Helmut Pohl

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Helmut Pohl (* 1943 ; † August 12, 2014 in Berlin ) was a German terrorist of the second generation of the Red Army Faction (RAF). In 1984 he was sentenced to life imprisonment for a bomb attack, multiple attempted murder , bank robbery and membership in a terrorist organization . In 1998, Pohl was pardoned after a stroke.

Life

Helmut Pohl studied German at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main from 1964 to 1971 . Because he is not reported back that he was in October 1971 not finish expelled . From 1967 to 1971 he worked as a freelancer for Hessischer Rundfunk .

From 1970 he worked as a car thief for the first generation of the RAF. From the middle of 1973 Helmut Pohl finally joined the terrorist organization and went underground. He was involved in a bank robbery on Fuhlsbütteler Strasse in Hamburg . From 1973 onwards, Pohl and others received precise instructions from the arrested terrorists of the first generation of the RAF, who reached them through their lawyers. However, this did not go unnoticed by the protection of the constitution . In 1973, Pohl was shadowed for several months. On February 4, 1974, he was arrested in Hamburg and sentenced to five years' imprisonment. In prison he took on a leading role within the RAF.

In 1975 other members of the second generation of the RAF tried in vain to free Pohl and others by taking Stockholm hostage . From July 6 to August 12, 1977, Pohl was housed in the high-security wing of the Stuttgart prison. After his transfer, the remaining members of the RAF died by suicide on the night of his death in Stammheim . Afterwards, a pistol was discovered in a wall hiding place in Pohl's former cell, which remained unused after his transfer . It had been smuggled in by lawyer Arndt Müller .

On September 25, 1979, Pohl was released and immediately went into hiding again. On September 19, 1980 he entered the GDR with other RAF members and negotiated with the GDR State Security . After 14 days he returned to the Federal Republic undercover. On August 31, 1981, Pohl was involved in the bomb attack on the headquarters of the US Air Forces in Europe in Ramstein , in which 14 people were injured. On July 2, 1984, he was arrested again in Frankfurt am Main and sentenced to life imprisonment for the bomb attack, multiple attempted murder, bank robbery and membership in a terrorist organization . In prison he participated in several hunger strikes and was again a leader of the imprisoned RAF members. Together with Brigitte Mohnhaupt, he made several statements for the RAF prisoners.

In May 1998, Pohl was pardoned by President Roman Herzog after a stroke . After his release, he continued to justify the RAF's actions. In the obituary, Der Spiegel described him as one of the theorists of the terrorist group.

literature

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Died: Helmut Pohl, 70. Der Spiegel . 35/2014, August 25, 2014, p. 135.
  2. ↑ a b Herzog pardons co-founder of the RAF: Ex-terrorist Helmut Pohl is in a rehabilitation clinic. dpa article in Die Welt , May 20, 1998, accessed on December 29, 2016.
  3. ↑ Tobias Wunschik: The Ministry for State Security and Terrorism in Germany. In: Heiner Timmermann : Dictatorships in Europe in the 20th century - the case of the GDR (= documents and writings of the European Academy Otzenhausen, 79). Duncker and Humblot, Berlin, 1996, ISBN 978-3-428-08957-4 , pp. 289–302, here p. 295.
    At least 27 terrorists were released early. dpa article in the Rhein-Zeitung , May 19, 2008, accessed on December 29, 2016.
  4. ↑ Jan-Hendrik Schulz: On the history of the Red Army Faction (RAF) and its contexts: A chronicle. (pdf; 179 kB) Contemporary historical research , November 7, 2008, archived from the original on August 12, 2014 ; accessed on December 29, 2016 .
personal data
SURNAME Pohl, Helmut
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German terrorist of the Red Army faction
DATE OF BIRTH 1943
DATE OF DEATH August 12, 2014
Place of death Berlin