Weiterstadt prison bombing

JVA Weiterstadt prison building, pictured 2010

The Weiterstadt prison bombing occurred on 27 March 1993, when the Red Army Faction (RAF) Command Katharina Hammerschmidt bombed and destroyed a newly built prison in Weiterstadt, near Frankfurt am Main in Germany. It was the RAF's "last anticapitalist attack"[1] before it dissolved.[2] Nobody was harmed in the explosion of the empty prison. Estimates of damage varied widely. Perpetrators were linked 14 years later through DNA evidence in skimasks left behind. In February 2024 Daniela Klette, one of the 4 perpetrators was arrested.

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 Marks ($155 million). It was designed to be multi-use and high-tech.[4]

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 [de], 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]

Fourteen years later in 2007, using DNA analysis on hair from skimasks left behind, detectives identified three perpetrators[1]- Burkhard Garweg, Ernst-Volker Wilhelm Staub and Daniela Klette. Klette had already been wanted over the American embassy sniper attack in 1991.[3] They belonged to the so called third generation Red Army Faction and between 1984 and 1993 had committed "some 20 violent crimes and assassinations, leaving 34 people dead and 29 seriously injured".[1]

Klette was arrested in February 2024, after German police tracked her down in Berlin.[8] The other two suspects are still at large.

References

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ a b "Germany's RAF Prison Bombers Identified 14 Years Later". DW.COM. 25 October 2007.
  4. ^ a b "German Prison Destroyed - Prison Legal News". www.prisonlegalnews.org. 1993-07-15.
  5. ^ a b MacPhee, Josh (9 November 2010). Celebrate People's History!: The Poster Book of Resistance and Revolution. The Feminist Press at CUNY. ISBN 9781558616783 – via Google Books.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ "Untersuchungsgefängnis Weiterstadt eröffnet". archiv.rhein-zeitung.de. 1997-05-03.
  8. ^ "Daniela Klette: Alleged Red Army Faction member held after 30 years". BBC. 2024-02-27. Retrieved 2024-02-27.

49°53′38″N 8°33′48″E / 49.89397°N 8.56342°E / 49.89397; 8.56342