Siegfried Haag (born 13 March 1945) was a member of the West German Red Army Faction (RAF). He became a leading figure of the second generation of the group.

Early career

After qualifying in 1973, Haag worked as a lawyer in Heidelberg and briefly defended Holger Meins in 1974 and Andreas Baader in 1975 during his trial at Stammheim.

Terrorism

Haag was known to be a

leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

terrorist sympathizer, and supposedly while he was working as a defence lawyer, he would act as a messenger, passing on information, between different members of the RAF. His crimes became more substantial however and in 1975 he was arrested for smuggling weapons through

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

(with the help of Elisabeth Von Dyck) and served six months in a detention centre. He was released and immediately went underground. Haag became an important member of the second generation of the RAF and recruited many new members. He was once quoted as saying;

''"If I am a general in the Red Army Faction, Baader is a mere corporal."''

He took part in a number of bank robberies, was involved in logistics and weapons procurement. It is thought that he was crucial in planning the West German embassy siege in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, though he himself did not take part. For a period between 1975 and 1976, Haag underwent guerilla warfare training in a

Southern Yemen South Yemen ( ar, اليمن الجنوبي, al-Yaman al-Janubiyy), officially the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (, ), also referred to as Democratic Yemen (, ) or Yemen (Aden) (, ), was a communist state that existed from 1967 to 19 ...

camp, before returning to West Germany.

Arrest

In November 1976 Haag was arrested in Hanover when police stopped a stolen car that he was driving. In the vehicle they found weapons and cryptic documents that revealed details of the Hanns Martin Schleyer kidnapping, which were deciphered at a later time, only in hindsight. With Haag in prison, leadership of the group was assumed by Brigitte Mohnhaupt, though authorities suspected for a while that somehow Haag was still issuing commands from prison. Becker, Jillian. Hitler's Children: The Story of the Baader-Meinhof Terrorist Gang, DIANE Publishing Company 1998, or Panther edition 1978, , ''Page. 343'' In 1979 Haag was sentenced to 15 years in prison by a

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

court. He was released in 1987 on account of ailing health and apparently regretted his previous life of terrorism.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haag, Siegfried 1945 births Living people People from Aurich Members of the Red Army Faction People convicted on terrorism charges