On May 19, 1972, the Red Army faction carried out a bomb attack on the Springer high-rise building in Hamburg, injuring at least 17 people. The publisher is regarded as the intimate enemy of the left-wing extremist terrorist group around Baader, Meinhof and Ensslin.
May 19, 1972, 3:41 p.m.:A pipe bomb explodes on the third floor of the Axel Springer high-rise building on Hamburg’s Kaiser-Wilhelm-Strasse. A few minutes later, two more explosive devices hidden in the sixth floor women's restrooms detonated. At least 17 people are injured, two of them seriously. Three more bombs can be defused later. A few days later, the Red Army Faction (RAF) claimed responsibility for the attack. The letter written by Ulrike Meinhof says:"Expropriate Springer! Expropriate the enemies of the people!".
Building not cleared despite warnings
At least 17 employees of the publishing house were injured in the attack in 1972 - "too many innocent people", as the RAF later conceded.It is unclear whether the RAF wanted to hurt people in the attack in Hamburg. Shortly before the detonation, the publisher received two warning calls. But the building is not cleared in time. In their letter of confession, the RAF terrorists hold the publishing house's management responsible for the bloody outcome of the attack:"Springer would rather take the risk of his workers and employees being injured by bombs than the risk of a few hours' working time, i.e. profit, through a false alarm to lose. For the capitalists, profit is everything, the people who make it are rubbish. We regret that workers and employees have been injured." Later, in the Stammheim trial, the RAF members admitted that "too many innocent people" had been injured in the attack on the publishing house.
Springer-Verlag disagrees
After the attack, Springer-Verlag firmly denied that the building had not been cleared for profit reasons.Springer-Verlag rejects the accusations from the letter of confession with the words:"All the claims made here are outright lies and outright cynicism (...) It must be clear to everyone that over 3,000 workers and employees could not be evacuated in such a short time. " In retrospect, the "Welt" that belongs to the Springer group describes that a call came in at 3:36 p.m.:"Threatening calls are not uncommon for the operators, so they don't rush or even panic. They inform the security officer at 3:39 p.m the internal administration, Uwe Schwerzel, and he triggers a bomb alarm, but at 3.41 p.m. the publishing house is shaken by a heavy explosion." The RAF's claim that the eviction had been delayed only served to dampen the outrage in the sympathizer scene.
"Expropriated Springer!":The "Bild" and the student movement
The enmity between the RAF and Springer-Verlag has a long history, the beginnings of which lie in the West German student movement, in which the later members of the first RAF generation are also active. In the eyes of the left-wing protest movement, the "Bild" newspaper in particular stands for the old, reactionary Germany and thus for the political antithesis. The tabloid, on the other hand, keeps fueling the mood against the movement. As early as February 1966, when Berlin students were demonstrating peacefully in front of the America House in Berlin against the Vietnam War, they were described in the "Bild" newspaper as "political muddleheads". The newspaper's verbal campaigns against the student movement are becoming more and more violent.
Gisela Diewald-Kerkmann is a professor of modern and contemporary history at the University of Bielefeld and, for her habilitation thesis, also evaluated newspaper reports from that time. "It's frightening what excerpts and titles there are about the student movement. The students were described as dangerous to the public, long-haired monkeys, gangs of thugs or as work-shy and parasitic."
In May 1967, students in the newly founded newspaper "Extra-Blatt" openly called for the Springer Group to be broken up for the first time. In the 1960s, public opinion was heavily influenced by the reporting in Springer publications. "There are numerous studies in media studies that show the enormous influence the Springer press had on the formation of public opinion at the time," says Professor Diewald-Kerkmann. Especially in West Berlin, Springer-Verlag dominates with the Berlin edition of the "Bild" newspaper and the Berlin daily newspaper "B.Z." the newspaper market at that time.
"Command 2 June":RAF refers to Ohnesorg's death
In its letter of confession to the attack on the Springer high-rise, the RAF tried to legitimize its violent action against its sympathizers. She also specifically refers to a drastic event in the West German student movement - the letter is signed with "Kommando 2. Juni".
On June 2, 1967, the Persian Shah Reza Pahlavi visited West Berlin with his wife. While the tabloid press celebrates the glamorous couple and especially the fashion-conscious Empress Farah, the student movement protests against the monarch, who has opposition figures imprisoned and tortured in his homeland. Shah supporters attack the demonstrators with wooden clubs in front of the Schöneberg town hall. It later turns out that the Shah's supporters consisted largely of agents of the Iranian secret service Savak. The police let the hustle and bustle happen first and only intervene after a few minutes.
On the same evening there was another loud protest in front of the Deutsche Oper. When the shah arrives, a few stones are thrown, but without the shah really being in danger. During the opera performance, the police clear the forecourt. After a dismissal has no effect, the officers proceed with water cannons and rubber truncheons. Violent clashes ensue. Not far from the Opernplatz, the unarmed student Benno Ohnesorg is shot dead by a police officer after the evacuation.
"Picture" representation of the events of June 2, 1967
The following day, the "Bild" newspaper blamed the demonstrators for the escalation and described them as "wild rioters". In a comment entitled "Demonstrate yes, riot no!" the demonstrators are referred to as the "red SA", while the instigators of the riots in front of the Schöneberg town hall are downplayed in the report as "students loyal to the Shah". The article about the clashes in front of the Opernplatz in the "Bild" newspaper also conveys the impression that the demonstrators were the cause of the violence:
"The street battle began when the imperial couple drove to the opera house for the performance of "Magic Flute". The teenagers threw smoke bombs, raw eggs, bags of milk and flour, and sandbags."Image" (Berlin edition/June 3, 1967):"Water cannon used - fire on the Ku'damm"
Other newspapers, such as the "Tagesspiegel", describe the escalation of the situation from a different perspective:
"After the police had repeated unsuccessfully over loudspeakers to clear the street, the police officers proceeded more rigorously and beat crowded students and other young demonstrators with their rubber truncheons.""Tagesspiegel" (3 June 1967):"The Berlin visit of the Persian imperial couple"
The presentation of the events in conservative daily newspapers, such as the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung", also differs significantly from the descriptions of the "Bild" newspaper. "You can't necessarily say that the 'FAZ' had a lot of sympathy for the student revolts, but you can still find very critical reports in the 'FAZ' about the behavior of the police," says Diewald-Kerkmann. The slogan "Expropriated Springer" is becoming more and more popular in left-wing circles due to the one-sided reporting of the events in the "Bild" newspaper.
"The death of Benno Ohnesorg marked a turning point and represented a key event in breaking through the threshold of violence against people," explains Gisela Diewald-Kerkmann. Until then, violence against people in the student movement had been taboo. "After June 2nd, this partially broke down and it was increasingly discussed whether we should not use force."
Anti-Springer demos after the assassination of Rudi Dutschke
The confrontation between Springer-Verlag and the student movement experienced another high point on April 11, 1968. Rudi Dutschke, spokesman for the student opposition, was shot in front of the center of the Socialist German Student Union (SDS) on Kurfürstendamm in Berlin. With multiple gunshot wounds, he is taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.
While Dutschke is fighting for his life in the hospital, more than 2,000 students gather in the main auditorium of the Technical University of Berlin. The agitated SDS movement blames the Springer publishing house's verbal campaigns against Dutschke for the assassination. The movement moves from the Technical University to the Springer publishing house in Kochstrasse. The declared goal:to prevent the delivery of the "Bild" newspaper. The later RAF terrorist Ulrike Meinhof was among the demonstrators. As a precaution, the publishing house is secured by police forces. It escalated:cobblestones were thrown, delivery vehicles of the Springer publishing house were set on fire with Molotov cocktails. The police used water cannons against the demonstrators. A press photographer and a student die in the riots.
Rudi Dutschke:"Public Enemy No. 1"?
The claim that the "Bild" newspaper called Rudi Dutschke "Public Enemy No. 1" immediately before the assassination persists. However, there is no proof of this. "I cannot confirm that the term 'enemy of the state' was actually applied to Dutschke in this context," says Gisela Diewald-Kerkmann. "I have not found any sources where it was formulated that he was an enemy of the state." However, Dutschke was massively defamed as a "ringleader" and "riot maker". As an example, she cites the comment "Stop the terror of the Young Reds now!". It says, among other things:
"You can't just go back to business as usual about what's happening at the moment. And you can't leave all the dirty work to the police and their water cannons." Terror of the Young Reds now!"
The comment is illustrated with a portrait photo of Dutschke. "That is an indirect request:'Take action against Dutschke,'" says the professor of contemporary history. "In this respect, the assassination attempt on Dutschke can be classified against the background of a systematic press campaign."
Ulrike Meinhof:From protest to resistance
A few days after the riots of April 11, 1968, Ulrike Meinhof wrote a column in the left-wing magazine "konkret" entitled "From protest to resistance", in which she defended the riots as necessary "resistance":"Those who are threatened by political Condemn positions of power from stone-throwing and arson here, but not the incitement of the House of Springer, not the bombs on Vietnam, not terror in Persia, not torture in South Africa, those who could actually promote the expropriation of Springer, instead create a grand coalition that in the Mass media could spread the truth about BILD and BZ, instead spread half-truths about the students, whose commitment to non-violence is hypocritical, they use double standards." The "establishment" has to understand that there is only one way to permanently restore peace and order:Springer's expropriation.
"Only a minimal part forced the armed struggle"
Ulrike Meinhof's words show that at the end of the 1960s, a latent readiness to use violence developed in parts of the left-wing protest movement. Clashes with the police are fueling rejection of state institutions. "Especially in radical milieus, the state's monopoly on the use of force was increasingly being questioned," confirms Diewald-Kerkmann. However, the professor emphasizes that this mainly led to clashes with the police during demonstrations or squatting and not to crimes related to terrorist activities. A linear transition from the student movement to the Red Army faction shouldn't be drawn:"A large part of the student protest movement went into political parties and groups and chose the 'long march through the institutions'". The majority have probably even withdrawn completely from political events into private life. "Only a minimal part later forced the armed struggle."
First RAF generation arrested after "May Offensive"
For the RAF, the "May Offensive", during which several quarters of the US Army in Germany, the State Criminal Police Office in Munich, the police headquarters in Augsburg and the car of a federal judge were attacked in addition to the Springer high-rise building, ended a few weeks after the attack abruptly. At the beginning of June 1972, following a large-scale manhunt, the police caught many RAF members, including leading figures Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Ulrike Meinhof. But the RAF terror is far from over - on the contrary. The second generation of the RAF is growing up - and with it even more violence. The RAF terror reached its peak in the German autumn of 1977 with the kidnapping and murder of employer president Hanns Martin Schleyer and the kidnapping of the Lufthansa plane "Landshut".