Blekingegade bands

Blekingegade in the Amager district of Copenhagen in 2004

Blekingegadebanden ( German  Blekingegade gang ) was the name of a group given by the Danish media to a left-wing armed underground organization that committed politically motivated crime from December 1972 to May 1989. Among other things, the group supported the political and military Palestinian organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP for short). After tracking down an apartment on the first floor at Blekingegade 2 in Copenhagen , which the group used as an arsenal and operations center, the Danish press named the case after the address.

History of the group

The political nucleus of the group was the Communist Working Group ( Kommunistisk Arbejdskreds , KAK for short), which disbanded in 1978. Some of their supporters continued their work in the Manifest-Kommunistisk Arbejdsgruppe (M-KA for short). The motivation of these organizations was to support liberation movements in the third world with legal and illegal means . During the 1980s, the group was charged with a large number of robberies of banks, post offices, Daells Varehus department store in Nørrebro and a money transport at Lyngbygårdsvej in Kongens Lyngby in 1983. They were also accused of planning the kidnapping of Jörn Rausing, the son of the Swedish industrialist Gad Rausing , to extort a ransom of DKK 300 million . In addition, the group stole weapons and ammunition during raids in Sweden , which were brought to the apartment in Blekingegade and stored there. The following seven people were subsequently convicted at Østre Landsret , the regional court for eastern Denmark, in 1991 : Jan Weimann (now Jan Jakobsen), Niels Jørgensen, Torkil Lauesen, Carsten Nielsen, Peter Døllner, Bo Weimann (now Bo Weymann) and Karsten Møller Hansen.

ideology

The ideological basis of the group lay in the so-called Snylterstatsteori ("parasite state theory"). The group used dialectical materialism to locate and support the main antagonism to western capitalism that they saw the Third World populations in. The primary goal of the group was directed towards international solidarity with oppressed peoples or, as they themselves later described in an article in 2009, “with the start of reality and Snylterstatsteories we believed that the contradiction between the workers and the capital owners of the western world would be greatly weakened. In the short term, the working class and the owners of capital have a common interest in drawing profits from the countries of the Third World, even if they are fighting a wage war over distribution. "

The Danish KAK broke with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1969 because after the 1968 riots the Chinese believed that “there was a gigantic mass movement in Western Europe.” The later Danish M-KA did not contact the Chinese Communist Party. Its predecessor, the Danish KAK, and the CPC were fundamentally divided on many things, but the leading founder of the KAK, the Danish Marxist and socialist Gotfred Appel (1924–1992) hoped that China would make the same mistake as China in building socialism the Soviet Union would commit. The KAK saw it as its most important goal to support the liberation movements in the third world, whereas the Chinese Communist Party put one of its priorities on the struggle of the working class in the western world.

In 1969, through Palestinians living in Sweden, contact was made between the KAK, founded in 1963, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. In 1970 two members of the KAK drove to the Popular Front training camp in Jordan , where they learned how to shoot and make bombs, among other things. In the following year they were followed by other members of the KAK.

Murder at the post office on Købmagergade

Post office on Købmagergade (Købmagergades Postkontor) in Copenhagen (2007)

The most serious incident occurred on November 3, 1988, when 22-year-old policeman Jesper Egtved Hansen was shot dead in connection with a robbery on the post office on Købmagergade . He was shot in the head after a member of the group fired a shot with a sawed-off shotgun , and the young police officer was hit in one eye by a shotgun . The Blekingegade gangs looted around 14 million crowns.

The investigation into the murder, which on suspicion of political motivation also drew the attention of the Danish domestic secret service PET, led to the arrest of four members of the group in April 1989. In May 1989, Carsten Nielsen, who was still at large, caused an accident on a street between the Copenhagen suburbs of Holte and Birkerød . The address of the apartment on Blekingegade was in his car. The Danish police had been in possession of the apartment keys since the other members were arrested, but were unable to track down the apartment in spite of intensive efforts. It was not until the accident that the apartment in Blekingegade was exposed, in which there was a store of anti-tank weapons , pistols, explosives, machine guns, ammunition, technical equipment and various plans and instructions for previously unexplained robberies. The group also gathered information on over 300 people who publicly spoke out in support of Israel, with the aim of exposing potential Israeli spies. The card index was traded in the press as “Judenkartei” (Jøde-kartoteket) or Z-file (for “Zionist file”).

The exposure of the Blekingegade gang's operations center led to the arrest of the rest of the group.

Legal proceedings

The trial of seven of the accused took place in September 1990 by a jury at Østre Landsret and ended on May 2, 1991. Three of the gang members were sentenced to ten years in prison while the others were sentenced to eight, seven, three and one year, respectively. Two of the defendants admitted part of their guilt, while three pleaded innocent. Everyone refused to say who else had taken part in the robbery on Købmagergade . In addition to this robbery, the judgment referred to gross stolen goods , violation of the gun law, extensive forgery of documents and serious robbery.

During the trial, the police failed to reveal the killer's identity. And since the police could not provide evidence that the murderer had deliberately shot the police officer, it was also not possible to convict all those involved in the robbery for murder under Section 23 of the Danish Criminal Code (involvement in a crime), which is why they were only for were convicted of particularly grave robbery. The proceedings against the Swiss Marc Rudin were only carried out in 1993 because he was apprehended in Turkey and only had to be extradited from there. He, too, was only convicted of robbery and not murder.

Extensive security measures were in place during the legal process. The fact that the litigation contained material obtained by the secret service PET through wiretapping and that the prosecution tried to withhold as much as possible from the defense lawyers and the press gave rise to an intense public debate. The prosecution's refusal was brought before the court, which decided that some of the material should be handed over.

The legal dispute was also intensely discussed in public because the convicts committed their crimes in order to raise money for left-wing international organizations, above all for the Marxist-Leninist organization PFLP, but also because the defendants managed to cover each other up and keep silent on the murder during the robbery of the post office on Købmagergade.

The three convicted of ten years in prison, Niels Jørgensen, Jan Weimann and Torkil Lauesen, were released on parole at the end of 1995 . After serving his sentence around 2001, Lauesen appeared as an opponent of globalization ; In 2005 the media turned to Lauesen again after it became known that he was employed by the Copenhagen municipality . Today Torkil Lauesen is an author, his book Det Globale Perspektiven ("The Global Perspective") was published in Danish in 2017 and in English in 2018, and is an independent researcher in the field of Marxist economics and dependency theory . The Swiss Marc Rudin, who was sentenced to eight years in prison in October 1993, was also released on probation in February 1997 and expelled to Switzerland.

Aftermath

After it was shown in the books about the Blekingegade gang that the group's activities could have been stopped as early as 1983, the former Danish Foreign Minister Uffe Ellemann-Jensen demanded an investigation at the beginning of January 2008 into why the investigations were stopped at the time. By order of the then Justice Minister Brian Mikkelsen of the Lars Løkke Rasmussen I government , a commission of inquiry was finally set up in February 2010 . The commission is due to investigate the police's handling of the investigation into the Blekingegade gang after allegations were made that the PET and Justice Department obstructed the work of the police.

In February 2009 Modkraft.dk published the first interview in 15 years with three of the group members, including Torkil Lauesen and Jan Weimann as well as Niels Jørgensen, who had previously died on September 9, 2008 in Bispebjerg Hospital at the age of 54. The occasion was a 60-page supplement they wrote for the magazine Social Criticism , in which they wrote, among other things, that their actions were illegal in a Danish context, but that they were politics and that they were “political robbers” . The following quote shows the group's relationship to violence and what it believes is a necessity.

"Hvis the med udsagnet: målet brighter midlerne, menes, at uanset hvilket mål, man ønsker at opnå, can man bruge et hvilket som little means, which står til ens rådighed, uden hensyn til konsekvenserne, which dette måtte åtte medfø har Blekingegade groups aldrig loads its handlers according to the motto. Lige så vel som vi ikke has loaded before the handlinger styre af the modsatte målet: målet brighter aldrig midlerne. Men who he et tredje synpunkt, which more realistisk end de to ovennævnte: Ikke alle mål brighter ethvert middle, men nogle mål brighter nogle midler under nogle omstændigheder. Det var dette synpunkt, as styrede before the handlinger. Men det he et desværligt synpunkt, fordi det kræver, at one overvejer all three parameters: målet, midlerne and de concrete politics omstændigheder. Let me find the correct svar. "

“When by the statement that the end justifies the means , it is meant that no matter what end one wishes to achieve, one can use any means available to one regardless of the consequences it might have for others , then the Blekingegade group never followed their actions according to this motto. Likewise, we were guided in our actions by the opposite motto: the ends never justify the means. But there is a third point of view that is more realistic than the two above. Not all ends justify the means, but some ends justify some means in some circumstances. It was this point of view that guided our actions. But that is an inconvenient point of view because it requires all three parameters to be considered: the end, the means and the specific political circumstances. There is no simple correct answer to that. "

- Niels Jørgensen, Torkil Lauesen and Jan Weimann : Det handler om politik

In March 2009 Bo Weymann said at a press conference in the Imperial Cinema in Copenhagen that “he doesn't know who shot the policeman and if I asked the others, I wouldn't get an answer.” Weymann left the group six months ago the attack on the post office in Købmagergade.

Descriptions of the Blekingegade gangs

The first articles about the Blekingegade gangs were published by the Danish journalist Lars Villemoes in the newspaper Dagbladet Information in the aftermath of the arrests. In spring and autumn 2007, the Danish journalist and writer Peter Øvig Knudsen published two books on the Blekingegadebanden, which quickly became bestsellers in Denmark and for which he was awarded the prestigious Danish journalism prize Cavlingprisen . In August of the same year it became known that a television series and a film about the group were being worked on. In connection with the presentation of the Cavling Prize, Øvig Knudsen asked the then Minister of State Anders Fogh Rasmussen for help with opening the PET archives so that unclear points in the case can be clarified.

A few years later the book Politiets hemmeligheder: Kriminalinspektør Jørn Moos genåbner Blekingegadesagen (Secrets of the Police: Detective Inspector Jørn Moos reopened the Blekingegade case) by Jeppe Facius and Anders-Peter Mathiasen, in which the then chief investigator Jørn Moos made allegations against the secret service PET judged.

In autumn 2013 the book Bank robbery for liberation movements was published. The history of the Blekingegade Group , edited by Gabriel Kuhn . It contains documents from the history of KAK and M-KA, an answer from former group members to the books by Peter Øvig Knudsen and a detailed interview with Torkil Lauesen and Jan Weimann.

Documentaries

On behalf of Danmarks Radio and in collaboration with Peter Øvig Knudsen, Anders Riis-Hansen and Kenneth Kainz produced the lavishly designed documentary Blekingegadebanden , which premiered in 2009. In the film, Bo Weymann spoke about his actions. The recordings of an interview with him contained in the extra material were broadcast in the DR1 documentary Før Blekingegade (Before (the) Blekingegade) in 2009. The following year, TV 2 broadcast the documentary Blekingegade - say genoptaget (Blekingegade - the case (is) being resumed), which focused on the criminal inspector Jørn Moss and his allegations against PET. The film, which included two police officers and two witnesses, was produced by Ole Grønbæk, Lars Høj, Jeppe Facius and Anders-Peter Mathiasen.

filming

In 2009, TV 2 broadcast a television series entitled Blekingegade , directed by Jacob Thuesen. The series, in which the characters were named after the real people, mixed fiction with real events. It was criticized that the real persons were brought in connection with crimes for which they were not convicted.

literature

• Jeppe Facius: Politiets hemmeligheder - Jørn Moos genåbner Blekingegadesagen . 1st edition. People's Press, 2009, ISBN 978-87-7055-660-6 (Danish).
• Peter Øvig Knudsen : Blekingegadebanden - Den danske celle . tape 1 . Gyldendal , Copenhagen 2007, ISBN 978-87-02-04369-3 (Danish).
  • Translation by Ulrich Sonnenberg: The inner circle: The Blekingegade gang , Osburg Verlag, Berlin February 26, 2010, ISBN 978-3-940731-37-1
• Peter Øvig Knudsen: Blekingegadebanden 2. Den hårde kerne . tape 2 . Gyldendal , Copenhagen 2007, ISBN 978-87-02-05906-9 (Danish).
• Gabriel Kuhn (Ed.): Bank robbery for liberation movements. The history of the Blekingegade group . Unrast Verlag , Münster 2013, ISBN 978-3-89771-535-6 .
• Claus Mejling: Blekingegade legends . 1991, accessed April 20, 2012 (Danish)
• Anti-imperialism & snylterstat . (Various articles, some by members of the Blekingegadebanden, which also deal with the period in which they belonged to the organizations KAK and M-KA (Danish))

Web links

• Blekingegade-say . In Modkraft.dk . Links to books, background material, lexicon articles and other publications (Danish)
• Blekingegadesagen . In Leksikon for the 21st århundrede. (Lexicon of the 21st Century, Danish)
• Bank robbery in the name of anti-imperialism (Kim Son Hoang, Der Standard, November 26, 2013)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Politiet tilsidesatte tip fra PET . In TV 2 of January 21, 2007, accessed on April 19, 2012 (Danish)
2. ↑ Peter Øvig Knudsen: Blekingegadebanden - Den hårde kerne , pp. 246–306
3. ↑ ^{a b} Niels Jørgensen, Torkil Lauesen and Jan Weimann: Det handler om politik ( Memento of the original from August 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In Social Critique No. 117, March 2009, pp. 4–61 (Danish) 
4. ↑ Straffeloven chap. 4 , accessed April 20, 2012 (Danish)
5. ↑ Ole Birk Olesen: Her flygter Blekingegade terrorist . In Ekstra Bladet of September 19, 2001, retrieved on April 20, 2012 (Danish)
6. ↑ Blekingegade-sag under tilsyn . In TV 2 Nyhederne of October 19, 2005, accessed on April 2, 2012 (Danish)
7. ↑ Gitte Olsgaard: Culture Borgmester vil fyre Blekingegade-medlem . In DR P4 København of August 15, 2005, accessed on April 2, 2012 (Danish)
8. ↑ http://www.pmpress.org/content/article.php/20160603111525323
9. ↑ https://monthlyreview.org/2015/07/01/imperialism-and-the-transformation-of-values-into-prices/
10. ↑ Thomas Normann Hougaard: PET-kommission undersøger allerede Blekingegade-sag . In DR Nyheder of January 4, 2008, accessed April 20, 2012 (Danish)
11. ↑ Blekingegadesagen shall be undersøges igen . In Politiken of February 2, 2010, retrieved on April 20, 2012 (Danish)
12. ↑ Niels Fastrup and Martin Lindblom: Blekingegadegruppen "Vi var politiske Rovere, ikke terrorister" ( Memento of 28 March 2009 at the Internet Archive )
13. ↑ Bent Blüdnikow: obituary: En terrorists død . In Berlingske on September 11, 2008, accessed on April 20, 2012 (Danish)
14. ↑ Niels Jørgensen, Torkil Lauesen and Jan Weimann: Det handler om politik ( Memento of the original from October 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In Social Critique , No. 117, February 2009, accessed on April 20, 2012 (Danish) 
15. ↑ Det handler om politik ( Memento of the original from October 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In Social Critique , No. 117, February 2009, p. 50 
16. ↑ Flemming Ytzen: Blekingegademedlem: Jeg ved ikke, hvem der skød betjent . In Politiken of March 18, 2009, retrieved on April 20, 2012 (Danish)
17. ↑ Bent Blüdnikow: The forhadte budbringer . In Berlingske on March 17, 2007, accessed on April 20, 2012 (Danish)
18. ^ Ritzau / Knud Nordahl Pedersen: Cavling-vinder beder Fogh om hjælp . In DR Kultur on January 11, 2008, accessed on April 20, 2012 (Danish)
19. ↑ Internet Movie Database : Blekingegadebanden , accessed April 20, 2012 (Danish)
20. ↑ Jan Dohrmann: DR1 laver storstilet dokumentar om Blekingegadebanden  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In DR Om DR of June 8, 2007, retrieved on April 20, 2012 (Danish)  
21. ↑ Per Juul Carlsen: Blekingegadebanden - En eks-idealist taler ud ( Memento of the original from April 18, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In DR Filmland 2009, accessed April 20, 2012 (Danish) 
22. ^ Før Blekingegade ( Memento of March 11, 2011 in the Internet Archive ). In DR1 of March 18, 2009, retrieved on April 20, 2012 (Danish)
23. ↑ Blekingegade - say genoptaget ( memento of the original from May 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In TV 2 , accessed April 20, 2012 (Danish) 
24. ↑ Jens Lenler: 'Blekingegade' balancerer på kanten af ​​loven  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In Politiken of December 11, 2009, retrieved on April 20, 2012 (Danish)