Combat and Conciliation: State Treatment of Left-wing Terrorist Groups in West and East Germany

Abstract

Following the disbandment of the June 2 Movement (Bewegung 2. Juni) in 1980, the Red Army Faction (RAF) in 1998, and the gradual disappearance of the Revolutionary Cells between 1991 and 1993, various secrets surrounding these left-wing terrorist groups have been revealed.1 However, due to former members’ political conception of themselves as part of a closely controlled secret group participating in necessary “armed combat,” few are willing to make statements, even today, about their contributions to the actions of the groups or their internal structures. Meanwhile, other ex-terrorists have distanced themselves from their ideological convictions at that time, not wishing to face up to that part of their past, posing further difficulties to research into this period.KeywordsFederal RepublicState SecurityTerrorist GroupGerman StateInternational TerrorismThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.