RAF Kidnaps Schleyer (1977)

Mon Sep 05, 1977

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Image: Schleyer holding a sign that says “SEIT 20 TAGEN” with an RAF logo in the background [dw.org]

On this day in 1977, the revolutionary Red Army Faction (RAF) kidnapped Hanns Martin Schleyer (1915 - 1977), a German capitalist and ex-member of the SS, to use as collateral to negotiate the release of RAF members from prison.

Schleyer’s conservative anti-communist views, anti-union activities, and his past as a former SS officer made him a target for radical elements of the German student movement in the 1970s.

On September 5th, 1977, the RAF (a militant West German, far-left organization) kidnapped Schleyer in an attempt to force the West German government to release Andreas Baader and three other RAF members.

The government steadfastly refused to negotiate with the RAF, and, after discovering that three RAF members were killed in prison, his kidnappers executed Schleyer in a car en route to France on October 18th, 1977.