Revolutionary Cells (RZ)
Encyclopedia
Revolutionary Cells was a German
left-wing political militancy of self-described "urban guerillas" who were active from 1973 to 1993. According to the office of the German Federal Prosecutor, the RZ claimed responsibility for 186 attacks, of which 40 were committed in West Berlin
. The RZ is perhaps most famous internationally for hijacking an Air France
flight in cooperation with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – External Operations and diverting it to Uganda's
(then under the control of dictator Idi Amin
) Entebbe Airport, where they were granted temporary asylum until their deaths at the hands of Israeli soldiers during a rescue operation
.
, such as the Autonomen movement and the feminist Rote Zora
, the RZ became known to the general public in the wake of the hijacking of an Air France
airliner to Entebbe
, Uganda
, in 1976.
The Air France
hijacking ended with Operation Entebbe
, the Israel
i rescue raid and the death of two of RZ's founding members, Wilfried Böse
, called Boni, and Brigitte Kuhlmann
. Böse's friend Johannes Weinrich
, another RZ founder, left the group to work for Carlos, together with his girlfriend Magdalena Kopp
, later Carlos' wife.
Prior to the Air France hijacking, members of the later RZ took part in bombings of premises of ITT
in Berlin
and Nuremberg
, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany
in Karlsruhe
and, in December, 1975 together with Ilich Ramírez Sánchez – also known as Carlos the Jackal
– RZ member Hans-Joachim Klein
took part beside Gabriele Kröcher-Tiedemann
of J2M
in the raid on the Vienna OPEC
conference.
, who posited that revolutionaries should truly be "underground" (outside the socio-political system). Structured differently from the better-known RAF, or the more anarchist Movement 2 June
, the Revolutionary Cells were very loosely organised into cells, making them much harder to capture. Its members were encouraged to remain "legal" – i.e., continue to operate from within society and even take part in the mainstream political process and its organisations, a tactic which led law enforcement agencies to refer to them at times as "weekend terrorists".
and subsequent German reunification
. In a pamphlet published in December 1991, the RZ attempted a critical review of their so-called anti-imperialist and anti-Zionist campaign during the 1970s and 80s with particular emphasis on the ill-fated Air France hijacking and its much publicised segregation of Jewish and non-Jewish passengers.
The antisemitism evident in the Entebbe hijacking had become the focus of long-running internal arguments during which one of the RZ members, Hans-Joachim Klein
, eventually left the movement. Klein had sent a letter and his gun to Der Spiegel
in 1977, announcing his resignation. In an interview with Jean-Marcel Bougereau,
According to Simon Wiesenthal (quoting Klein's Libération
interview), the plot was first proposed by Wilfried Böse.
Klein also announced that the RZ planned to assassinate the head of the German Jewish community, Heinz Galinski
. The RZ responded to Klein's allegations with a letter of their own:
Klein hid in Normandy, to where he was eventually traced in 1998. One of the witnesses at his trial was his former friend, former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer
. In some accounts Fischer's break with the far-left was due to the Entebbe affair.
The last attacks by the Revolutionary Cells, two bomb blasts at airport and federal infrastructure in the former East Germany, took place in 1993.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
left-wing political militancy of self-described "urban guerillas" who were active from 1973 to 1993. According to the office of the German Federal Prosecutor, the RZ claimed responsibility for 186 attacks, of which 40 were committed in West Berlin
West Berlin
West Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...
. The RZ is perhaps most famous internationally for hijacking an Air France
Air France
Air France , stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the French flag carrier headquartered in Tremblay-en-France, , and is one of the world's largest airlines. It is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global airline alliance...
flight in cooperation with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – External Operations and diverting it to Uganda's
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
(then under the control of dictator Idi Amin
Idi Amin
Idi Amin Dada was a military leader and President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. Amin joined the British colonial regiment, the King's African Rifles in 1946. Eventually he held the rank of Major General in the post-colonial Ugandan Army and became its Commander before seizing power in the military...
) Entebbe Airport, where they were granted temporary asylum until their deaths at the hands of Israeli soldiers during a rescue operation
Operation Entebbe
Operation Entebbe was a counter-terrorist hostage-rescue mission carried out by the Special Forces of the Israel Defense Forces at Entebbe Airport in Uganda on 4 July 1976. A week earlier, on 27 June, an Air France plane with 248 passengers was hijacked by Palestinian and German terrorists and...
.
History
Formed in the early 1970s from networks of independent militant groups in GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, such as the Autonomen movement and the feminist Rote Zora
Rote Zora
Rote Zora was a militant feminist group active in West Germany from 1974-95, known for a series of bombings.-History:Rote Zora started in 1974, when they bombed the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany in Karlsruhe to protest against the abortion law....
, the RZ became known to the general public in the wake of the hijacking of an Air France
Air France
Air France , stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the French flag carrier headquartered in Tremblay-en-France, , and is one of the world's largest airlines. It is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global airline alliance...
airliner to Entebbe
Entebbe
Entebbe is a major town in Central Uganda. Located on a Lake Victoria peninsula, the town was at one time, the seat of government for the Protectorate of Uganda, prior to Independence in 1962...
, Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
, in 1976.
The Air France
Air France
Air France , stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the French flag carrier headquartered in Tremblay-en-France, , and is one of the world's largest airlines. It is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global airline alliance...
hijacking ended with Operation Entebbe
Operation Entebbe
Operation Entebbe was a counter-terrorist hostage-rescue mission carried out by the Special Forces of the Israel Defense Forces at Entebbe Airport in Uganda on 4 July 1976. A week earlier, on 27 June, an Air France plane with 248 passengers was hijacked by Palestinian and German terrorists and...
, the Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i rescue raid and the death of two of RZ's founding members, Wilfried Böse
Wilfried Böse
Wilfried Böse was a founding member of the left-wing German militant group Revolutionary Cells. He led the 1976 hijacking of Air France Flight 139 to Entebbe, Uganda, where he famously told a Jewish passenger who showed him his Auschwitz tattoo "I'm no Nazi! .....
, called Boni, and Brigitte Kuhlmann
Brigitte Kuhlmann
Brigitte Kuhlmann was a founding member of the West German left-wing militant group Revolutionäre Zellen . She was killed by the Israel Defense Force in Entebbe, Uganda, during Operation Entebbe....
. Böse's friend Johannes Weinrich
Johannes Weinrich
Johannes Weinrich is a German left-wing political militant. Weinrich was a founder of the Revolutionary Cells and later became a close aide to Carlos the Jackal...
, another RZ founder, left the group to work for Carlos, together with his girlfriend Magdalena Kopp
Magdalena Kopp
Cecilina Magdalena Kopp was born in Neu-Ulm, Bavaria in 1948. She was a photographer and member of the Frankfurt Revolutionary Cells . She is known for being the wife and accomplice of political militant Ilich Ramírez Sánchez also known as "Carlos the Jackal".- Early life :Magdalena Kopp grew up in...
, later Carlos' wife.
Prior to the Air France hijacking, members of the later RZ took part in bombings of premises of ITT
ITT Corporation
ITT Corporation is a global diversified manufacturing company based in the United States. ITT participates in global markets including water and fluids management, defense and security, and motion and flow control...
in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
and Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany
Federal Constitutional Court of Germany
The Federal Constitutional Court is a special court established by the Grundgesetz, the German basic law...
in Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
and, in December, 1975 together with Ilich Ramírez Sánchez – also known as Carlos the Jackal
Carlos the Jackal
Ilich Ramírez Sánchez , better known as Carlos the Jackal, is a Venezuelan pro-Palestinian currently serving a life sentence in France for shooting to death two French secret agents and a Lebanese informer in 1975....
– RZ member Hans-Joachim Klein
Hans-Joachim Klein
Hans-Joachim Klein is a former member of the German left-wing militant group Revolutionary Cells . In 1975 Klein participated in an attack on OPEC headquarters in Vienna organized by Carlos the Jackal, in which he was seriously injured. He publicly renounced political violence two years later...
took part beside Gabriele Kröcher-Tiedemann
Gabriele Kröcher-Tiedemann
Gabriele Kröcher-Tiedemann was a West German political militant associated with Movement 2 June and the Second Generation Red Army Faction. She was the wife of the J2M terrorist Norbert Kröcher.-Early life:...
of J2M
Movement 2 June
Movement 2 June was a West German terrorist organization that was based out of West Berlin. Active only from 1971–1980, the anarchist group was one of the few violent groups at the time in West Germany. Although Movement 2 June did not share the same ideology as the Red Army Faction , these...
in the raid on the Vienna OPEC
OPEC
OPEC is an intergovernmental organization of twelve developing countries made up of Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. OPEC has maintained its headquarters in Vienna since 1965, and hosts regular meetings...
conference.
Ideology
The core beliefs of the RZ can be understood as an amalgam of radical left anti-imperialist liberation doctrine mixed with strong anti-Zionist, anti-patriarchal feminist, and anti-racist elements. The group stated that its participants should be regular members of society, in contrast to the more elitist Red Army FactionRed Army Faction
The radicalized were, like many in the New Left, influenced by:* Sociological developments, pressure within the educational system in and outside Europe and the U.S...
, who posited that revolutionaries should truly be "underground" (outside the socio-political system). Structured differently from the better-known RAF, or the more anarchist Movement 2 June
Movement 2 June
Movement 2 June was a West German terrorist organization that was based out of West Berlin. Active only from 1971–1980, the anarchist group was one of the few violent groups at the time in West Germany. Although Movement 2 June did not share the same ideology as the Red Army Faction , these...
, the Revolutionary Cells were very loosely organised into cells, making them much harder to capture. Its members were encouraged to remain "legal" – i.e., continue to operate from within society and even take part in the mainstream political process and its organisations, a tactic which led law enforcement agencies to refer to them at times as "weekend terrorists".
Demise
The group is thought to have lost much of its remaining covert support amongst the radical left in the wake of the dissolution of the Soviet UnionDissolution of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union was the disintegration of the federal political structures and central government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , resulting in the independence of all fifteen republics of the Soviet Union between March 11, 1990 and December 25, 1991...
and subsequent German reunification
German reunification
German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...
. In a pamphlet published in December 1991, the RZ attempted a critical review of their so-called anti-imperialist and anti-Zionist campaign during the 1970s and 80s with particular emphasis on the ill-fated Air France hijacking and its much publicised segregation of Jewish and non-Jewish passengers.
The antisemitism evident in the Entebbe hijacking had become the focus of long-running internal arguments during which one of the RZ members, Hans-Joachim Klein
Hans-Joachim Klein
Hans-Joachim Klein is a former member of the German left-wing militant group Revolutionary Cells . In 1975 Klein participated in an attack on OPEC headquarters in Vienna organized by Carlos the Jackal, in which he was seriously injured. He publicly renounced political violence two years later...
, eventually left the movement. Klein had sent a letter and his gun to Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest publications of its kind, with a weekly circulation of more than one million.-Overview:...
in 1977, announcing his resignation. In an interview with Jean-Marcel Bougereau,
Klein expressed the view that the two German political militants who had participated in the Entebbe operation were more antisemitic than Wadie HaddadWadie HaddadWadie Haddad , also known as Abu Hani, was a Palestinian doctor of medicine and the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine's armed wing...
, leader of the PFLP operational division, for planning to assassinate the famous Nazi hunter Simon WiesenthalSimon WiesenthalSimon Wiesenthal KBE was an Austrian Holocaust survivor who became famous after World War II for his work as a Nazi hunter....
. Even the notorious political militant CarlosCarlos the JackalIlich Ramírez Sánchez , better known as Carlos the Jackal, is a Venezuelan pro-Palestinian currently serving a life sentence in France for shooting to death two French secret agents and a Lebanese informer in 1975....
opposed this operation on the grounds that Wiesenthal was an anti-Nazi.
According to Simon Wiesenthal (quoting Klein's Libération
Libération
Libération is a French daily newspaper founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Originally a leftist newspaper, it has undergone a number of shifts during the 1980s and 1990s...
interview), the plot was first proposed by Wilfried Böse.
Klein also announced that the RZ planned to assassinate the head of the German Jewish community, Heinz Galinski
Heinz Galinski
Heinz Galinski was president of the Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland also known as Central Council of Jews in Germany from 1988 until his death in 1992....
. The RZ responded to Klein's allegations with a letter of their own:
instead of reflecting on Galinski's role in
the crimes of Zionism, for the cruelties of Israel's imperialistic
army, you don't reflect on the propaganda work and material support
of this guy, you don't see him as anything other than "a leader of
the Jewish community", and: you don't reflect about what to do
against this fact, and what could be done in a country like ours...
You avoid this political discussion and get excited about the
maintained (anti-semitism?) fascism of the RZ and the men behind
them.
Klein hid in Normandy, to where he was eventually traced in 1998. One of the witnesses at his trial was his former friend, former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer
Joschka Fischer
Joseph Martin "Joschka" Fischer is a German politician of the Alliance '90/The Greens. He served as Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor of Germany in the cabinet of Gerhard Schröder from 1998 to 2005...
. In some accounts Fischer's break with the far-left was due to the Entebbe affair.
The last attacks by the Revolutionary Cells, two bomb blasts at airport and federal infrastructure in the former East Germany, took place in 1993.
External links
- http://www.freilassung.de/div/texte/rz/zorn/Zorn20.htm Klein's letter to Der SpiegelDer SpiegelDer Spiegel is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest publications of its kind, with a weekly circulation of more than one million.-Overview:...
, May 1977 - Revolutionary Cells at Baader-Meinhof.com
- German Autumn
- Revolutionary Nuclei attacked Utilities target - June 1, 1985, Federal Republic of Germany