Detlev Karsten Rohwedder (16 October 1932 – 1 April 1991) was a German manager and

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

, as member of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

. He was named president of the

Treuhandanstalt The (, " Trust agency"), colloquially referred to as , was an agency established by the government of the German Democratic Republic to reprivatise/ privatise East German enterprises, Volkseigene Betriebe (VEBs), prior to German reunification ...

, the agency responsible for the

reprivatization Reprivatization refers to the process of restoring properties seized or otherwise nationalized from privately held owners by a government to privately held status. This may include returning seized property or compensating uncompensated former own ...

privatization Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...

of all state-owned property in the former

German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

(GDR), in September 1990, and served until his assassination by a

Far Left Far or FAR may refer to: Government * Federal Acquisition Regulation, US * Federal Aviation Regulations, US * Florida Administrative Register, US Military and paramilitary * Rebel Armed Forces (Spanish: '), a defunct guerilla organization ...

terrorist organization Several national governments and two international organizations have created lists of organizations that they designate as terrorist. The following list of designated terrorist groups lists groups designated as terrorist by current and former ...

, the

Red Army Faction The Red Army Faction (, ; RAF ),See the section "Name" also known as the Baader–Meinhof Group or Baader–Meinhof Gang ( ), was a West German far-left militant group founded in 1970 and active until 1998, considered a terrorist organisat ...

, in April 1991. He had also been CEO of the steel manufacturer

Hoesch AG Hoesch (; German: Hoesch AG; formerly also Eberhard Hoesch & Sons and Hoesch-Werke) was a German steel and mining conglomerate headquartered in Dortmund and several subsidiaries across the Ruhr region and Siegen. Founded in 1871, by Leopold Ho ...

since 1980.

Death

On Monday, 1 April 1991, at 23:30, Rohwedder was shot and killed through a window on the second floor of his house in the suburb of

Düsseldorf-Niederkassel Niederkassel is a quarter of the city of Düsseldorf, part of Borough 4. It is located on the west side of the river Rhine, bordering Oberkassel and Lörick. It has an area of , and 6,079 inhabitants (2020). It was connected to Düsseldorf when ...

(Kaiser-Friedrich-Ring 71) by the first of three rifle shots. The second shot wounded his wife Hergard; the third hit a bookcase. The shots were fired from away from a rifle chambered in

7.62×51mm NATO The 7.62×51mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 7.62 NATO) is a rimless, straight walled, bottlenecked, centerfire rifle cartridge. It is a standard for small arms among NATO countries. First developed in the 1950s, the cartridge had first be ...

. It was the same rifle that was used during a sniper attack on the American embassy in February committed by the

(RAF), a

West German West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republic after its capital c ...

far-left terrorist group. An inspection of the scene found three cartridge cases, a plastic chair, a towel, and a letter claiming responsibility from an RAF unit named after Ulrich Wessel, a minor RAF figure who had died in 1975. The shooter has never been identified. In 2001, a

DNA analysis Genetic testing, also known as DNA testing, is used to identify changes in DNA sequence or chromosome structure. Genetic testing can also include measuring the results of genetic changes, such as RNA analysis as an output of gene expression, or ...

found that hair strands from the crime scene belonged to RAF member

Wolfgang Grams Wolfgang Grams (March 6, 1953 – June 27, 1993) was a member of the Red Army Faction (RAF), a German far-left militant organisation from 1970 to 1998. Grams' death, officially while resisting arrest, caused a major political scandal and the ...

. The

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

did not consider this evidence sufficient to name Grams as a suspect in the killing. Grams was killed in a shootout with police in

Bad Kleinen Bad Kleinen (until 1915 Kleinen) is a municipality in the Nordwestmecklenburg district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is located on the north bank of the Schweriner See. Bad Kleinen is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. Geograph ...

in 1993. On April 10, 1991, Rohwedder was honoured in Berlin with a day of mourning by German President

Richard von Weizsäcker Richard Karl Freiherr von Weizsäcker (; 15 April 1920 – 31 January 2015) was a German politician ( CDU), who served as President of Germany from 1984 to 1994. Born into the aristocratic Weizsäcker family, who were part of the German nobili ...

, Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia,

Johannes Rau Johannes Rau (; 16 January 193127 January 2006) was a German politician who served as President of Germany from 1999 to 2004. A member of the Social Democratic Party, he previously served as the Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia fro ...

, and Chairman of the Board of

Jens Odewald. The

Detlev-Rohwedder-Haus The Detlev-Rohwedder-Haus (Detlev Rohwedder House) is a building in Berlin that, at the time of its construction, was the largest office building in Europe. It was constructed between February 1935 and August 1936 to house the German Air Ministr ...

, the seat of the Federal Finance Ministry, is named in his honour.

Films

In 2020, '' A Perfect Crime'', a documentary about the Rohwedder assassination, was released by

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rohwedder, Detlev Karsten 1932 births 1991 deaths 1991 murders in Germany April 1991 in Germany Deaths by firearm in Germany People from Gotha (town) People murdered in Germany Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany University of Hamburg alumni Unsolved murders in Germany Victims of the Red Army Faction Assassinated German politicians Politicians assassinated in 1991

Death

Films

See also

References