Weiterstadt prison bombing
The Weiterstadt prison bombing occurred on 27 March 1993, when the
Description
On 27 March 1993, at least three armed and masked men and a woman climbed the 6m high wall of the newly built prison in Weiterstadt, using a rope ladder,[1] entering the guardhouse around 1 am. The terrorists tied and abducted the 10 guards and locked them in a van near a landfill. They identified themselves as RAF`s Command Katharina Hammerschmidt to the guards. They warned the population with signs that the prison was about to be blown up and asked them to get to safety.{[2] They then brought in five cargoes with 200 kg of explosives. At 5:12 am, the explosives were detonated.[3]
Damage
The Weiterstadt prison took eight years to build and cost 250 million
No one was harmed in the attack; At the time, the prison was not holding inmates yet - they were expected by May 1993.[5] According to RAF expert Alexander Straßner, during the attack "the very points of criticism that had been raised against the command level in advance [...] were systematically eliminated. In the attack, target selection, technical perfection, a previously unattainable level of damage were combined with the demonstrative pre-exercise of protecting human life."[6]
However there are widely differing estimates of the damage inflicted: One source mentioned the blast destroyed the administration building and much of its security system.[4] Another source quotes "€600,000 of property damage, according to German federal prosecutors",[6] in 2016, the Irish Times quoted €65 million worth of damage.[1] Yet another source quoted over $90 million in damages.[5]
The prison was rebuilt over 4 years and opened for inmates in May 1997.[7]
Link to perpetrators
Fourteen years later in 2007, using
Klette was arrested in February 2024, after German police tracked her down in Berlin.[8] The other two suspects are still at large.
References
- ^ a b c d e Peter Cluskey (Jul 28, 2016). "Dutch police say surviving Red Army Faction members still active". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2024-03-04.
- ^ a b Von Wolfgang Degen (2018-03-28). "In der Nacht zum 27. März 1993 machten Linksterroristen aus einem Vorzeigeprojekt der hessischen Justiz ein Trümmerfeld". de: Echo-online.de. Retrieved 2018-07-18.
- ^ a b "Germany's RAF Prison Bombers Identified 14 Years Later". DW.COM. 25 October 2007.
- ^ a b "German Prison Destroyed - Prison Legal News". www.prisonlegalnews.org. 1993-07-15.
- ^ ISBN 9781558616783– via Google Books.
- ^ a b Alexander Straßner: Die dritte Generation der „Roten Armee Fraktion": Entstehung, Struktur, Funktionslogik und Zerfall einer terroristischen Organisation. Westdeutscher Verlag, Wiesbaden 2003, S. 142.
- ^ "Untersuchungsgefängnis Weiterstadt eröffnet". archiv.rhein-zeitung.de. 1997-05-03.
- ^ "Daniela Klette: Alleged Red Army Faction member held after 30 years". BBC. 2024-02-27. Retrieved 2024-02-27.