Holger_Meins
Holger Meins
German revolutionary, RAF member
Holger Klaus Meins (26 October 1941 – 9 November 1974) was a German cinematography student who joined the Red Army Faction (RAF) in the early 1970s and died on hunger strike in prison.
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Holger Meins | |
|---|---|
| Born | Holger Klaus Meins (1941-10-26)26 October 1941 |
| Died | 9 November 1974(1974-11-09) (aged 33) Wittlich Prison, Wittlich, West Germany |
| Cause of death | Starvation |
| Organization | Red Army Faction |
Meins became an important member of the RAF and was seen as a leading figure. He was very involved in the group's clandestine work, for instance hiring a metal sculptor to design a grenade casing and bomb mould designed which could be placed under a woman's dress, giving the impression that she was pregnant, telling the sculptor that it was a prop for a film project.[1]
On 1 June 1972, Meins and Andreas Baader, along with Jan-Carl Raspe, went to check on a storage garage in Frankfurt where they were storing explosives. The police had been surveilling the garage after a tip from a local resident. Meins and Baader entered the garage and were immediately surrounded. The police blocked the exit of the garage and fired tear gas grenades into the garage via a back window. Baader threw the tear gas back out. The stand-off did not last long after Baader was severely wounded when shot in the hip; Meins surrendered soon after. All three men were arrested.[2]
In prison, Meins and the other RAF prisoners launched several hunger strikes to protest the conditions of their imprisonment. Meins died by starvation on hunger strike, on 9 November 1974. Although Meins was 1.83 meters (6'0") tall, he weighed only 39 kg (86 lbs) at the time of his death.[3]
Meins's death sparked many protest actions across Europe, with many turning violent. RAF members grew more opposed to the German state. Hans-Joachim Klein, who acted as chauffeur for Jean-Paul Sartre in a meeting with Andreas Baader[4] and became a militant, claimed that Meins's death showed him "the impotence of legality", and said that carried a copy of Meins's autopsy photo as a reminder.[5]
The RAF members who carried out the West German Embassy siege in Stockholm in 1975 named their group the "Holger Meins Commando" in his honor.[6]
- Jean-Marie Straub's and Danièle Huillet's movie, Moses und Aron (1974), is dedicated to Meins. He had earlier been the directors' friend, working as a cameraman.[7]
- Starbuck-Holger Meins (2002) is a documentary film about him by Gerd Conradt.
- Aust, Stefan (2008). The Baader-Meinhof Complex. p. 151. ISBN 9781847920454.
- Aust, Stefan (2008). The Baader-Meinhof Complex. p. 167. ISBN 9781847920454.
- Sontheimer, Michael (8 November 2007). "Holger, der Kampf geht weiter!". spiegel.de. Der Spiegel. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
- Varon, Jeremy (2004). Bringing the War Home: The Weather Underground, the Red Army Faction, and Revolutionary Violence in the Sixties and Seventies. University of California Press. p. 268.
- Varon, Jeremy (2004). Bringing the War Home: The Weather Underground, the Red Army Faction, and Revolutionary Violence in the Sixties and Seventies. University of California Press. p. 231.
- Aust, Stefan (2008). The Baader-Meinhof Complex. p. 224. ISBN 9781847920454.
- "Fernsehen: Straubs »Moses und Aron«". Der Spiegel. No. 13/1975. 23 March 1975. Retrieved 6 November 2021.