Wolfgang Grams
Wolfgang Grams | |
---|---|
Born | Suicide by gunshot | March 6, 1953
Organization | Red Army Faction |
Wolfgang Grams (March 6, 1953 – June 27, 1993) was a member of the Red Army Faction (RAF), a German far-left militant organisation from 1970 to 1998. Grams' death, officially while resisting arrest, caused a major political scandal and the circumstances continue to be debated.
Life
Wolfgang Grams was born in Wiesbaden, Germany. His parents, Werner and Ruth Grams, were expelled from the east. Werner Grams volunteered for service in the Waffen-SS.[1] They had another son, Rainer.
During Grams' younger years, his family lived near the
While living in a
Grams' name was found in a note book of an RAF militant who was killed during an arrest attempt. He was kept in custody for 153 days, but was given remuneration in 1980. He then met Birgit Hogefeld, and they began dating and moved in together.
On February 15, 1987, the
Later DNA evidence connects Gram to the killing of Detlev Karsten Rohwedder in 1991.
Death
On June 27, 1993, members of the
Shortly after the operation there were allegations that Grams had not shot himself but was executed with a shot in the head from close range by a GSG 9 officer. The
Interior Minister Rudolf Seiters took responsibility for the poor conducting and postprocessing of the operation and resigned in July of the year, as well as Chief Federal Prosecutor, Alexander von Stahl. Helmut Kohl paid a visit to the unit, praising Officer Newrzella and discouraged "attempts to make a martyr of his murderer."
In popular culture
- The award-winning 2001 German documentary movie Black Box BRD retells the lives and deaths of Wolfgang Grams and Alfred Herrhausen, a German banker in whose assassination Grams is suspected of having been involved.[3]
- The incident has been widely criticised in German punk rock songs such as Kopfschuss ("head shot") by WIZO, Bad K. by Dritte Wahl or Gewalt ("violence") by Slime.[4]
References
- ^ From the film Black Box BRD de:Black Box BRD
- ISBN 978-3-596-17265-8.
- ^ Thomas Moser: Andreas Veiel: Black Box BRD. Alfred Herrhausen, die Deutsche Bank, die RAF und Wolfgang Grams. Deutschlandfunk, 23 December 2002
- ^ "O-Töne: Was in Bad Kleinen wirklich geschah". junge Welt (in German). 2013-06-27. Retrieved 2021-05-31.