Ingrid Schubert (7 November 1944 – 12 November 1977) was 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 ...

left-wing militant and founding member of the terrorist organisation

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 ...

(RAF). She participated in the freeing of

Andreas Baader Berndt Andreas Baader (6 May 1943 – 18 October 1977) was a West German communist and leader of the far-left terrorist organization Red Army Faction (RAF), also commonly known as the Baader-Meinhof Group. Life Andreas Baader was born in Mu ...

from prison in May 1970 as well as several bank robberies before her arrest in October 1970. She was found dead in her cell in 1977.

Life

Schubert participated with

Ulrike Meinhof Ulrike Marie Meinhof (7 October 1934 – 9 May 1976) was a German left-wing militant, journalist and founding member of the Red Army Faction (RAF) in West Germany, commonly referred to in the press as the "Baader-Meinhof gang". She is the repute ...

and

Irene Goergens Irene Goergens (born 29 April 1951) is a former member of the West German terrorist group, the Red Army Faction (RAF). In March 1971 she was sentenced to years in prison for her role in the prison escape of Andreas Baader in May 1970. Life Ire ...

in the freeing of

from prison in May 1970. In the summer of 1970, she travelled with roughly twenty other RAF members to

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

to undergo military training with the Palestinian militant group

Fatah Fatah ( ; ), formally the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (), is a Palestinian nationalist and Arab socialist political party. It is the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and ...

. Within the RAF she went by the codenames Irene and Nina. On 29 September 1970, Schubert drove the getaway car during an RAF robbery of a savings bank in

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

. In the summer and autumn of 1970 Schubert took part in at least 2 further bank robberies. On 8 October 1970, she was arrested at an apartment in West Berlin along with RAF members

Horst Mahler Horst Mahler (born 23 January 1936) is a German former lawyer and political activist. He once was a far-left militant and a founding member of the Red Army Faction before later switching to neo-Nazism. Between 2000 and 2003, he was a member of t ...

, Brigitte Asdonk and

. Schubert was tried along with

and Goergens; the trial began on 1 March 1971, and in April Schubert was sentenced to 13 years in prison. In 1975, she was one of the prisoners whose freedom was demanded during the

West German Embassy siege in Stockholm The West German Embassy siege in Stockholm, Sweden, was a hostage standoff initiated by the Red Army Faction (RAF) on 24 April 1975. Collectively, the attackers referred to themselves as Kommando Holger Meins, after Holger Meins, a RAF member w ...

. Between 1976 and 1977 she was imprisoned in JVA Stuttgart along with Baader,

Gudrun Ensslin Gudrun Ensslin (; 15 August 1940 – 18 October 1977) was a German far-left terrorist and founder of the West German far-left militant group Red Army Faction (, or RAF, also known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang). After becoming involved with co-fou ...

Jan-Carl Raspe Jan-Carl Raspe (24 July 1944 – 18 October 1977) was a member of the German far-left terrorist group the Red Army Faction (RAF). He was involved in five bomb attacks with four fatalities, was arrested in 1972 and committed suicide in custody ...

Irmgard Möller Irmgard Maria Elisabeth Möller (born 13 May 1947) is a German former militant. She joined the far-left terrorist group Red Army Faction (RAF) in 1971. After participating in two bombings, she was arrested the following year. During the German A ...

and

Brigitte Mohnhaupt Brigitte Margret Ida Mohnhaupt (born 24 June 1949) is a German convicted former terrorist associated with the second generation of the Red Army Faction (RAF) members. She was also part of the Socialist Patients' Collective (SPK). From 1971 until ...

, where she took part in several hunger strikes. During the

German Autumn The German Autumn () refers to the period and political atmosphere in the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) during September and October 1977. This period was marked by a series of attacks by the Red Army Faction (RAF), a far-left mili ...

of late 1977, the RAF kidnapped Hanns Martin Schleyer and demanded that Schubert and other RAF members were released from prison. After the Mogadishu Hijack, the West German state announced on 18 October 1977 that Baader and Ensslin had committed suicide and that Raspe and Möller were injured. Raspe later died and Möller survived to state that there had not been a suicide pact and the deaths were murders.

Death

Schubert was moved to

Stadelheim Prison Stadelheim Prison (), in Munich's Giesing district, is one of the largest Prisons in Germany, prisons in Germany. Founded in 1894, it was the site of many executions, particularly by guillotine during the Nazi period. Notable inmates *Ludwig Thom ...

in Munich and was found dead in her cell on 11 November 1977. The authorities said it was

death by hanging Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerous countries and regions. ...

. The autopsy did not find evidence of suicide. Schubert had recently told her lawyer that she had no plans to kill herself.

Legacy

When Gerold Braunmühl was killed by the RAF in 1986, the responsibility claim came from the "Kommando Ingrid Schubert".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schubert, Ingrid 1944 births 1977 suicides 1977 deaths Members of the Red Army Faction German people who died in prison custody People who died by suicide in prison custody Prisoners who died in German detention Suicides by hanging in Germany