How RAF terrorist Ulrike Meinhof was arrested

In the early summer of 1972, numerous heads of the first generation of the Red Army Faction were arrested. On June 15, Ulrike Meinhof was also caught near Hanover - the police there had received a tip.

by Axel Franz

In the early 1970s, the self-proclaimed revolutionaries of the Red Army Faction (RAF) led by Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof fought the political system of the Federal Republic. The armed struggle of the RAF began with the liberation of Baader in May 1970, which emerged from protests within the West German student movement in the 1960s. First they rob banks:the group is also active in northern Germany. During a bank robbery in Hanover in August 1971, RAF members stole almost 200,000 German marks. At the beginning of May 1972, the first bomb attack on the US Army headquarters in Frankfurt am Main followed. A few days later, several explosive devices explode in the Axel Springer publishing house in Hamburg.

It's getting tight for Ulrike Meinhof

The investigators are on the trail of the terrorist group and take action on June 1:Andreas Baader, Holger Meins and Jan-Carl Raspe, three heads of the RAF are arrested in Frankfurt am Main. Six days later, the police in Hamburg caught Gudrun Ensslin. Ulrike Meinhof is now at the top of the wanted list. The former journalist and author of ideological writings and letters claiming responsibility for the RAF is said to have been involved in bank robberies and five bomb attacks. It is becoming increasingly difficult for Meinhof to move about in Germany. Nevertheless, on Thursday, June 15, she is on her way to Hanover as a passenger in a friend's car.

An unknown woman looking for accommodation near Hanover

The night before she left, the teacher Fritz Rodewald had an unusual visitor. The young man, a familiar face in the left scene in Hanover, lives in Langenhagen, just beyond the northern border of the state capital. Around midnight, a woman rings his doorbell and asks if two people can stay with him for two or three nights. After a short deliberation, Rodewald agrees. It's not uncommon for strangers to stay with him, as he occasionally helps US soldiers escape. But why do these guests not want to give their names? The stranger announces a couple for Thursday afternoon.

Fritz Rodewald calls the police

That same night, Rodewald talks to his girlfriend, who lives with him in the apartment, about the incident. Sensitized by the media reports of the past few months, she suspects a connection with terrorists and convinces her boyfriend to inform the police. After work, the elementary school teacher turns to the State Criminal Police Office in the afternoon. The officers agree with Rodewald that he will not go home for the time being and take up position in front of the building at Walsroder Strasse 11, an inconspicuous residential and commercial building on a main street.

The suspicion is confirmed

Around 6 p.m., a man comes out of Rodewald's apartment and goes to a phone booth nearby. There, the police surprise him and arrest the armed man. It is Gerhard Müller - not unknown to the police, but not yet wanted as an RAF terrorist. A short time later, officials ring the doorbell of Rodewald's apartment. Apparently unsuspectingly, a woman who, according to witness statements, is said to have worn a blonde wig opens the door to them - Ulrike Meinhof. When the officers tried to arrest the then 37-year-old, she resisted vigorously but was unsuccessful. It is later revealed that she was heavily armed.

Ulrike Meinhof ended her life in a prison cell

In 1974, Ulrike Meinhof was sentenced to eight years in prison for the life-threatening injury of a bystander during the liberation of Baader. From May 1975 she is again before the court in the so-called Stammheim trial. Along with the other RAF leaders Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Jan-Carl Raspe, she has been charged with four counts of murder and 54 counts of attempted murder. Holger Meins, who was also accused, died before the start of the trial as a result of a hunger strike. Ulrike Meinhof did not live to see the end of the trial either:on May 9, 1976, a prison officer found her hanged in her cell.

Rodewald's life changes dramatically

Fritz Rodewald's life changes abruptly after Ulrike Meinhof's arrest. When the circumstances of the arrest became known, he was pilloried by RAF sympathizers. Parts of the scene on the left turn away from him, he is insulted as a traitor and receives death threats.

Who was Fritz Rodewald?

Traitor or Model Democrat? There are a number of myths about the figure of Fritz Rodewald. Celebrities such as Günther Grass, Alexander Kluge, Stefan Aust and Oskar Negt commented on his role in the arrest of RAF members Ulrike Meinhof and Gerhard Müller.
Rodewald himself later said that his life in the summer of 1972 was "partial been destroyed. The then 33-year-old came from a village near Hildesheim, failed to graduate from high school and later went on to take a secondary education. He was a typical leftist of the 1970s, teacher, SPD and GEW member. The question of going to the police or not was "a classic tragedy situation," said Rodewald, who wrote his autobiography shortly before his death. ("Of breaks and jumps", publisher:Books on Demand, Norderstedt)

Police officers temporarily move into his apartment, he wears a bulletproof vest. Rodewald has to give up his job as a teacher. He leaves Hanover, but returns later, seeks therapy and eventually becomes a psychoanalyst himself. When he was to be awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, he declined. Fritz Rodewald died in Hanover on August 18, 2009 at the age of 70.