Rolf Ludwig Pohle (January 4, 1942,

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

- February 7, 2004,

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) was a lawyer and activist who was also convicted as a member of the terrorist organization Red Army Faction (RAF).

Biography

Rolf Pohle was born in Berlin in 1942 and from 1954 onward he lived in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. He was the son of Law Professor Rudolf Pohle. He studied in Munich's Maximiliansgymnasium and then Law in Berlin and Munich and graduated in 1966. During his studies he joined the German Liberal Students' Club ( ''Liberaler Studentenbund Deutschlands''). He later became a member of the extra-parliamentary Opposition (APO) and in 1967 he was elected president of a students' club in the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

. After the assassination attempt against the student

Rudi Dutschke Alfred Willi Rudolf Dutschke (; 7 March 1940 – 24 December 1979) was a German sociologist and political activist who, until severely injured by an assassin in 1968, was a leading charismatic figure within the Socialist Students Union (SDS) in ...

in April 1968, he stood as a lawyer for the arrested members of APO. In 1969 Pohle was sentenced to 15 months in prison for participating in the protests of spring 1968. In 1971, he was arrested again and, after being in jail for about 2 years, in 1974 he was sentenced to years in prison for participation in the terrorist organization Faction Red Army and possession of guns. However, he refused the accusations. When asked in the court to provide information about himself, he read the lyrics of the song ''Mein Name ist Mensch'' (''My name is Human''). In March 1975, the Movement of 2nd June (organization cooperating with RAF) kidnapped

Peter Lorenz Peter Lorenz (22 December 1922 – 6 December 1987) was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). In 1975 Lorenz was a candidate for mayor of West Berlin. He was kidnapped by the 2 June Movement group three days before ...

, politician of CDU, threatening to kill him if Pohle and other members of the RAF were not released. The government accepted and released the prisoners, who were then transferred to

South Yemen South Yemen, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, abbreviated to Democratic Yemen, was a country in South Arabia that existed in what is now southeast Yemen from 1967 until Yemeni unification, its unification with the Yemen A ...

. From there, Pohle went to

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where he was arrested in July 1976. Initially the court (''Συμβούλιο Εφετών'') rejected the request for his extradition to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

based on the political nature of his crimes and the prohibition by the

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of the "extradition of a foreigner who is persecuted for his action for freedom". However, the

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made an appeal to the court's decision and allowed his extradition. During these trials, there was a large movement in favor of Pohle and against his extradition. Despite this, he was imprisoned in Germany for six years, until 1982. Two years later he moved to Athens, Greece, where he spent the rest of his life. He worked as a German language instructor and interpreter. He married lawyer Katerina Iatropoulou, a member of his defense team in his extradition case. He died on February 7, 2004, after a long fight with cancer. According to other information, he died from

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pohle, Rolf Ludwig German lawyers German activists 1942 births 2004 deaths