Red Army Faction

Generations of the Red Army Faction

First Generation: Baader-Meinhof

Second Generation: Operated in the mid to late 1970s after several former members of the Socialist Patients' Collective joined

Third Generation: Existed in the 1980s and 1990s

Causes of the RAF

The group can be first traced back to the student protest movement in West Germany. In the 1960’s the main issues being protested were racism, women’s liberation and anti-imperialism. The issues at protest were known as left-wing politics. In the early beginnings of the group, first generation, they gained many supporters. A poll showed that “a quarter of West Germans under forty felt sympathy for the gang and one-tenth said they would hide a gang member from the police. The RAF believed Germany to be a “fascist state.” They believed to be overthrowing the government by robbing banks, bombing military bases and murdering policemen. The name of the group was inspired by that of the “Japanese Red Army.”

The End of the RAF

The RAF seemed to die down in the 1990’s after the end of the Soviet Union. Several attacks were still being committed under the name “RAF”, however they were not a part of the third generation. The government agreed to free former RAF members if the group agreed to refrain from violent attacks in the future. The last action of the RAF was taken in 1993. On April 20^th 1998 an 8 page paper was faxed to the government dissolving the group. It read: “Almost 28 years ago, on 14 May 1970, the RAF arose in a campaign of liberation. Today we end this project. The urban guerrilla in the shape of the RAF is now history.”

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Army_Faction