Dierk Hoff

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Dierk Hoff (* 1948 ) is a former supporter of the Red Army Faction (RAF). He was not a member of the terrorist organization, but built several bombs in 1972 that were then used by the RAF. In 1977 he was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison.

Life

Dierk Hoff was born as one of three children of the well-known internist and medicine professor at the University of Frankfurt am Main Ferdinand Hoff . After an unpleasant “school career” with many school changes, and an attempt as a potter and an internship in mechanical engineering, he founded a “Studio Metall” in Frankfurt's Nordend, in which he was artistically and technically active. For the artist Bernhard Höke he constructed catapults and "throwers" as well as "music machines" and automotive musical instruments, the "fin cars". He was in contact with the left scene. At the end of 1971 he was visited by RAF members Holger Meins and Jan-Carl Raspe and asked to build dummy hand grenades, pipe jackets and other objects as props for a film. When Hoff asked what kind of film it was, mine answered with the sentence:

It turned out that he was supposed to be building real hand grenades and other weapons for the RAF. According to his own account, when Hoff realized this, he indignantly tried to get out and was then threatened with weapons by Meins and Raspe. He later said he was so intimidated that he continued to work for the group. However, Hoff received several thousand D-Marks in cash from the RAF members, which he accepted. To what extent the objects built by Hoff were used has not been conclusively clarified. There is evidence of the use of a bomb he built in the attack on the headquarters of the V Corps of the US Army in Frankfurt in 1972, in which two people were killed. However, various other explosive devices were also used, so that Hoff's responsibility for the dead is questionable. He was not later charged in this regard.

In 1972 Hoff built the so-called "baby bomb". The construction consisted of a steel container that a woman could strap on. The container then looked like the belly of a heavily pregnant woman. After the supposedly pregnant woman had placed the bomb, she was able to inflate a balloon, which in turn simulated a big belly. The baby bomb has been reported repeatedly, but has never been used.

After the arrest of the first generation in 1972, Hoff was no longer active for the RAF. In 1975, according to statements made by some RAF members, he was exposed and arrested. The State Security Senate at the Frankfurt am Main Higher Regional Court sentenced Dierk Hoff to four years and eight months in prison in 1977 for violating the Weapons Act, supporting a criminal organization and causing bodily harm.

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ I actually found him quite nice . In: Der Spiegel from November 28, 1977
  2. ↑ ARD audio game database
personal data
SURNAME Hoff, Dierk
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German supporters of the Red Army faction
DATE OF BIRTH 1948