Sieglinde Hofmann (born 14 March 1945) was a German militant and member of both the

Socialist Patients' Collective The Socialist Patients' Collective (German: ''Sozialistisches Patientenkollektiv'', and known as the SPK) is a patients' collective founded in Heidelberg, West Germany, in February 1970 by Wolfgang Huber. The kernel of the SPK's ideological prog ...

Wolfgang Kraushaar
"Die RAF und der linke Terrorismus"
Hamburger Edition, 2006, Volume 1, p. 473 and 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 ...

Biography

As a child Hofmann attended a

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 ...

girls' school and went on to train to become a

nurse Nursing is a health care profession that "integrates the art and science of caring and focuses on the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and human functioning; prevention of illness and injury; facilitation of healing; and alle ...

and then a

social worker Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wo ...

. She was believed to have joined the Red Army Faction (as part of their second generation) in 1976 after having first joined the SPK and was suspected of involvement in the killing of banker Jürgen Ponto. It is now known that it was actually the terrorists Susanne Albrecht,

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 ...

and

Christian Klar Christian Klar (born 20 May 1952) is a former leading member of the second generation Red Army Faction (RAF), active between the 1970s and 1980s. Imprisoned in 1982 in Bruchsal Prison, he was released on 19 December 2008, after serving over 26 ...

who took part in the Ponto assassination. Aust, Stefan. '' Der Baader Meinhof Komplex''. Bodley Head Ltd Publishing 1987, Hofmann was among the group of terrorists who took part in the kidnapping of

Hanns-Martin Schleyer Hans "Hanns" Martin Schleyer (; 1 May 1915 – 18 October 1977) was a German business executive, employer and industry representative, Nazi SS officer, and lobbyist. He served as president of two powerful commercial organizations: the Confeder ...

. She walked along the road that Schleyer's convoy was passing pushing a pram laden with guns. She pushed the pram out into the middle of the street to stop the convoy from driving past, and as the cars slowed to a stop, she, along with a group of RAF terrorists, ambushed the cars, murdering Schleyer's driver, his bodyguard and two police officers. Hofmann, along with

Peter-Jürgen Boock Peter-Jürgen Boock (born 3 September 1951) is a German former terrorist of the Red Army Faction. Early life After completing secondary school, Boock began training as a mechanic but soon quit. Claiming that his father was a staunch Nazi, Boock ...

and Rolf Wagner was arrested on 11 May 1978 in

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

, but they were all freed and flown to an undisclosed country of their choice. Some, including Hofmann, immediately went back underground. Two years later, however, on 5 May 1980, Hofmann was rearrested in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

(alongside Ingrid Barabass), following a raid on a RAF safehouse.

Imprisonment

Although initially only charged with involvement in the murder of Ponto and condemned to serve fifteen years in prison, Hofmann was taken back into custody three days before the end of her sentence in August 1995 to be tried for other offences. The second trial was only possible after a judicial clarification in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. On 26 September of the same year, Hofmann, then 50 years old, was found guilty of involvement in five cases of

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

, and three cases of

attempted murder Attempted murder is a crime of attempt in various jurisdictions. Canada Section 239 of the ''Criminal Code'' makes attempted murder punishable by a maximum of life imprisonment. If a gun is used, the minimum sentence is four, five or seve ...

by the Higher Regional Court in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

, and was sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life impr ...

. Her crimes included her offences against Ponto, and other crimes such as a failed

bomb attack The following is a list of terrorist incidents that were not carried out by a state or its forces (see state terrorism and state-sponsored terrorism). Assassinations are presented in List of assassinations and unsuccessful attempts at List of ...

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

Alexander Meigs Haig, Jr. and the murder/kidnapping of the President of the German Employer's Association,

Hanns Martin Schleyer Hans "Hanns" Martin Schleyer (; 1 May 1915 – 18 October 1977) was a German business executive, employer and industry representative, Schutzstaffel, Nazi SS officer, and Lobbying, lobbyist. He served as president of two powerful commercial org ...

. She was, however, released from prison on 5 May 1999.

References

External links

Hofmann bio - in German
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hofmann, Sieglinde 1945 births Living people People from Bad Königshofen People imprisoned on terrorism charges German prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Germany German female murderers People paroled from life sentence German people convicted of murder People convicted of murder by Germany Members of the Red Army Faction Members of the Socialist Patients' Collective

Biography

Imprisonment

See also

References

External links