Monika Berberich
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Monika Berberich is a convicted
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 ...
terrorist and a founding member of the Red Army Faction (RAF). She was involved in the violent 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 ...
in 1970, and served a prison sentence between 1970 and 1988 in connection with it. Unlike some other former RAF members, she has never attempted to distance herself from the terrorist organisation's goals and methods.


Life

Monika Berberich was born and grew up in
Oberursel Oberursel (Taunus) (, , in contrast to " Lower Ursel") is a town in Germany and part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. It is located to the north west of Frankfurt, in the Hochtaunuskreis county. It is the 13th largest town in Hesse. In ...
, a small town on the northern fringes of
Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
. Her upbringing was powerfully
catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
. She studied
jurisprudence Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...
at Frankfurt and
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 ...
, emerging with a law degree. Her first serious brush with the law came in 1965 when she spent four months in a
Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
prison for the crime of helping political refugees attempting to escape from
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
. At some stage she passed her level I national law exams, but she never progressed to level II. In 1970 she found an administrative job in the lawyer's office run by Horst Mahler, at that time the ideological head of the newly formed RAF. She soon joined up and undertook administrative work on behalf of the terrorist group: Berberich rented houses and apartments for use in RAF operations. With others she was involved in preparations for the release from prison 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 ...
which took place on 14 May 1970. The plot succeeded in that
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 ...
was indeed freed from the Research Institute for Social Questions in
Berlin-Dahlem Dahlem ( or ) is a locality of the Steglitz-Zehlendorf borough in southwestern Berlin. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a part of the former borough of Zehlendorf. It is located between the mansion settlements of Grunewald and ...
where he had been sent on a rehabilitation-secondment from prison. The plan failed, however, to the extent that in the confusion involved in freeing Baader, Georg Linke, a 62 year old institute librarian, was shot by the accomplice with the guns and his liver badly injured. (Fortunately Linke would survive the injury.) Unbeknown to the research institute, Baader had an accomplice working "on the inside" in the form of the radical journalist
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 ...
: she had been expected by the group to remain at the institute following Baader's "liberation", and then provide media reports supportive of her escaped RAF comrades. After the near-fatal shooting Meinhof seems to have had a sudden change of plan, and she herself escaped by leaping through a window and joining the others in the getaway car. She now "disappeared underground". Directly after Meinhof's disappearance it was Monika Berberich who collected her friend's seven year old twin daughters from
the zoo ''The Zoo'' is a one-act comic opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by B. C. Stephenson, writing under the pen name of Bolton Rowe. It premiered on 5 June 1875 at the St James's Theatre in London (as an afterpiece to W. S. Gi ...
(a meeting point pre-arranged with the comrade who had collected the girls from the Bremen apartment where they had been sent before the operation to free Baader reached it denouement), and drove with the children through France and Italy to the "barracks camp" on the side of
Mount Etna Mount Etna, or simply Etna ( or ; , or ; ; or ), is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Catania, between the cities of Messina, Italy, Messina and Catania. It is located above the Conve ...
which had originally been constructed as emergency accommodation for people made homeless by a volcanic eruption, and where now Andreas Baader and other comrades were hiding. The stay in
Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...
was brief. Berberich and others involved in Baader's escape moved on 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 ...
. They spent most of the summer of 1970 undergoing quasi-military training at a
PLO The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinian people in both the occupied Palestinian territories and the diaspora. ...
-
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 ...
camp along the
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 ...
-
Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
border. In September the group returned to
West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
and began stockpiling weapons. Berberich continued to support the "logistical expansion" of the Red Army Faction (RAF). For those involved the group's political objectives were both idealistic and necessary, and that provided ample justification for illegality. They idealised their criminal actions because they thought there was no other way to "wake people up". Even among the most effective of radical left-wing journalists, there were those who believed that simply writing about the issues could no longer change anything. But for the RAF there was still a necessity somehow to fund their activities: Berberich was involved in several bank raids. On 8 October 1970 Monika Berberich went to visit some friends at Knesebeckstraße 89 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 ...
. The police were arresting her comrades when she arrived. She later recalled that the police did not have her "on their list. They were really surprised when I came in". They nevertheless now arrested Berberich, together with Horst Mahler, Irene Goergens,
Ingrid Schubert Ingrid Schubert (7 November 1944 – 12 November 1977) was a West Germany, West German left-wing militant and founding member of the terrorist organisation Red Army Faction (RAF). She participated in the freeing of Andreas Baader from prison in M ...
and Brigitte Asdonk. With the exception of Asdonk, the police determined that all those arrested were carrying loaded weapons. The court subsequently convicted her because it determined that she had been involved in a bank raid, and had rented a couple of cars and an apartment or use in connection with terrorism while wearing a crookedly fixed wig. She was found guilty of "supporting a criminal association" (''"Unterstützung einer kriminellen Vereinigung"'') and taking part in the freeing of Andreas Baader. She received (initially) a twelve-year prison sentence. This, reportedly, was two years longer than her female co-defendants because of her intelligence and legal training which persuaded the court that she was particularly dangerous. On 4 July 1976 Monika Berberich, together with Gabriele Rollnik, Juliane Plambeck and Inge Viett, managed to escape through a window in the prison library from the women's prison along the Lehrter Straße in West Berlin where they were being held at the time. Berberich's three fellow-escapees were members of the 2 June Movement. To an outsider, the RAF and the 2 June Movement were broadly similar both in their ideals and in their methods, but at this stage they were still separate and on occasion saw one another as rival organisations. Nevertheless, it is clear that during her time in prison Monika Berberich had already formed an excellent mutually supportive friendship with Rollnik. In a trial that took place four years later it was stated that by the time the four women had made it across the roofs to their get-away car, they had overpowered their guards: implements used in the escape had included the tube from a roll of toilet tissues, three bed springs tied together and a fire arm or fire arm replica. Berberich was recaptured two weeks later. She was making her way along the
Kurfürstendamm The Kurfürstendamm (; colloquially , ; ) is one of the most famous avenues in Berlin. The street takes its name from the former (prince-electors) of Brandenburg. The broad, long boulevard can be considered the of Berlin and is lined with s ...
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 ...
to a meeting when she unexpectedly met her brother and the two stopped to chat. Monika Berberich was large, with a strikingly unusual face: as she chatted with her brother she was spotted and recognised by a passer-by who alerted the police. Arrest followed swiftly. (Berberich's three fellow-escapees remained at large for another two years.) Following her brief escape Berberich's sentence was extended. In the end she remained in prison till March 1988. Except during the two years 1976-1978, she shared the experience with Gabriele Rollnik, in many ways a political soul-mate, who also became a friend. During their time in prison the women took part in a number hunger strikes. The objective was to secure improved treatment and conditions. Examples included use of a cell with a window, longer exercise periods in the yard and, more generally, anything "anti-state". From experience the inmates found that up to a point hunger strikes worked. Berberich engaged in nine hunger strikes: Rollnik in six. In the end, Rollnik began to hallucinate and "hear voices". After her release she suffered continuing problems with vision and balance which she attributed to the hunger strikes. Berberich's physique seemed to deal with hunger strikes better than Rollnik's, though after her release it became clear that even she could no longer take her former robust health for granted. After her release Berberich remained resolute in her determination to shun conventional social norms. "I never wanted a normal life and I still don't today". Her first job post release was as a cycle courier. Then she was diagnosed with an
abscess An abscess is a collection of pus that has built up within the tissue of the body, usually caused by bacterial infection. Signs and symptoms of abscesses include redness, pain, warmth, and swelling. The swelling may feel fluid-filled when pre ...
on the
cerebellum The cerebellum (: cerebella or cerebellums; Latin for 'little brain') is a major feature of the hindbrain of all vertebrates. Although usually smaller than the cerebrum, in some animals such as the mormyrid fishes it may be as large as it or eve ...
. The condition involved ten days in a coma followed by several months in a wheel chair. Even after that her movements remained awkward and her speech affected. She never recovered complete balance and the finer motor skills. She was no longer able to hold down a full-time job, but continued to work at the "Dritte-Welt-Haus" (''literally, "Third World House"'') charity association in
Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
. She sings in a choir and takes care of a friend's children. Monika Berberich has never distanced herself from the objectives and methods of the RAF. In 1995 she gave an interview to the BBC in which she characterised contemporary Germany as a "fascist state".


Notes


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berberich, Monika 1970 crimes People from Oberursel (Taunus) Members of the Red Army Faction 20th-century German writers Prisoners and detainees of Germany Living people Date of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people)