Red Army Faction

 

The Red Army Faction was known as the Baader-Meinhof group in its earlier stages. Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, Horst Mahler, and Ulrike Meinhof founded the RAF in 1970. The RAF was a communist, anti-imperialist West German far left militant group. They engaged in armed resistance against what they considered to be a fascist state. They formed with the “intention of complementing the plethora of revolutionary and radical groups across West Germany and Europe, as a more class conscious and determined force compared with some of its contemporaries” (Red Army Faction Wikipedia). They were considered to be a terrorist organization by the West German government. The RAF committed many operations from 1970-1998, especially late in 1977 and that led to a national crisis called German Autumn which was about a kidnapping and murder of the president of the “Confederation of German Employers' Associations (BDA) and the Federation of German Industries (BDI)” (German Autumn Wikipedia). Included in German Autumn was also the “hijacking of the Lufthansa airplane "Landshut" by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).” (German Autumn Wikipedia). The RAF is responsible for 34 deaths during almost 30 years of activity. There are several films, documentaries, TV shows, works of art, and books about the Red Army Faction.

Image Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4d/RAF-Logo.svg/2000px-RAF-Logo.svg.png

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Army_Faction, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Autumn