Gudrun Enslin - German terrorist, founder of the underground radical organization "Red Army Faction". For a long time Enslin was one of the leaders of the organization, and also consisted in a military active of the association. According to contemporaries, the girl was part of a narrow circle of the organization’s intellectual elite.
Biography
Gudrun Enslin was born on August 15, 1940 in the small commune of Bartolome, located in Stuttgart County, in the family of Pastor Helmut Enslin and a housewife. The girl’s father studied theology and philosophy for a long time, which made him a rather respected person in religious circles. Helmut also painted well in various techniques and, being a direct descendant of Hegel, wrote several treatises on classical German philosophy.
It was father who insisted that Gudrun receive a full education. A talented girl grabbed everything on the fly, which allowed her to finish school before her peers. After graduation, his father immediately sent his daughter to the University of Tübingen, where Gudrun Enslin became a student of lectures on the history of Germany, cultural studies, Slavic studies, politics and philosophy.
The knowledge gained radically changed the girl’s worldview, turning her attention not only to the inequality of social groups, but also to the sharp difference between capitalist Europe and countries whose foreign and domestic policies cannot provide a decent standard of living for its residents.
early years
In 1963, while studying at the university, Gudrun met Bernard Vesper. A conceptual philosopher and a talented vocation writer, instantly wins the girl’s heart. For a long time they spend in conversations on the themes of culture, politics, as well as the injustice prevailing in the world. The convinced pacifist Gudrun Enslin is inspired by the idea of a political struggle against the capitalist world order of Europe and its militaristic orientation.
Vesper and Enslin did not enter into an official union and lived in a civil marriage, fearing that a full-fledged marriage process could harm their life’s cause - the political struggle.
In 1965, the girl helps a roommate to publish all the books of his father, Villa Vesper, whose work advocated extremely radical socialism and the ideas of post-nationalism.
Terrorist activity
At the end of the sixties, Gudrun Enslin, together with several other university students, created an underground radical organization, "The Red Army Faction." Members of the organization considered South American terrorist groups operating in the regime of "guerrilla warfare" as their ideological inspiration. The ideology of Gudrun for a long time consisted in the idea of fighting capitalism by waging a “city war”. According to the girl, the chaos into which her organization could plunge Europe should remind the authorities that there are other countries that need help, instead of establishing complete, excessive well-being on their territory.
In April 1968, Gudrun set fire to a department store in Frankfurt, taking several members of the organization as assistants.
Almost immediately after the attack, a manifesto was published in which the organization stated its ideology, and also took full responsibility for what was done, motivating the act with the fact that "snickering Europe needs a reminder of the suffering of the peoples of the Third World."
After the first arson, the "Red Army Faction" takes a short break, which Gudrun uses to work on his manuscripts. Gudrun Enslin’s books were never published, but became tangible evidence of her radical ideology during the trial.
In 1969, the entire "classic" first composition of the "Red Army Faction" was arrested and brought to trial. During the trial, Gudrun did not say a word in her defense.
Conclusion
From 1970 to 1977, convicts served their sentences in the Stuttgart prison, but on October 18, 1977, they were found dead in their cells. The police of Germany put forward the version that a collective suicide occurred. Given the conceptual nature and radical quotes of Gudrun Enslin, this version definitely seemed convincing. Also, when working out the hypothesis, constant protests of prisoners against the conditions of detention were taken into account.
Mystery of death
Many historians consider the official version of the girl's death suspicious. The photo of Gudrun Enslin, taken after her death, shows direct evidence of her murder. Also, the conditions in the Stammheim prison were quite comfortable, and the convicts had no reason to complain or protest.
Irmgard Meller, a German activist who had long been a cellmate of Gudrun, confirmed that this was a contract murder. Several people broke into the cell and inflicted grievous bodily harm to Meller and Enslin herself, and then left. Irmgard was unconscious for some time, but she was still able to recover by telling the truth about the murder of Gudrun Enslin.
The girl found her last refuge in a mass grave with other members of the "Red Army Faction".