Dear Eberhard, greetings to you all. I think of you often.
I am in good health, but I am insufficiently informed about events,
as I have to rely on my guards for any information.
Hanns Martin Schleyer's letter to his son September 8, 1977
The kidnappers' resolve is such that any refusal of their demands, and my possible execution,
will only provoke them to seek out another victim.
After everything I learnt today
about the intended Ponto kidnapping and my own case, it seems they will achieve their goal.
It's been proven that it is impossible to achieve absolute protection
when the enemy proves to be as careful and determined as the RAF.
The authorities are making a mistake in believing
that my kidnappers are not willing to take personal risks.
They don't seek danger, but they hardly shy away from it either.
Consequently, there will not only be the Ponto and Schleyer cases, but many more.
Therefore, any level-headed analysis
must take into consideration all future kidnappings resulting in death.
Helmut Schmidt should know that, as well as Helmut Kohl and H.D. Genscher.
My case is only one phase of this confrontation,
and the winner, as far as I can tell, will not be the BKA.
Because the value of the individuals, whose release is demanded,
may motivate the kidnappers further to take unforeseen actions.
Heavenly Father,
into your hands we commend your servant, Hanns Martin Schleyer,
and confidently trust that he is with Christ.
We thank you for all the blessings you showered upon him during his earthly life,
and we thank you for the blessings we have received by knowing him.
The leaders of our country cannot travel in tanks,
and therefore will always be easy targets for terrorists.
Go to Bonn and Cologne, talk with von B. and Kurt H.,
and present these thoughts to them.
Of course, my kidnappers have read this letter,
but it contains my own reflections from this past night.
We cannot expect peace on this front in the near future,
but we can prevent an escalation
if we don't wait until after the tenth attack to deal with the threat.
I remain calm and collected. Stay healthy and optimistic.
Hopefully, we'll see each other soon, your father.
"When cruelty reaches a certain level,
it is no longer important who initiated it, only that it be stopped. "
APRIL 8, 1945- MRS WILDE, FIVE CHILDREN
GERMANY IN AUTUMN
It's me, Fassbinder.
It's about the interview we did this afternoon.
It's about the ending.
I know... It's probably paranoia or something.
Can we cut that out?
Okay. There's nothing to be done then.
I think that marriage is
a way of living together
that is artificial, at first,
no matter how much you need it for your well-being,
if you're raised the way we were raised.
I think marriage is something artificial, and I make...
I can say this openly about marriage.
I make my films in a way that, for example,
people who are married,
who have a marriage that is maybe on the rocks
and who see my films about marriage,
they might consider reviewing their marriage openly and honestly.
For example, it would be better
for that kind of marriage to fall apart as a result of my films,
than for it to continue with an unquestioning attitude
with people staying married without considering the consequences.
Simple.
Armin. Armin!
Yes.
Sleeping again?
- Go make coffee. - Okay.
- Where's the telephone? - Over there.
How come you're back already? I thought you'd be back tomorrow.
Why not? I said I'd be back today because of the editing job tomorrow.
I'd rather be in Paris right now. You never pay any attention to what I'm saying.
- Did you hear about it? - About what?
- About the aeroplane. - What aeroplane?
My God, Armin, the hijacked aeroplane!
No, I haven't heard anything new.
- Have you heard any news at all? - No, none at all.
Yes, it's me.
Any news?
No, Armin said he doesn't know anything new either.
Nothing more than what they said on the news and what's in the papers
about the Special Unit, the GSG 9 or something.
I simply can't imagine them storming the plane, I can't picture it.
You know what I'd do? I'd blow up the whole plane.
Armin wants to blow up the whole plane. Can you imagine?
- All because of a couple of guys there. - There are more than 86!
Then it would be all over!
Oh, sure, now you'll be telling us that every foreign worker in Germany will be a millionaire.
- That's different. - Get my coffee!
Okay. Otherwise everything's all right?
Yes, I'll call again if I find out anything, all right?
Yes, ciao, sweetheart, ciao.
And the others in prison, they should be shot or hanged, one after the other.
Okay. You're serious about that, are you?
You'd like to kill or hang all of them?
Yeah.
- And who's going to do it for you? - The state.
- The state? The police, right? - Yeah.
Okay, and who gives them the right?
If they don't obey the law, then the state doesn't have to either!
Okay. Just a second. One second, please.
You really think
- if someone does something wrong... - Yeah.
...then the other can do something wrong as well,
especially if he has the power of the state? Is that it?
Yeah.
Okay. Then I'll tell you... Okay. This is my apartment,
- and you can get out. - It's as much mine as it is yours.
This is my apartment!
Okay, okay, okay. Now get out.
Out, I said!
I'll go. Okay. As you wish.
Armin!
- All right, but we won't discuss it? - We won't discuss it, no.
And you think that's okay?
Well, I wouldn't encourage anyone to discuss the matter right now.
I would be horrified if someone publicly, in a discussion...
Like Jungk did yesterday
during the interview
when he indicated that
criticism is legitimate, and if you cut off criticism,
you'll encourage things
like what just happened with the terrorist attacks.
I'm simply afraid to hear someone say that out loud.
Why?
Well, because I don't know what someone else would do with that.
You see, I have a friend who badmouthed Böll,
this was before the Schleyer kidnapping, and I defended Böll,
and then he said, "You're one of those sympathisers!"
Do you understand? Right now, in this chaotic situation,
you don't know what people will do with your words.
And that's why I think I wouldn't encourage anyone to discuss the matter.
But I really don't understand that because...
You see, it reminds me a lot of the Nazi era, when people simply stayed quiet
to avoid trouble.
Armin? Armin!
- Give me Ingrid's number in Paris. - Okay.
Ingrid? One moment.
Hello, it's me. Bring me a drink, Armin.
He's so bossy.
How late is it? I don't know, 10:00 maybe.
They're dead.
Baader, Ensslin and Raspe.
They've killed themselves in their cells.
Yes, she hanged herself
and Baader and Raspe shot themselves.
Thank you.
Isn't it funny? Got a pistol and shot himself.
Nobody knows how they got a hold of the guns.
Yes, and an international commission must now investigate
whether they were suicides or not.
What I think or don't think doesn't make any difference at all.
The most secure prison in the world, a law to prevent any contact with the outside,
where nobody is allowed into their cells and the cells are thoroughly searched twice daily!
And there were real guns hidden away. Can you imagine?
No idea.
No, no, I have to stay here. I'm still not ready.
I can't. Okay, okay, okay.
Okay, bye.
What needs to happen today for you to feel safe enough to talk again?
Well, people who have money,
and therefore influence,
they have to assert their influence.
Who has influence and money?
Someone like Mitscherlich, for example, or Jungk or even Böll. With their reputations...
That's exactly what they don't have...
You've just talked about your problem regarding Böll when speaking about your friend.
Yes, people have to understand
that here in our country they are, in fact...
The masses are not really democratic. They don't understand what that means.
They believe if you criticise the state,
then you've already become... Whatever they call it.
But you support that by saying
that you would not recommend anyone start a dialogue right now.
Well, I'd rather see this, for example, handled via the media.
Ah, nonsense.
It makes sense that they have to do a nationwide search, everybody knows that.
But they announced telephone numbers,
a different number for each city, so that people can call in anonymously.
What does that mean? It's inviting people to denounce others.
It invites them to name names!
And you don't really believe that anything will change or end.
It will remain in place, because that's what they want.
Yes, they can listen in if they want to. Who cares?
It's just Armin. Please, pour me some more.
No, I can't get away at the moment. I don't know why.
I'd like to very much, but I...
Yes, I'm afraid, too, but I have the feeling I shouldn't go anywhere.
It's okay. It's okay. Good, yes. Bye.
I got that just for you, and, once again, you're not eating it.
- I'm sorry, but... - It's always the same.
I'm sorry!
What's the matter now?
Nothing.
Then come here and eat. Come on.
Okay, what's the matter now?
- What are you looking at? - I'm not looking at anything.
Anita? It's me.
No, I... Yes.
Do you have any?
Okay. Can you send some to me? Three or so, okay?
Take a cab, okay? Thank you.
I thought you'd quit.
I thought so, too.
But I'm depressed. I don't know any more. I can't work any more!
It makes me feel good. It helps.
I understand.
Why would you want to delegate your rights, your liberal rights,
in which you believe and which you find so ideal?
Well, I delegate those rights the moment I cast my vote.
And then the parties take over and I...
I still believe, of course, that, in these parties,
the one I voted for, reason will prevail.
- I believe that. - So reason must come from above.
Reason...
But your understanding of democracy should be such that you,
particularly since you lived during the years of the Third Reich,
you should be saying, "Okay, the grassroots level, the individual... "
I have to tell you
that I have a lot of trouble with this, because I realise
that there are many reasons to be irritated
by a lot of things that are going on, and that criticism is necessary.
But you said you wouldn't recommend that anybody discuss the matter right now.
- Right now, no, not at all. - But in doing so you reject democracy!
When the pilot was shot in Mogadishu or in Aden,
you said you'd like to see a terrorist in Stadelheim shot
for every one shot in Aden.
- Yes, publicly. - Publicly, yes?
- Yes. - And that's democratic?
No, that's not democratic. But it was also not democratic to hijack the plane and say,
"Now we're going to shoot them one at a time. "
What if you had been sitting there, or if I had been sitting there,
how would you react then? You have to think about that, too.
Okay. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
Not an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth!
But with a situation like that, you can't just start talking about democracy!
Eight hundred and forty-three. Yes, I think that's correct.
Franz,
now medium shot,
seen through the door. He looks very lonely.
He turns...
- Armin. - Yes.
- Armin! - Yeah, what's up?
If they find something...
Are you crazy?
Are you crazy? What are you doing?
- The police are at the door. - So what?
- Armin, the police are at the door. - I don't understand anything any more.
They went up the stairs.
Have you gone totally mad?
- If they'd come in... - Then they'd come in.
Okay, then they'd come in.
And if one of us makes a wrong move, they start shooting, then what?
They wouldn't do that.
And what about those times when it has happened, huh?
It was the fault of those who were shot.
You know what you are? A little piece of shit.
Fine, I'm a little piece of shit. I'm going out to get drunk.
- You just said... - In this situation.
...you don't care about the law, but you call yourself a democrat.
- I do care about laws, but... - You just said you don't.
- But if people who have such a... - No!
Stick to what you said. You don't care about the law.
It doesn't matter what the situation is. And you're a democrat.
- But if people... - No! Answer me, please!
They are the ones who broke the law, not me.
- Fine, but so does a common murderer. - Then they're murderers, the terrorists.
Okay, sure, be that as it may, but there are no special laws for murderers.
Yeah, but if you catch them and put them behind bars,
- they cannot commit those acts any more. - No?
- No. - No?
A common murderer doesn't murder for the wrong reasons
or no reason at all.
Isn't the problem with the terrorists that their reasons may be something
that you can understand?
Yes, surely, but the means are not the right ones, Rainer.
Fine, but you don't care about laws either. You don't give a toss about the law.
I was so angry because of this situation...
Is there any situation in which you don't care who is responsible for writing the law?
And which laws?
"You know, we hauled out the Jews.
"I went to the courtyard and sang Watch on the Rhine. I was so confused.
"There, the two Jews grabbed me and started telling me stories.
"Words are good, too, Gottlieb, and what words you use. "
Armin?
Armin!
Are you there?
Yes. What are you yelling about?
Where have you been?
First I was at the Eden, then the Cosy where I met someone
who didn't have anywhere to sleep, so I brought him back with me.
What?
What does he look like?
Take a look, he's asleep.
- Why don't you go in? - Where does he come from?
I don't know exactly. I think he's from Hamburg.
- You don't know anything else about him. - No.
Come.
Come on, take a look at him.
- Throw him out. - Why?
- Because I said so. - Stop talking nonsense.
I said you should throw him out, so throw him out!
Hey, you! Get up!
- Get up, come. - Why?
You have to leave. Somebody's gone crazy here.
All right, I'm going.
Why did you do that?
Democracy is the most human form of government, isn't that right?
Well, it's the least of all evils.
The least of all evils?
Yes. Right now it's really an evil.
Democracy? What would be better, something authoritarian?
No. Right now, here...
Yes, what would be better? If it's the least of all evils,
then perhaps there must be, I don't know, something good? What would that be, then?
The best thing would be some kind of authoritarian ruler
who is good and kind and orderly.
Gabi Teichert, history teacher.
Since the autumn of 1977, she has been seriously in doubt as to what she should teach,
and is looking for the true character of German history.
Either she is building an underground shelter for the Third World War,
or she is looking for prehistoric relicts.
Mayerling Castle.
The Crown Prince's lover.
The couple commits suicide.
"God save Kaiser Franz!"
This original text of the Deutschland song is still sung today.
Suicide is committed by those who don't belong in this world.
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, the hero of Africa,
father of the current Mayor of Stuttgart, Manfred Rommel,
was killed with poison by the state in autumn of 1944.
Later he received a state funeral and public recognition.
THE GERMAN WEEKLY NEWSREEL
His son witnessed the official state ceremony.
Gabi Teichert has gotten into trouble with the administrator.
For example, the head teacher says
that her version of German history is a bunch of baloney.
He says that in its present form, it is not suited for the classroom.
Gabi Teichert replied, "I am only trying to put things into perspective. "
October 25, 1977.
In front of St Eberhard's Church in Stuttgart.
State ceremony for Hanns Martin Schleyer.
The King of Serbia.
A murder committed by the German Secret Service in Marseilles, 1938.
In front of St Eberhard's Church in Stuttgart.
A Turkish man carrying a gun is arrested.
Come with me, please.
What shall we do with him?
Let's put him in the car.
Drive over to K-Station. We'll get the car there and check out the story.
- Does he speak German? - Yes.
- What are you, Turkish? - Yes, I... I...
You can't run around this city with a gun, today of all days.
- I bought it. - Yes, I understand, but...
He explains he only wanted to shoot a pigeon for lunch.
When did you buy it, today?
The High Mass and state ceremonies are televised from St Eberhard's Church.
The broadcast is shown at the Daimler-Benz plant.
Delegated employees and representatives of Daimler-Benz plants from all around the world
are watching the telecast in the main hall of the Automobile Museum.
The factory floors come to a stop for three minutes of silence.
95% of the workers at this assembly line are foreigners.
The media is present.
If we keep putting the blame for terrorism on each other,
we'll never be able to move ahead
and reach our goals. This burden is too great.
We all support the principles of democracy,
the right to differences of opinion and points of view.
Just as those
who spiritually and materially support terrorism
have completely misunderstood the meaning of a democratic way of life,
so have those who recognise the human dignity of terrorists as people
fully understood democracy at its core.
And then there is the large and respectable group of people
who tend to find fault with our society and state.
We cannot improve our government without addressing its shortcomings.
Dear Mrs Schleyer, dear sons,
honoured members of the family,
Mr President, honourable members of the funeral congregation.
Meanwhile, the closing ceremony is being prepared in the New Palace.
Settle down, everyone. Quiet! Hurry up! Get going!
Your usual smiling, humble, fast service.
Remember, we have to serve fast.
Please don't forget. Trays held chest-high in front of you. Off you go.
- How many guests were you expecting? - We were expecting about 1,100 guests,
but with this sort of occasion you can never be sure.
In actual fact, there are between 450 and 550 people present.
What was the occasion?
The funeral of Mr Martin Schleyer.
Sad affairs like this one also need to be serviced.
Are these kinds of official government receptions common?
Well, the government often has receptions, but not under these circumstances.
What's going to happen to our dreams?
In this torn land of ours
The wounds don't want to heal
Under this filthy bandage
And what's going to happen to our friends?
And what about you and me?
I wish I were somewhere else
And yet I'd rather be here And yet...
Horst Mahler, a former lawyer,
was sentenced to 14 years in prison. He has served seven years of his sentence.
Although he has never admitted to anything,
Horst Mahler is considered one of the co-founders of the RAF.
He was on the list of prisoners whose release was demanded
in exchange for Lorenz, the leader of the CDU.
He refused to be a part of the exchange.
Franziska Busch,
who is part of a politically active group while privately in a relationship
with an important television editor, has already read seven of Mahler's publications.
She awaits an explanation.
Mr Mahler, we're making a film about the political climate in West Germany
after the Schleyer kidnapping.
You once said this date marks a turning point
in the political life of the Federal Republic. What do you mean by that?
I see this event as being connected to other developments that began in 1945,
to name a specific year,
then 1967 and now 1977-78,
which are all turning points.
In 1945 the political power of Germany,
fascism, was first broken. Well, its ideological power only partially,
but there wasn't an anti-fascist revolution in Germany.
It did, to some degree, catch up later on
in 1967 during the student revolt,
when we realised for the first time what fascism really stands for,
and that, above all, the social causes of fascism
persisted not only in West Germany,
but also in other countries, particularly in the United States.
In 1967 the trigger was the protest against the Vietnam War.
In 1968-69 we saw the quite obvious decline,
one could call it a breakdown, of the student movement.
It disintegrated into several small, quarrelling rival groups,
each waving a flag of its own.
It became clear that the population, the majority of the population,
wasn't willing to show solidarity at all. They never had
and, as it turns out, no one ever expected them to anyway.
And they did not understand us,
or couldn't understand us, and it was clearly our fault.
It was not the agitators or their stupidity, as people always claim,
but rather that our consciousness wasn't in tune with the times.
And back then, we had the feeling things had to go further,
but we realised that there were certain limits,
which were apparently insurmountable.
And in our minds,
we began to believe that the whole thing had broken down again,
as it had so often before, because of a power barrier.
That is to say, not because of the shortcomings or the inabilities of our consciousness,
- but because of the existing power structure. - Which was probably part of it.
Yes, but we have to ask ourselves how is it possible that this society,
which we criticised to the core over and over again,
whose rottenness we'd diagnosed many decades ago,
why is this society still in such a strong, feigned and insuperable position
to react against us?
This was very theoretical and not based in the real world,
and, therefore, detached from the consciousness of the people,
who were in no way ready to fight against
the social conditions of this state or support a war against it.
At that time we were not aware of it. Otherwise it would never have come to
the launch of this political action, if we can call it that.
And the subsequent developments up to the Schleyer kidnapping,
and even more importantly, Mogadishu, the actual focal point of the problem,
these events laid out the grounds for this crisis, which I see as the crisis of the Left,
the Left's consciousness,
and are now hitting our consciousness as an actual crisis.
The developments are perceived as our weakness, and therefore a component of our criticism.
And the dramatic effect becomes clear because of the contradiction
that, on the one hand, we started out by protesting and fighting against imperialism
where we, for example,
went to the streets to protest about the massacres
against the Vietnamese people at My Lai,
but now must see members of the movement,
in an attempt to free prisoners with whom the people can in no way identify,
hold hostages, defenceless civilians who are completely uninvolved,
among them women, children, and elderly. That is, they threaten to massacre them
without apparently even having asked the question
if this has anything at all to do with leftist politics.
The question is, how come a person like Ulrike Meinhof is willing
to kill, or at least accept it as a possibility?
A murderer abandons the moral value system,
the revolutionary surmounts it.
That means the moral rigorousness of the revolutionary,
which can easily lead
to an arrogant presumptuousness,
at the same time provides the basis to overcome the qualms
that a leftist has with regard to killing someone.
We can see the moral degeneration of the capitalist system.
We can also see the people who act within this system in a corrupt manner.
We judge them morally, condemn them,
and, based on this moral judgement, we recognise them as evil.
That means we believe that personal guilt plays a role in this.
It is necessary for our liberation, and therefore it is also justified,
to destroy this evil even if in human form.
In other words, killing people.
And that's why there is so much talk about sympathy for the terrorists
because there's a common point of origin,
which is the moral indignation about the social conditions,
which is the outrage that we allowed fascism to happen,
that the state fascistically murdered, fascistically exterminated, other races,
that this all had social causes which still prevail today,
and that so little of this moral indignation
could be turned into political action in this nation, in this country.
Where, once again, people like Dregger and Strauss can simply stand up
and, by apparently defending the junta in Chile,
afterwards justify Nazi fascism in this country.
Because what Strauss said in Chile is nothing other than
that under certain circumstances fascism is an unavoidable evil,
and can be a good thing if it maintains the social and economic system.
munich - saturday, oct. 15, 1977 late afternoon
May I come in? May I?
My God, what happened to you?
Karl Hartung Dentist
May I sit down?
Make yourself at home.
- Who are you? What do you want? - I had an accident.
- I'm sorry. - I wrecked my car.
Outside, right in front of the house.
Right in front of the house?
I thought I'd seen you somewhere.
- You should go see a doctor. - No. No doctor.
Can I get a glass of water?
I could get you something else as well, maybe a drink?
No alcohol, just water.
It will do you good.
You've been to Spain.
- Please wipe off the blood. - Do you have any iodine?
In the bathroom, the upper cupboard.
I can't stand the sight of blood, either.
- Are you a pianist? - If that's what you want.
Well?
Your guitar's over there.
Sound, action.
Wolf Biermann, The Girl from Stuttgart.
"I met a girl, and it hurt
"Tears were streaming down her face
"She cried, 'As if, as if, as if
"'I killed myself? In Filbinger's super-jail?
"'What a joke! Just like Ulrike. As if
"'They always twist it around to suit themselves"
Baader, Ensslin, Raspe, the alchemists of the revolution.
I think it's both. They did it, and it was done to them.
Desperate because of themselves, and because of us
and they took the last dark step as a threesome, all alone.
But if that poor, disheartened girl was right,
and if it became clear within a year that the suicide wasn't a suicide,
don't fool yourself, too many would like that.
Beer would taste better.
They'd be happy about it, just like they're happy about those splendid fellows of GSG 9.
Even if it does turn out otherwise,
the number of people in this lovely country
who die by their own hands would increase rapidly.
What to do with the tears?
What's to become of her? What about the girl?
Especially in this blooming land of crises?
I'll probably be seeing her picture soon.
It'll be in a row with the others in the window of the bakery,
and a hand armed with a pen will scratch out the humanity in her face.
The Franziska Busch's political group is making a film,
which is supposed to resemble the revolutionary films of the 1920s.
Franziska Busch has her own plans for a film.
However, she hasn't been able to convince either her friend, the television editor,
nor her political group of the value of her ideas.
Workers on a balcony. Now they go away again.
Mrs Holle.
A sparrow jumps about 60 centimetres up to the next branch.
Turn off your engine.
That was a colleague from over there, from their elite border guards.
They felt very uncomfortable about finding Schleyer.
Get out, please, and open your boot and your bonnet.
These days we pay special attention to girls.
Please move up.
Is it like this at all border crossings?
Well, you're lucky, traffic isn't too bad around here,
but in Colmar there's a two-hour wait.
You have them to thank. Or do you think we started it?
I always wanted to fly one of those.