Thorwald Proll (born 22 July 1941 in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

Hesse-Nassau The Province of Hesse-Nassau () was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1868 to 1918, then a province of the Free State of Prussia until 1944. Hesse-Nassau was created as a consequence of the Austro-Prussian War of ...

) is a writer and was active in the

German student movement The West German student movement (), sometimes called the 1968 movement in West Germany (), was a left-wing social movement that consisted of mass student protests in West Germany in 1968. Participants in the movement later came to be known as ...

in the 1960s. On 2 April 1968, along with

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 ...

Horst Söhnlein Horst Söhnlein (13 October 1942 – 23 March 2023) was a German activist convicted of arson in 1968, together with the future member of the Baader-Meinhof Group. On 2 April 1968, along with Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Thorwald Proll, he s ...

and

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 ...

, he set fire to two department stores 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 ...

as a protest against the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

. All four were arrested two days later. All four of the defendants were convicted of arson and endangering human life and were sentenced to three years in prison. In June 1969, they were temporarily paroled under an

amnesty Amnesty () is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power officially forgiving certain classes of people who are subject to trial but have not yet be ...

for

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although ...

s, but in November of that year, the

Federal Constitutional Court The Federal Constitutional Court ( ; abbreviated: ) is the supreme constitutional court for the Federal Republic of Germany, established by the constitution or Basic Law () of Germany. Since its inception with the beginning of the post-W ...

(Bundesverfassungsgericht) ordered that they return to custody. Horst Söhnlein complied with the order; Thorwald Proll and the others went underground and made their way to

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 ...

, where they stayed for a time in a house owned by prominent French journalist and revolutionary,

Régis Debray Jules Régis Debray (; born 2 September 1940) is a French philosopher, journalist, former government official and academic. He is known for his theorization of mediology, a critical theory of the long-term transmission of cultural meaning in ...

. Thorwald Proll's sister, Astrid, was introduced to the group by him. She joined Baader, Ensslin and others in forming 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 ...

. However, Thorwald Proll turned away from the group and in December left Paris for England.The Televisionaries, the Red Army Faction Story, 1963 - 1993, by Tom Vague, On 21 November 1970, he turned himself in to the public prosecutor's office in Berlin. In October 1971, he was released early from prison. After the release from custody Proll worked as, amongst other things, as a waiter, salesman and a lecturer. Since 1978, Thorwald Proll has lived in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

as a poet, author and a bookseller.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Proll, Thorwald 1941 births Living people Writers from Kassel People from Hesse-Nassau Members of the Red Army Faction German arsonists Criminals from Hesse