German 110

German 110 class blog

Sunday, December 14, 2014

The Baader Meinhof Complex


In 1967, the Shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi visits, West Berlin to attend a performance at the Deutsche Oper. Angered at the Shah's repressive policies in governing Iran, a number of young Germans show up to protest his appearance. The German police and the Shah's forces attack the German protesters and one of them, Benno Ohnesorg, is shot and killed without provocation by Karl-Heniz Kurras. The murder outrages many Germans, including left wing journalist Ulrike Meinhof, who had earlier written articles critical of the Shah. Inspired by Meinhof's outspoken criticism of the government, Gudrun Ensslin leaves her common law husband and child. Together with her new lover, Andreas Baader, and two others she carries out a fire bombing of a department store in Frankfurt am Main


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