,

so far could not...

Would you hide a Baader Meinhof member from the police?

- Tough. Tough question. - Yes, I would do that,

It's too early to say how often these guns were used...

...finally also won in a manhunt that has gone through almost all the newspapers.

...yesterday the trial of Astrid Berger began.

Many of the spectators expressed their sympathies by chanting.

According to a poll by the Allensbach Institute,

one in four Germans under 30 has some sympathy for the RAF.

That is about seven million people.

That amounts to an enormous pool of sympathizers,

which makes the search for perpetrators tremendously difficult.

Lobster soup.

This is a proposal for electronic data processing.

Let me give you an example to explain what I mean.

Terrorists living in illegality are, of course,

not registered with any authority, such as registration offices.

Therefore, they cannot set up a bank account.

So they pay their rents in cash.

Are you not hungry?

They pay everything in cash.

Gas, water, and electricity bills.

In Frankfurt alone, 16,000 customers pay their electricity bill in cash.

We can delete everyone from the file who is registered with the

residents' registration office or with a health insurance company.

And then?

Then further data matches and deletions follow, for example,

to whom a vehicle is registered or who receives child support.

The grid zooms in on people.

In the end, only two or three suspects remain in the grid.

This is a mathematical certainty.

This procedure put into practice is of course

much more complicated than it can be presented here in short.

Thank you very much, also for the good soup.

You will hear from us immediately.

- Please give my regards to the Minister. - With pleasure.

In the long run, it does no good to bash heads or, as some demand,

to chop off heads.

Terrorism is simply responding to the problems that objectively exist.

Of course, with methods that no human being can accept.

Not the police,

but the political powers have to change the conditions

that lead to the rise of terrorism.

At least that is my opinion.

Shit.

Step on it!

- Stop! - Watch out, they're taking off!

Freeze!

Hands up!

You too. Man, get lost!

Petra, run!

Drop the gun!

Kiss my ass!

Stop, girl, stop!

Don't do anything stupid. Hands up!

Switch. Switch to channel one.

Hello Werner, you can't come in here now.

Excuse me, this is my apartment.

You said for one night.

Come on, now don't get so upset, tomorrow we'll be gone.

All right. Tomorrow.

...two occupants, male and female, the vehicle was hot-wired, by the way...

- What's going on? - ... SO a stolen vehicle.

The two of them immediately...

This is Petra's car.

...the police officers opened fire.

The woman, after a shoot-out with the police,

which she initiated, and after ignoring calls by police

to lay down her weapon and cease fire, was fatally wounded.

Shit.

This means war.

Those pigs. They'll pay for this!

Shot in cold blood.

Clearly, there's a shoot-to-kill order.

They're hunting us down.

We have to attack the cops head-on.

Blow up police helicopters, fire on departments.

Something!

That contradicts our main policy.

I don't give a damn about the main policy.

Namely, the armed combat against imperialism, and that means concretely

against the U.S. military presence in the Federal Republic and in West Berlin.

Soon there will be more of us in jail than free.

We need to be more planned and prudent.

What do you want this to look like, please?

We need more precautions.

We can't just go into a different city

and start an action without being familiar with the locality.

Otherwise, it wouldn't have happened with Petra.

The setbacks were down to individuals. It's not the overall planning.

If there is no result, mistakes must have been made.

Well, of course mistakes have been made, but by individuals, not the group!

So individuals have to change, not the group!

All this mindless scrambling, this rush.

If it doesn't work here, let's quickly try the next city.

It has never been considered why something doesn't work out.

You cunts! Your emancipation!

It's only about screaming at your men!

Baby,

you can't know that at all.

General Daniel Chase, division leader at the Pentagon,

declared yesterday in Washington that U.S. Air Force bombing raids will from now on

spare no target north or south of the 17th parallel.

The deployment of chemicals for deforestation...

For the extermination strategists of Vietnam,

West Germany and West Berlin shall no longer be safe havens.

They must know that their crimes against the Vietnamese people

have created new bitter enemies.

That for them there will no longer be a place in the world

where they can be safe from the attacks of revolutionary guerrilla units.

At 610 p.m. sharp, at intervals of about...

We demand a stop of the bombings in Vietnam.

We demand the withdrawal of American troops from Indochina.

We demand the lifting of the mine blockade against North Vietnam.

AUGSBURG POLICE HEADQUARTER

...sentenced to life imprisonment for allegedly

shooting police officer Herbert Schoner.

...been hit by at least three bullets,

one of which entered his chest and the other hit a major artery in the thigh...

...we know that the other one, the injured man who also shot, is the 25-year-old...

...is guilty, stated the court.

He shot police officer Heinz Eckhardt

as he was arrested on March 3, 1972 in Hamburg...

We will continue to carry out bombings against judges and prosecutors

until they have ceased violating the rights of political prisoners.

Our demands on the justice system are not unreasonable.

We have no other means to force them to do that.

Commando Petra Schelm.

Today, May 12, there was an attack on the police headquarters in Augsburg.

Five police officers were injured, some critically.

Just a few hours later, there was a further attack in Munich.

We have called in experts who will now investigate,

which materials were used for the explosive device...

The chief prosecutor's office in Karlsruhe offered a reward of 10,000 Marks.

The car is currently being examined by experts from

the Federal Criminal Police Office in Wiesbaden.

Explosives experts, chemists and criminal forensics experts...

At 12:29 a.m. in KlosestralBe, a bomb tore up the car of federal judge

Wolfgang Buddenberg when his wife tried to start the engine.

Buddenberg was involved in investigating the Baader-Meinhof Group.

His wife regularly drove him to work.

With splinter injuries she was hospitalized,

She is still in shock, but her life is not in danger.

Shit. I need more grinders.

What is the situation at this hour,

just before the threatened time of the crime at 2:00 p.m. in Stuttgart?

Checkpoints on all exit roads, at all entry points to the city center,

machine guns, armed law enforcement officers dominate the scene.

Until yesterday morning alone, the police had...

Axel Springer Publishing House?

A bomb will go off in five minutes. Evacuate the building immediately!

Who are you anyway?

Is this the crazy guy again?

Please stop these calls.

You fucking pigs!

We demand from Springer that his newspapers

stop the smear campaign against the liberation movement in the Third World.

Especially against the Arab peoples fighting for the liberation of Palestine.

We will not cease our operations against the enemies of the people

until our demands are met.

Chancellor Brandt declared that the German government condemns

the attacks with indignation and disgust.

Killing people by explosives "cowardly and devious, " the chancellor said...

Springer preferred to take the risk

that his workers and employees would be injured by bombs, rather than the risk

of losing a few hours of working time, i.e. profit, due to false alarms.

For capitalism, profit is everything, the people who generate it are scum.

We are deeply saddened that workers and employees have been hurt.

...five bombs were planted, of which two exploded.

What do you suggest?

You can imagine how much pressure the government is under?

We'll slap the water.

Pardon me?

When you slap the water, the fish start to move.

I need the entire police force, criminal police, railroad police,

coast guard from across the country

for one day under the command of the Federal Police.

That would be...

That would be at least 130,000 men.

That's about right.

In addition, we bring all helicopters

that are available from the public sector of the Federal Republic into the air.

And we'll close the borders.

On one single day, we'll shake down all of West Germany.

That will disturb our fishes and drive them into our nets.

Across the country, police are checking car traffic on highways and major roads.

The same scene at the borders.

Due to tighter controls, there were heavy traffic jams.

All available officers of the Federal Republic are on duty.

By noon today alone, police in the Hamburg area

had inspected 15,000 vehicles and checked the papers of their occupants.

This is the police state you always talked about.

Most of the citizens accepted the measures of the police calmly.

On the contrary, the population supports the...

Doesn't look like the revolution is imminent, though.

Shut the fuck up!

Urban guerrillas operate in the rift between the state and the masses.

Identity checks were also conducted and vehicles were inspected

outside public buildings, stadiums, and airports in urban areas.

Mug shots of suspected RAF members were...

Mao Zedong said something a long time ago.

You all know the text.

But I'll remind you of it today.

He said:

"If the enemy fights you, that is good.

For it is proof that between us and the enemy

a clear dividing line exists.

If the enemy confronts us forcefully

and paints us in the blackest of colors,

then even better.

It shows that we have not only drawn a line

between us and the enemy,

but also that our work has led to magnificent success."

- The canister. - What's wrong with it?

Somebody moved it.

This is not my material.

Stop right there, police.

Hold it right there! Drop your weapon!

Stop, police!

Drop your weapon!

Drop your weapon!

Shit.

Throw the guns into the yard and come out.

The longer you wait, the stronger our forces will become.

We are already too strong for you anyway.

Come out before it's too late.

Bullshit.

You don't stand a chance anymore.

You've played your last card.

What do you want now? I'm sure you want to get out of this situation.

You don't stand a chance.

The only chance you have is to stay alive.

And you have...

Put your hands up and come out one at a time and nothing will happen to you.

We have more patience than you, much more.

And we are in the better situation.

Our tactical starting position...

...after perpetrators, especially after members of the Baader-Meinhof group,

police units have achieved the greatest success to date

in Frankfurt early this morning.

Among those arrested: Andreas Baader and Holger Meins,

who is also considered part of the group's inner circle.

Shit.

Okay, you big terrorist, fire away!

This is for Norbert.

And Heinz.

- Can I try that on? - Sure, there are the changing rooms.

Come on. There's the jacket.

You are under arrest.

No!

Let go!

No.

You fucking cops!

Oh, no!

Let go!

No!

No!

Oh, no!

Is that you?

Are you Ulrike Meinhof?

WITTLICH PRISON

COLOGNE PRISON

ESSEN PRISON

SCHWALMSTADT PRISON

BUHL PRISON

COLOGNE PRISON

Ulrike!

Ulrike!

Quiet.

Ulrike.

Ulrike!

Ulrike!

Astrid!

Ulrike!

Ulrike!

Here I am!

Here I am!

Astrid!

Ulrike!

Astrid!

Astrid!

Here!

Ulrike!

Ulrike!

Ulrike!

A telegram from the Minister of the Interior.

He congratulates you on your spectacular successes.

The Minister of the Interior considers the RAF chapter now closed.

I declare

MUNICH AUGUST 1972

the 1972 Olympic Games

to be open!

The sparrow from Minsk, pursued by misfortune and luck.

...Of them, disguised as guards or garbage men,

climbed the fence and entered the dormitory of the Israeli team.

There they killed Israeli coach Moshe Weinberg with two shots to the head.

The commando, calling itself "Black September”,

gave the Interior Minister a list with the names of more than

230 prisoners whose release they demand,

...had said the hostages were safe.

This has now been revoked.

...at the moment no release of prisoners has been made, already...

FORSTENFELDENBRUCK MILITARY AIRBASE

Our worst fears have now become bitter reality.

They're all dead.

Without the horrific events of the past week,

the Munich Olympics would have gone down in history,

as we all hoped, as the joyful games.

We cannot drop out of this world,

in which there is still much hatred and violence,

but we must confront these dangers, and not give...

Gentlemen,

we are mandated by the state to fight terrorism in this country

and, if possible, to put an end to it.

Who would like to say something?

We need a special unit trained to take out such lunatics in the future.

Your words are no less brutal than the terrorists' acts.

I think the formation of a special unit is necessary,

but with such measures alone we will not solve the problem.

The roots go deeper.

Namely?

Palestinians want land back from Israel.

No one in the world listens to them.

So they try to attract attention through terrorist activities.

Are you saying that you approve of of the terrorists' acts?

Nadler, don't give me that nonsense.

I have never advocated condoning the acts of terrorists.

But certainly to learn and understand their motives, as best one can.

But that's a purely theoretical approach.

People have been killed and injured.

This is not a theory.

Neither is the fact

that the revolutionary movements and forces in Palestine were not considered.

So you want to grant these murderers special status?

No!

But our response cannot be so rigid.

It's in part our ignorance which promotes terrorism.

In other words, the question is

whether terrorism represents a new form of warfare.

Whether it replaces the great war, which is currently not taking place.

I'm sorry, I don't follow you there.

And I doubt very much that the victims or their relatives can.

I understand your bitterness very well.

But we, whose job it is to fight terrorism,

have to acknowledge

that the social problems of the Third World, that the Middle East conflict,

that Americans' war in Vietnam, that these problems exist objectively.

I have to fight a war here

that is more psychologically demanding for me than anything I experienced

as a soldier on the Russian front in World War 11,.

7 MONTHS LATER

The feeling that your head is exploding.

The feeling that the cell is moving.

You can't get it to stop moving.

Raging aggression, for which there is no outlet.

That's the worst thing about solitary confinement.

Clear awareness that you have no chance of survival.

Starting today, we are on hunger strike.

We demand improved prison conditions.

That means political prisoners must be treated like all other prisoners.

Our hunger strike

is our only way of solidarity resistance in solitary confinement.

Our hunger strike must be carried out

so that the prisoners become incapable of standing trial.

The perspective is explosions in the prison system.

- See you tomorrow. - See you tomorrow.

The goals must be formulated in such a way that every rocker,

including those who have shot their girlfriend, can relate to them.

This means that guys will break in the process.

We can say that every three weeks or whatever...

every second or fourth, one of us will kill himself.

Until solitary confinement,

exterminatory imprisonment, is lifted for all.

But the hunger strike only becomes a weapon when it's clear

that it will be continued until the collective demand is met.

Even if there are sick and dead people.

BAN EXTERMINATORY IMPRISONMENT

Counsel, just a few minutes, please. Prisoner Meins is very weak.

Gudrun wrote this to me.

That is the goal.

You decide when you die.

Freedom or death.

In case I pass from life to death, it was murder.

No matter what the pigs will claim.

Do not believe the lying murderers.

Give me a fag.

Of course I don't know what it's like to die. Or to be killed.

How could I?

That's it.

On the right side, anyway.

The situation is quite clear.

Fighting against the pigs, as human, for the liberation of humans.

A revolutionary at war.

Despite all love of life,

defying death.

That's my way of serving the people.

You must get the prison doctor immediately.

I'm sorry, counselor, he's already off for the weekend.

Yes, well, get his deputy.

We don't have a deputy here.

Then just get some doctor from the outside.

- We are not authorized to do that. - The man is dying, you can see that.

You have to do something, now!

I'm sorry, there's nothing we can do.

November 10, 1974, Berlin.

One day after the death of Baader-Meinhof member Holger Meins

as a result of a hunger strike lasting several weeks,

the president of Berlin's High Court, von Drenkmann

was shot at his apartment door.

Since the murder of Drenkmann's...

We won't shed a tear for the dead Drenkmann.

We celebrate such an execution.

...attacks have been made on judges and lawyers

involved in cases against members of the anarchist scene.

The lawyers of Holger Meins

have filed charges of murder against the judiciary today...

The operation was necessary because it has made clear to every lawyer and cop pig

that he too, even today, can be held accountable.

It's Dutschke.

It's him.

Holger, the fight goes on!

Here the so-called multi-purpose hall is being built, close to the Stammheim prison.

This is where the trial of the inner circle

of the Baader-Meinhof group will take place.

These are pictures of the high security wing.

It is currently being considered to bring the prisoners,

who are currently serving time in different prisons, together here in a larger group.

But if everyone is transferred to Stammheim,

aren't we quite setting up a terrorist HQ?

The consolidation is a decision of the Federal Prosecutor's Office.

After all, we at the Federal Police Office

can only monitor the internal communication of the group.

But maybe it will be easier if the inner circle is gathered in one place.

If the conditions of imprisonment are facilitated by this,

i.e. group imprisonment, then there is no reason for the hunger strike anymore.

STOCKHOLM GERMAN EMBASSY 1975

Go, go, go!

- Out! - Everybody out!

Out!

Get out!

- Come on now! - Move!

Open up! Come on, open up!

Give it to me.

Go!

Go, get out!

Come on!

Come on, get out! Faster!

Out!

Out!

Get on the ground!

STUTTGART-STAMMHEIM PRISON

We just got breaking news on the desk

MAXIMUM SECURITY WING 7TH FLOOR

that there was a shooting at the German Embassy in Stockholm

at noon today, with one fatality reported.

Eye-witnesses report shots fired inside the building.

The police cordoned off the area.

There is no information about deaths and injuries.

Some 100 people are in the embassy building.

Police have meanwhile arrived in great numbers.

Yesterday, the German Press Agency in Stockholm received a call.

A male person claimed to be a member of the RAF and demanded the release...

...Members of the Baader-Meinhof group...

Authorities believe the attack is a last-ditch attempt

to free the RAF prisoners in Stammheim before the trial.

- No fire in the cell! - Kiss my ass!

- We'll be gone tomorrow anyway. - Tell me your decision.

We will now shoot one embassy staff member every hour.

And if the building is stormed, we will blow up the building.

We will not walk out of here until our demands are met.

Tell them to get their people out of here.

Translate that.

He's not allowed to pull back his people.

Then we will get serious.

Translate.

Translate!

Get the hell out of here!

Get lost!

Stop it!

Just before midnight, the first explosion occurred in the embassy.

The wing of the building

where the terrorists fortified with the hostages went up in flames.

More explosions rapidly followed.

When the police stormed the building, shots were fired.

The hostage drama that ended in a chaos of explosives blasts

and gunfire last night has claimed a total of three lives.

Two of the dead are embassy staff.

One of them is in all likelihood Heinz Hillegaart,

the head of the economic department.

It ls not yet clear whether he was shot,

like military attaché von Mirbach yesterday,

or whether he died in the explosions.

The third fatality is a terrorist.

Five terrorists have been arrested.

Their names are Siegfried Hausner,

Bernhard Rössner, Karl-Heinz Dellwo, Lutz Taufer and Hanna Krabbe.

What a fucked-up operation.

What a fucked-up operation.

This morning, Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher

- arrived here in Stockholm. - What a fucked-up operation.

After two hours of negotiations, the Swedish government agreed

to extradite the captured terrorists to the German government.

The first to be flown out to Stammheim

this afternoon is the critically injured Siegfried Hausner.

I think this is irresponsible.

If the man dies,

he'll be the second man, after Meins, to die in custody.

With blunders like that we're helping the RAF terrorits gain immortality.

This is a prison here.

We are not equipped at all for seriously injured people.

We have to keep him here for now. Orders!

That's completely crazy!

FIRST DAY OF TRIAL

Mr. Baader is sufficiently defended with the two public defenders

who were assigned to him for his own good.

If he does not want to make use of them, that's his choice.

Those attorneys are not defending me.

They have never talked to me and never will.

By the way, someone wrote "head off" next to my microphone.

What about a head?

I just noticed that someone wrote "head off" next to my microphone.

What comes to your mind?

That's too obscure for me.

I declare myself incapable of standing trial.

That I am basically not at all able to speak at the place,

at the moment when absolutely something would have to be said or

I would want to say something.

I therefore request medical examinations for all of us,

by an independent doctor from outside.

Request denied.

The argument keeps being made

that we're not in solitary confinement because we inhabit slightly larger cells.

I therefore state again,

we have been, for most of the past three years, in complete isolation.

- Complete isolatation. - Mr. Baader.

Whenever we talked through the tiny slot in the door, which was about 1cm wide...

- Mr. Baader! - If only one or two sentences were spoken,

someone stood in front of the door taking notes.

You no longer have the floor.

Yes, thank you.

Why do you suddenly change my texts without telling me anything?

Because the stuff you write makes a ragged and broken impression.

I don't understand why you're doing this.

You pounce on mistakes of mine and reproach me with them again and again.

I can't stand it.

Your meanness and sneakiness drives me up the wall.

- Guard! - Wait.

I'm so sick of your bouts of exhaustion!

I'm so fed up with them!

Guard.

You want me to snap!

This is just not true.

You can discuss it with Andy later.

- Yes, I will. - Then go ahead and do that!

Honestly, I don't get it.

...something to the end...

I don't see what those cunts are so caught up with.

It fucks them up, that they just let Hausner croak like that.

I mean, that was totally screwed.

You're starting a fag revolution. You know that?

We have to get out of here.

It will not be easy to find a new troop after Stockholm.

You are so selfish!

Get your fucking emotions sorted for once!

Oh, you have no clue! You have no clue!

Get lost, you pig, you!

Fuck off!

What do you want from us, asshole?

Get lost or get us out of here!

Get us out!

39TH DAY OF TRIAL

Mrs. Meinhof!

Mrs. Meinhof, as defendant you're required to stay here.

I won't let you force me, you asshole!

Mrs. Meinhof, for the record, you have just addressed me as "you asshole".

Yeah, why don't you acknowledge that?

The defendant is barred from today's proceedings

for calling the presiding judge "you asshole".

Then kindly bar me as well.

Mr Baader, this is not a question of what you wish!

Yes, what do you want? Do you want there to be physical violence here?

No, you are to sit down and participate in an orderly manner!

All right, then go on with your ridiculous circus.

I'll keep disrupting as long as I'm in here.

- Mr. Baader. - Yes, do you really want to hear it?

- No. - You can hear it!

No, I don't want to hear it.

Yes, you can also hear from me that you are a fascist asshole.

We're not able to defend ourselves.

As a result, we will not participate, old sow.

You disturbed!

You disturbed!

So, for the record you called me an "old sow".

Did I hear that correctly? Or am I mistaken?

No, I want this on record!

And you, Mr. Baader, you called me a "fascist asshole"?

Lousy rat.

The defendants are barred from the proceedings.

The bench will retire for consultation.

Terms such as "isolation torture" and "torture imprisonment" lend the

so-called inner circle of the RAF sympathies of almost mythical dimensions.

Tell me, Siegfried, would you like a schnitzel?

Why not?

You too?

Certain organs of the foreign press are conjuring up a newly emerging Nazi justice.

In its most active times, I'm talking about 1972 here,

there were searches for about 30 highly dangerous perpetrators within the RAF.

Almost all could be caught.

Nevertheless, now in 1975, just three years later,

more than 10,000 people are to be classified as potentially dangerous.

As it seems, the RAF develops a growing fascination from prison.

And with it an increasingly criminal energy.

FEBRUARY 1976

You want to know about Ulrike?

It's sinister.

A vampire, trembling with bloodlust.

Ulrike's two laughs during work.

Necrophilic, hysterical, absolutely ugly and clearly directed against me.

Although I still say basically it's directed less against me than against you.

This is shit.

You give me false information or Gudrun completely rewrites my stuff.

Why do you do that?

- Is it because you want to torment me? - To pay back your tormenting.

An eye for an eye.

I don't get this anymore, or I don't want to, but I can't stand it.

I'm no witch, but I've become brutal sometimes.

Now don't kid yourself.

You hate us, there's a bag full of signals for that.

So just shut your mouth until you've changed, or go to hell.

Man, Andreas, please.

How are we supposed to communicate our goals outside

if you bomb workers?

Why don't you look at the coverage of us?

I know the Springer bombing was a mistake.

It was not a mistake. It contradicted the main policy!

I have discussed this a thousand times.

- We called there, several times. - The operation was counter-revolutionary.

Now, stop it already.

The Tupamaros would have shot you for something like that.

The question is, how can a prisoner in solitary confinement

show the judicial authorities that his behavior has changed?

How?

In solitary confinement, if a prisoner wants to signal he's changed,

he has only one possibility: and that is betrayal.

There is no other possibility for a prisoner in solitary confinement.

So that means there are exactly two possibilities.

- Either... - Mrs. Meinhof.

- I want to elaborate on this. - Quiet.

Either they silence a prisoner, meaning death,

or you get him to talk, meaning a confession, and betrayal.

And so,

based on the reality of this situation, the supreme court's order

has a clear and defined statement that there is torture. Exactly, torture.

Defined by the goal of extorting confessions,

creating insecurity or confusion among prisoners, and punishing them.

The knife in the back of the RAF is you.

Because you learn nothing.

It's not mystical when I say I can't take it anymore.

What I can't take anymore is not being able to defend myself.

We are responsible for the attacks on the CIA headquarters of the 5th US Corps

in Frankfurt/Main and on the US headquarters in Heidelberg.

We are certainly also responsible for operations of commandos,

for example,

the attack on the Springer building,

of which we knew nothing which conception we did not approve,

and which we had rejected in that form.

The anarchist Ulrike Meinhof,

one of the defendants in the Baader Meinhof trial, has taken her own life.

She was found dead early this morning in her cell in Stuttgart-Stammheim.

Ulrike Meinhof, it was murder!

Authorities report that the 41-year old hanged herself

from her window bars using a strip of her towel.

Later in the day, the body was taken for an autopsy.

Day 109 of the trial in Stuttgart-Stammheim

commenced with unusually high public interest.

Since a long time there were more visitors than chairs.

To start off, the attorneys filed a request

to suspend the trial for 10 days.

And it has yet to be determined

whether Meinhof really committed suicide, as authorities claim.

We believe that Ulrike was executed.

We don't know how, but we know by whom.

I recall the words of the Attorney General Buback:

"State security thrives on the commitment of people like me.

Herold and I will always find a way."

I will not tolerate such defamatory remarks under any circumstances.

It was a cold-blooded execution,

like Holger was executed,

like Siegfried Hausner was executed,

and Ulrike's execution now!

Fascists! Murderers!

Silence!

You are a judge under whose leadership two out of five prisoners were killed!

But why have Schubert, Möller

and now Mohnhaupt been moved to Stammheim?

The Public Prosecutor's Office caved in to public pressure.

They've commissioned a study to prevent further suicides.

Thus Baader and Ensslin were allowed

to have RAF prisoners transferred from other prisons to Stammbheim.

Time is up, please return to your cells.

Shut the fuck up.

Mohnhaupt will be released in seven months.

She's sure to go underground.

That's probably why Baader and Ensslin insisted on her coming.

SPRING 1977

Good to see you.

You're Charlie?

I want to talk to him alone.

Andreas and Gudrun have great confidence in you.

How are they doing?

They are doing like shit.

We have to get them out of there, soon.

Or they'll end up like Ulrike and Holger.

A few in our group think we can hijack a 747SP.

We then let it circle over Bonn, along with the ultimatum

to exchange our people within the next six to eight hours.

Then it'll run out of gas and crash.

In the middle of Bonn.

We heard about the plan. No operations against the people. Absolutely not.

We'll focus on the two kidnappings.

Where are you guys at with that?

All checked out.

It's a go.

Here, before I forget...

I brought you something.

Almost five years in jail...

It's a long time.

That's how long I haven't fucked a man.

The Stammheimers need weapons.

If another liberation attempt fails, then...

At least they want to be able to decide for themselves.

You can't talk about it with the others, no matter what.

Now let's see it, the Beccaria Medal!

Very nice, the medal.

Very.

Congratulations.

You are working on your day of honor?

Gottfried Hagemann, you remember, the lawyer.

Upon his arrest,

we found encoded strategic papers on planned operations at his place.

"Big Money"

"Big Get-Them-Out."

"Check out HM "

"Margarine."

What does that tell you?

Siegfried, we have been expecting an act of revenge for some time.

On April 7, 1977, the Commando Ulrike Meinhof

executed Attorney General Siegfried Buback.

Buback was directly responsible for the murder of Holger Meins,

Siegfried Hausner and Ulrike Meinhof.

He orchestrated and directed their murder in his capacity as Attorney General.

Under Buback's direction,

Holger was murdered thorugh systematic malnutrition on November 9, 1974.

Under Buback's direction,

Ulrike, on May 9th, 1976, was executed by the state security apparatus.

Her death was staged as a suicide

in order to portray her political cause as pointless.

We will prevent our fighters in West German prisons from being murdered

because the Attorney General can't stop...

"... the prisoners from fighting,

other than by liquidating them.

Commando Ulrike Meinhof."

We could not protect him.

I ask myself why new terrorist units keep emerging out there.

What motivates them?

A myth.

This is Susanne.

I called yesterday to say I was coming over.

Is uncle Jürgen at home?

Just a moment, please.

There is a young girl outside.

She says she called yesterday.

My godchild.

She came with two more young people.

What do they look like?

Quite mannerly.

Let them in.

Come in, Mr. Ponto is expecting you. Good day.

This way.

That's quite a committee.

I wanted to show up again.

Friends of mine.

Kiara.

- Good day. - Gerd.

- Hello. - Mr. Ponto, is there anything else?

No, you can leave.

Come outside.

Just a second.

What a nice surprise.

I just need to finish the call quickly.

Let's find a vase for those.

Have a seat.

Of course...

Move! Go to the exit.

- Come with me. - You must be insane.

You are a prisoner of the RAF.

You must be insane.

Come on! Out!

That's not what I wanted! How do I explain this to my parents?

We said no guns! Only knock him out if he fights back!

That's what it was all about.

We only wanted to kidnap him, and now he's dead!

Why are you even here, huh?

To play female Robin Hood without getting your hands dirty, or what?

Oh, God!

Stop bawling! You sign the confession letter.

No, I won't do that.

No!

As for Ponto and the shots that hit him today in Oberursel, we say:

that it was not clear enough to us that these guys, who start wars around the world

and exterminate people,

are dumbfounded by the violence when they face it in their own home.

Susanne Albrecht from a commando of the RAF.

Is it true that Susanne Albrecht

was reported as gone underground by the state security authorities?

Were the responsible authorities actually aware of Miss Albrecht's

connection to the Ponto family?

It's not as if Susanne Albrecht belonged to the few suspicious persons

in the Federal Republic, but we are dealing with a mass problem.

The number of highly dangerous people

who are constantly subject to our computer search is at 1,200.

Susanne Albrecht was one of them.

However, no one can observe 1,200 people.

20 officers are needed per observed person.

1,200 times 20.

The entire German criminal police does not have that much personnel.

- Hey! - Hey, open up!

- The door stays open! - Open up!

We will not accept closed doors.

Hey, no closed doors!

Now you have the war you wanted.

You pigs!

You dirty pigs!

Let go of me!

You fucking cops.

You motherfuckers.

Go to hell!

How much longer?

I'm almost done. I almost have it.

229, twelfth line, fourth word. Nine, ten, eleven, twelve, three, four.

Finished.

We will get ahead of the plan to liquidate us.

We want to, and we will, preserve our identity.

"We know that there is a concrete plan to kill us.

Capitulation is unacceptable.

You will have to hurry.

That's all we have to say to you."

The message is clear.

If we do nothing, they will create a fait accompli.

What do you mean by that?

"Fait accompli”.

That's pretty obvious, isn't it?

If we don't get them out now, they're dead.

So?

Schleyer's going on vacation the day after tomorrow.

Do you know for how long?

For several weeks.

Well, then we'll have to do it tomorrow.

Tomorrow?

Why not?

Then it's time to play hard-ball.

What does that mean, "hard-ball"?

It means that we have to shoot Schleyer's entourage in order to get to him.

The Special Unit escorts are trained and armed.

They are combatants.

But this does not apply to Schleyer's driver.

He's not even armed.

You prick, don't you even get that they're supposed to be killed in Stammheim?

Stop it now!

Let's put it to a vote.

I can't go along with it like that.

There has to be another way.

Okay.

Then you leave now

and we'll discuss it further, it's no longer your business then.

Brigitte, you stay out of this operation.

If something goes wrong again, we need a leader left.

We'll discuss that later.

Now let's vote on whether we should play hardball.

What about you?

It is safe to assume that the kidnappers are hiding Schleyer

within a maximum perimeter of 20 kilometers around the crime scene.

It took place just under an hour and a half ago.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

Five weeks after the assassination of banker Ponto,

an attack was carried out on

Hanns Martin Schleyer in Cologne this evening.

Four police officers belonging to his escort unit were killed.

A search is on for the still unidentified culprits.

He's not among those killed, so...

Schleyer was obviously, at least according to the statement of the officer-in-charge

at the site, not killed, but kidnapped by the terrorists.

...Is not known at the moment. The search is ongoing.

There are several manhunts.

Speakers of all parties in the Bundestag

have condemned the Schleyer attack and the murders of his four...

Now you have a problem.

Now you have a problem.

Now you have a fucking problem.

...Officers and men who lost their lives

in the defense of our constitutional rights.

I hope that the general public can acknowledge

that there can be no sympathy at all,

not even latent sympathy, for brutal murderers of this kind.

That we have everything to do...

Chancellor Schmidt addressed the public just under an hour ago.

Tonight, four deaths extend the list

of victims of frenzied terrorists who,

we have always been aware of that,

are not yet expended all of their criminal energy.

At this moment, they might feel a triumphant sense of power.

But they should not be mistaken...

Terrorism doesn't stand a chance in the long run.

Not only the will of the state organs stands against terrorism.

Against terrorism stands the will of all people.

The kidnappers demand the release of 10 prisoners.

All members of the RAF.

Hey.

Andy, what's going on out there?

Andreas.

Baby! Baby!

What are you doing?

Andy.

What are you doing?

IRAQ, BAGHDAD OCTOBER 1977

BRUSSELS

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

A German Lufthansa passenger jet

has been in the hands of hijackers since this afternoon.

The plane was on a flight from Palma de Mallorca to Frankfurt.

There are 86 passengers on board, mostly vacationers...

...the air pirate gave his name as Walter Mohammed.

Literally, he says, "The group I represent..."”

This act is meant to drive home the demands of Schleyer's kidnappers.

Two hours after landing, the hijacked Lufthansa plane

takes off again for Cyprus.

In my current situation, I really have to ask myself:

Does anything else have to happen before Bonn finally makes a decision?

After all, by now

I've been in the custody of the terrorists for five and a half weeks.

And all this only because I have stood up

and exposed myself for this state

and its liberal democratic order for years.

Sometimes the remarks I hear,

including those from political institutions,

seem to me like a mockery of my work.

We realize that we're under the pressure of a very serious ultimatum.

...demand the release of the political prisoners,

in particular the RAF members in Stammheim.

...the terrorists on board the Lufthansa plane

surprisingly set an ultimatum for 9 o'clock.

They threatened that upon expiration of the ultimatum,

they would first kill three passengers and crew members

and then every five minutes another...

In a telegram, Pope Paul VI offers himself

in exchange for the remaining 86 hostages.

An exchange of the prisoners for Lufthansa passengers and crew

is to take place at Aden airport.

The ambassador of South Yemen in Cairo said here at noon today

that his country is not willing to allow terrorists to land.

Lufthansa is making an emergency landing.

ADEN AIRPORT DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF YEMEN.

It is still not clear whether there is even one Arab country

to accept the terrorists of the Baader-Meinhof group in exchange

for the lives of Hanns Martin Schleyer

and the passengers and crew of the Lufthansa plane in Dubai.

There are hardly any Arab states left

that let themselves identify with the operations of political gangsters today.

Why does South Yemen strictly refuse to accept our comrades?

The ultimatum which expires tomorrow at noon...

What's going on?

It's all going wrong! Everything!

...the captain of the hijacked Lufthansa plane had been shot by the terrorists.

The airplane has left Aden.

The commando shot the pilot.

The exchange was supposed to have taken place in Aden according to the plan.

What do we do then?

Baby?

This is getting totally out of hand.

The airport of the Somali capital yesterday morning.

The Boeing is parked on the tarmac.

The body of Captain Schumann was sent down a slide at the tail.

The Somali government is interested in the plane taking off as soon as possible.

It has not been confirmed in your conversation with the chargé d'affaires

that if this does not happen, the plane will be blown up.

It's actually too late for this talk.

The chance to influence events has passed.

We, the prisoners here,

we would never have approved of acts against innocent civilians.

The Federal Government...

The Federal Government has to realize that the second and the third generations

of the RAF will increase the brutality.

I want to speak to the two prison chaplains.

Compared to what's happening now,

we have had a rather moderate policy.

Are you serious about that?

After eight deaths in the last few months.

The operations that have been taking place out there for years...

Greetings.

...have been undertaken by the second and third generations.

Also, the Schleyer kidnappers are not known to us personally at all.

I have a request.

In my cell, in a folder labeled "lawyer"

there are three loose, hand-written pages.

They're meant for the head of the Federal Chancellery,

once I'm liquidated or executed.

But Miss Ensslin...

I am afraid that otherwise these documents will be misappropriated or even destroyed.

But do you really believe that someone wants to liquidate or execute you?

Not just someone

from this place.

It will come from the outside.

If we don't get out of here, terrible things will happen.

The armed struggle has become international.

What do you mean by that?

The question is:

Which states benefit from the escalation of brutality and violence.

It may even be desired by some.

The power relations between the US and the western industrial states

cause a strong dependence and oppression of the masses.

They will inevitably lead to a new, terrible, violent escalation.

What other influence do you still have on the current situation?

Released prisoners are better than dead prisoners, even for the federal government.

Tell the state secretary,

if he still wants to talk to me, he might have to travel very far.

Mrs. Ensslin, I hope we'll be able to continue this talk.

Theologians hope.

12:38 a.m., this is Deutschlandfunk with an important message.

The 86 hostages kidnapped by terrorists in a Lufthansa Boeing

have all been happily freed,

This was confirmed by a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior

Just now in Bonn.

A special commando of the Federal Border Guard

had started the operation at the airport of Mogadishu at 12:00 a.m.

Gasps of relief after the long night in Bonn.

Government spokesman Boiling:

If the Federal Republic of Germany had released the eleven terrorist perpetrators,

they would all have come back and committed new, horrible acts of murder.

Through the concourse the only surviving terrorist is carried.

Although badly injured, she makes the sign of victory and shouts,

"The Arab cause is victorious. "

- Morning. - Morning.

Mr. Raspe?

Mrs. Moller?

Mrs. Moller.

She is still alive.

Mrs. Ensslin?

Now the pigs have carried it out.

They took the opportunity and killed them all.

Stop.

But they killed them.

You guys killed them, for sure.

They are no victims and never have been.

What?

What's that shit supposed to mean?

You said yourself that the Stammheimers' life is in danger

and that we have to get them out, immediately.

They were your words.

They determined their own situation until the last moment.

That means that they did it and not that it was done with them.

And Ulrike?

Her too.

You never knew the people.

Stop seeing them as they were not.

BELGIAN-FRENCH BORDER

Subtitles: Christopher Coco © 2021 Turbine Medien GmbH