Monika Ertl
Encyclopedia
Monika Ertl the daughter of the camera man Hans Ertl, was a member of the armed political underground movement in Bolivia
.
. After World War II her father emigrated to Bolivia where he continued to film for some time and became a farmer.
Monika Ertl came to Bolivia in 1953 when her father brought the family over. In Bolivia she entered briefly a marriage before she joined the political underground. In Germany, she became known as Che Guevara's
avenger because of her alleged involvement in the murder of Colonel Roberto Quintanilla Pereira in Hamburg, Germany: although this has never been completely proven it can safely be assumed that she did not shoot Quintanilla who, at the time, was serving in Hamburg as the Bolivian consul.
She was eventually ambushed and killed by Bolivian security forces on May 12, 1973 in La Paz
where she was reorganizing the Bolivian ELN
. According to Régis Debray
she was preparing the abduction of the former Gestapo
Chief of Lyons Klaus Barbie
to bring him to Chile and consequently to justice in France where he was wanted as a Nazi war criminal.
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
.
Biography
Ertl was born 1937 in MunichMunich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
. After World War II her father emigrated to Bolivia where he continued to film for some time and became a farmer.
Monika Ertl came to Bolivia in 1953 when her father brought the family over. In Bolivia she entered briefly a marriage before she joined the political underground. In Germany, she became known as Che Guevara's
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
avenger because of her alleged involvement in the murder of Colonel Roberto Quintanilla Pereira in Hamburg, Germany: although this has never been completely proven it can safely be assumed that she did not shoot Quintanilla who, at the time, was serving in Hamburg as the Bolivian consul.
She was eventually ambushed and killed by Bolivian security forces on May 12, 1973 in La Paz
La Paz
Nuestra Señora de La Paz is the administrative capital of Bolivia, as well as the departmental capital of the La Paz Department, and the second largest city in the country after Santa Cruz de la Sierra...
where she was reorganizing the Bolivian ELN
National Liberation Army (Bolivia)
The National Liberation Army was a Marxist-Leninist guerrilla organization that operated in Bolivia during the 1960s and 1970s. It was formed by Che Guevara and backed by Fidel Castro's government in Cuba and the Soviet-led alliance in the Cold War...
. According to Régis Debray
Régis Debray
Jules Régis Debray is a French intellectual, journalist, government official and professor. He is known for his theorization of mediology, a critical theory of the long-term transmission of cultural meaning in human society; and for having fought in 1967 with Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara in...
she was preparing the abduction of the former Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
Chief of Lyons Klaus Barbie
Klaus Barbie
Nikolaus 'Klaus' Barbie was an SS-Hauptsturmführer , Gestapo member and war criminal. He was known as the Butcher of Lyon.- Early life :...
to bring him to Chile and consequently to justice in France where he was wanted as a Nazi war criminal.
Works about Ertl
- Christian Baudissin: Wanted: Monika Ertl, documentary 1989
- Jürgen Schreiber: Sie starb wie Che Guevara. Die Geschichte der Monika Ertl. Artemis & Winkler, Düsseldorf 2009 ISBN 978-3-538-07274-9