Holger Meins
Holger Meins | |
|---|---|
| Born | Holger Klaus Meins 26 October 1941 |
| Died | 9 November 1974 (aged 33) |
| Cause of death | Starvation |
| Organization | Red Army Faction |
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.
As a revolutionary[]
Meins became an important member of the RAF and was seen as a leading figure. He was very involved in the gang workings and even had a grenade casing and bomb mould designed which could be placed under a woman's dress, giving the impression that she was pregnant, thereby facilitating the planting of bombs.[citation needed]
On 1 June 1972, Meins and Andreas Baader, along with Jan-Carl Raspe, went to check on a storage garage in Frankfurt where they kept materials for making bombs. The police were waiting for them, as they had gotten a tip-off. 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.[citation needed]
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.[1]
Aftermath[]
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[citation needed] and became a militant, claimed to carry a copy of Meins's autopsy photo to reinforce his hatred for the West German "fascist" system.[citation needed]
The RAF members who carried out the West German Embassy siege in Stockholm in 1975 named their group after Meins.[citation needed]
Representation in other media[]
- Jean-Marie Straub's and Danièle Huillet's movie, Moses und Aron (1974), is dedicated to Meins.
- (2002) is a documentary film about him by .
See also[]
External links[]
References[]
- ^ Sontheimer, Michael (8 November 2007). "Holger, der Kampf geht weiter!". spiegel.de. Der Spiegel. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
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- 1941 births
- 1974 deaths
- People from Hamburg
- Members of the Red Army Faction
- People who died on hunger strike
- Prisoners who died in German detention
- German people who died in prison custody