Christian Klar was a leading member of the 2nd Generation of the Baader Meinhof gang (Red Army Faction) in Germany. In 1982 he was captured and taken into custody and in 1985 after a lengthy judiciary process he was sentenced to a total of 5 life sentences plus 15 years imprisonment. In 1992 an extra 5 years was added to his sentence. No wonder he looks so gloomy in the press photo taken in the 1992 and provided by the European Press Agency:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/germany-in-shock-at-release-of-baadermeinhof-killer-1033807.html
Klar must have been quite jubilant when, in 1997, his minimum sentence was set at 26 years. He and his RAF chums waged war on Germany's post-war establishment, which they saw as perpertrating the evils of the Nazi era under the guise of democracy. Seems a bit ott (over the top) to me. But, let’s be clear, his crimes were considerable. Klar, 56, was jailed for multiple murders, including the killing of federal prosecutor Siegfried Buback in April 1977. Other killings in which Mr. Klar was implicated include industrialist Hanns-Martin Schleyer and banker Jürgen Ponto.
Klar’s misguided politics led him to commit outrageous crimes. He has never expressed remorse for his actions or clarified any details about the assassinations and kidnappings. On the other hand it has been pointed out that a number of ‘lesser’ Nazi war criminals got away with lighter sentences. Klar will have spent 26 years in prison, some of them in solitary confinement (the details here are a bit elusive). Furthermore, judges at the Stuttgart state court are convinced that Klar no longer poses a threat to society. "The court no longer has any evidence to suggest that Christian Klar will commit future crimes," they said. He is to be freed on 3 January 2009 and he will remain ‘on probation’ for a further 5 years.
Do you think, like me, that the release of Herr Klar is a reasonable humanitarian action?
Wednesday, 26 November 2008
Thursday, 20 November 2008
Der Baader Meinhof Komplex – 2008 Film aus Deutschland
I highly recommend this film, even though you may never have heard of Baader or Meinhof. I saw ‘The Baader Meinhof Complex’ at The Broadway Cinema, Nottingham and the audience were held spellbound for the 2½ hour duration.
It may be best not to read on until you have seen the film.
This 2008 production from Germany traces the activities of the leftist terrorist group sometimes named after two of the founder leaders Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof. They called themselves the Red Army Faction, or RAF for short, and must not be confused with our glorious Royal Air Force. The Red Army Faction emerged in the late 1960s, a time of much unrest in the Western World . Students and other, mainly leftist, groups, particularly in Western Germany, were worried about the abuse of power by those in authority. It seems that the Governments of the regions (Länder), the National Government and the Police contained members with suspicious (Nazi?) pasts; obviously not an ideal state of affairs.
The first time-line entry in this excellent, German language, RAF information site:
http://www.rafinfo.de/zeit/zeit67.php
reports the demonstrations outside the German Opera in Berlin against the visit of Shah of Persia (Iran) in June 1967. The heavy handed police (and Persian bodyguards / thugs) response included the shooting by a plain clothes policeman of a harmless student, the inappropriately named Benno Ohnesorg (Benno ‘Withoutworry’). Many see this clash as the flash point for the emergence of the RAF. The demo is portrayed in the film to great effect at the original site.
Ulrike Meinhof, a respected but controversial leftist journalist, had earlier protested against the Shah’s visit in the journal Konkret. A couple of years later she teamed up with Andreas Baader and Gudrun Ensslin to form the RAF. General mayhem ensued. I found the ideology a bit woolly but the RAF rampaged angrily around planting bombs in department stores and a police HQ, robbing banks to fund weapon purchase and kidnapping and murdering leading ‘capitalists’. It seems they wanted to cause the Government and Police to ‘soften’ their authoritarian approach. The RAF had links with guerilla groups in the Middle East and members took part, in spite of clear tension / culture clashes, in guerilla warfare training.
The film takes us through some of these spectacular events to great effect. We see the other side of the conflict led by the wily old Police President, Horst Herold, played by Bruno Ganz (Adolf Hitler in ‘Der Untergang’). We see how the authorities close in on the various RAF members, leading to spectacular arrests, prison escapes and to the two year trial whilst in prison of, Ensslin, Meinhof, Baader and Jan Carl Raspe. The gang member’s mental health deteriorates and in particular Ulrike Meinhof, who is experiencing doubts and guilt about the whole fiasco, commits suicide one year into the trial. The other three are eventually sentenced to life imprisonment and this sets off two further atrocities. Firstly, the RAF kidnap the President of the ‘Employer’s Union’ Hanns Martin Schleyer. Secondly, RAF members in cohorts with the PLO hijack a plane and hold the passengers to ransom. The plan is to negotiate the release of RAF prisoners. On learning of the rescue of the plane passengers, the three prisoners sink into ultimate despair and are found dead the next morning (18 October 1977) in their separate cells. After re-enacting the murder of Schleyer (19 October 1977) this harrowing film draws to a close.
The colourful RAF story of cloak and dagger escapades continued with so-called 2nd and 3rd generation members causing steadily diminishing mayhem until they officially ceased their activities on 20 April 1998. There are a number of ex-RAF members still living and working in Germany and attempts to unravel an accurate account of history of the Baader Meinhof Complex goes on.
Footnote
To gain further impressions of the film try the following sites for a variety of articles in ‘The Independent’ (a highly regarded UK broadsheet daily newspaper):
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/the-baader-meinhof-complex-uli-edel-149-mins-18-1020248.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-sixties-radicals-are-back-but-why-1021683.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/the-baader-meinhof-complex-18-1017556.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/is-baader-meinhof-film-a-tasteless-action-movie-941216.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/thomas-sutcliffe/tom-sutcliffe-the-urbane-power-of-alistair-cooke-1027364.html
It may be best not to read on until you have seen the film.
This 2008 production from Germany traces the activities of the leftist terrorist group sometimes named after two of the founder leaders Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof. They called themselves the Red Army Faction, or RAF for short, and must not be confused with our glorious Royal Air Force. The Red Army Faction emerged in the late 1960s, a time of much unrest in the Western World . Students and other, mainly leftist, groups, particularly in Western Germany, were worried about the abuse of power by those in authority. It seems that the Governments of the regions (Länder), the National Government and the Police contained members with suspicious (Nazi?) pasts; obviously not an ideal state of affairs.
The first time-line entry in this excellent, German language, RAF information site:
http://www.rafinfo.de/zeit/zeit67.php
reports the demonstrations outside the German Opera in Berlin against the visit of Shah of Persia (Iran) in June 1967. The heavy handed police (and Persian bodyguards / thugs) response included the shooting by a plain clothes policeman of a harmless student, the inappropriately named Benno Ohnesorg (Benno ‘Withoutworry’). Many see this clash as the flash point for the emergence of the RAF. The demo is portrayed in the film to great effect at the original site.
Ulrike Meinhof, a respected but controversial leftist journalist, had earlier protested against the Shah’s visit in the journal Konkret. A couple of years later she teamed up with Andreas Baader and Gudrun Ensslin to form the RAF. General mayhem ensued. I found the ideology a bit woolly but the RAF rampaged angrily around planting bombs in department stores and a police HQ, robbing banks to fund weapon purchase and kidnapping and murdering leading ‘capitalists’. It seems they wanted to cause the Government and Police to ‘soften’ their authoritarian approach. The RAF had links with guerilla groups in the Middle East and members took part, in spite of clear tension / culture clashes, in guerilla warfare training.
The film takes us through some of these spectacular events to great effect. We see the other side of the conflict led by the wily old Police President, Horst Herold, played by Bruno Ganz (Adolf Hitler in ‘Der Untergang’). We see how the authorities close in on the various RAF members, leading to spectacular arrests, prison escapes and to the two year trial whilst in prison of, Ensslin, Meinhof, Baader and Jan Carl Raspe. The gang member’s mental health deteriorates and in particular Ulrike Meinhof, who is experiencing doubts and guilt about the whole fiasco, commits suicide one year into the trial. The other three are eventually sentenced to life imprisonment and this sets off two further atrocities. Firstly, the RAF kidnap the President of the ‘Employer’s Union’ Hanns Martin Schleyer. Secondly, RAF members in cohorts with the PLO hijack a plane and hold the passengers to ransom. The plan is to negotiate the release of RAF prisoners. On learning of the rescue of the plane passengers, the three prisoners sink into ultimate despair and are found dead the next morning (18 October 1977) in their separate cells. After re-enacting the murder of Schleyer (19 October 1977) this harrowing film draws to a close.
The colourful RAF story of cloak and dagger escapades continued with so-called 2nd and 3rd generation members causing steadily diminishing mayhem until they officially ceased their activities on 20 April 1998. There are a number of ex-RAF members still living and working in Germany and attempts to unravel an accurate account of history of the Baader Meinhof Complex goes on.
Footnote
To gain further impressions of the film try the following sites for a variety of articles in ‘The Independent’ (a highly regarded UK broadsheet daily newspaper):
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/the-baader-meinhof-complex-uli-edel-149-mins-18-1020248.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-sixties-radicals-are-back-but-why-1021683.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/the-baader-meinhof-complex-18-1017556.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/is-baader-meinhof-film-a-tasteless-action-movie-941216.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/thomas-sutcliffe/tom-sutcliffe-the-urbane-power-of-alistair-cooke-1027364.html
Thursday, 13 November 2008
East Midland and Dublin airports compaired
The comparison is based on general comments and observations. It will become obvious that I feel better about EMA than Dublin airport. Note that I say 'feel better'. Airports are a necessary evil which we have to endure rather than enjoy.
EMA is more endurable than Dublin because:
EMA is more endurable than Dublin because:
- You can park the car within 5 minutes walk of the departure and arrival area. For charges see:
http://www.eastmidlandsairport.com/emaweb.nsf/All+Content/LongStayParking - The bus shuttle service from Nottingham (Derby, Leicester etc.) city centre is reasonable priced, efficient and regular:
http://www.eastmidlandsairport.com/emaweb.nsf/Content/Bus - This small airport does not overwhelm the traveller with the feeling of being trapped in a shopping centre (or mall to our friends in the USA).
- The airport staff are friendly and helpful. In particular I noticed the kindness shown to a frail old man as he was being discreetly examined for lethal fluids or weapons. I can confirm that the old gent was given the go-ahead.
- Distances involved from car to plane were very modest.
- Finally a minus. The little plastic bags to put our permitted fluids in are sold for an outrageous 50 pence.
Dublin airport is less endurable than EMA because:
- There is round-the-clock, heavy, congested traffic in the Dublin area. The car parking options are confusing to decide upon and hard to get to.
- The shuttle bus from Dublin city is OK but also suffers from the traffic conjestion. The allotted time is 45 mins. but our bus made it in half an hour.
- In general, the staff are curt, bordering on the aggressive and uninterested in the well-being of passengers. They could be better trained and try a bit harder.
- Finding your way about in the airport is not easy.
- Finally, a plus. The little plastic bags are free.
So ends my summary. I get the feeling that I could have done a similar summary of any biggish city v smallish city airport. I also have a suspicion that the curtness is also linked to a big city syndrome. Furthermore, visiting the Republic of Ireland is well worth the effort and out-and-about the Irish are great craic. It must be the soothing effect of all that Guinness on the soul.
Tuesday, 4 November 2008
Faecal matter news
Some days ago a news item about a hand cleanliness survey in the UK rested briefly in my brain. I’ve just got round to refreshing! it. So on googling around I eventually keyed in ‘faecal matter Newcastle’ which led me to a useful blog by Matt Brown:
http://network.nature.com/hubs/london/blog/2008/10/22/best-faecal-matter-news-story-ever#comment-form
and to a reasonably clear report of the findings of the preliminary study conducted by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in a publication called ScienceDaily:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081014204440.htm
The study which took a sample of 409 people consisting of approximately 46 men and 46 women in each of 5 cities came up with the following overall percents (adding men and women counts) of hand faecal contamination:
Newcastle 44
Liverpool 34
Cardiff 24
Birmingham 23
London 13
I deduce that it must be very hard to keep the stuff off one’s hands at all times so we must wash them more often and more thoroughly, especially after having our bowels open. We should also try to avoid touching things like toilet door handles, soap dispenser levers and other human beings. The first suggestion could lead us to having to kick the toilet door in which leads to privacy problems and to possible arrest for vandalism. The second point means perhaps just using running water but then the tap has to be turned on. Avoiding physical contact with other humans is disappointing news for the frottage community and in the long term would lead to the dying out of the human race.
One comment on Matt Brown’s blog says that it is advisable to be at least 5 metres away from the toilet when cleaning your teeth. I suppose we must brace ourselves for a worrying report about the incidence of faecal matter on teeth.
Mercifully the faecal matter researchers did not include faecal quantity details. I can only assume that they were finding microscopic amounts as opposed to full-blown stools.
Anyway, time for lunch preceded and followed by a thorough head to toe scrubbing.
http://network.nature.com/hubs/london/blog/2008/10/22/best-faecal-matter-news-story-ever#comment-form
and to a reasonably clear report of the findings of the preliminary study conducted by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in a publication called ScienceDaily:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081014204440.htm
The study which took a sample of 409 people consisting of approximately 46 men and 46 women in each of 5 cities came up with the following overall percents (adding men and women counts) of hand faecal contamination:
Newcastle 44
Liverpool 34
Cardiff 24
Birmingham 23
London 13
I deduce that it must be very hard to keep the stuff off one’s hands at all times so we must wash them more often and more thoroughly, especially after having our bowels open. We should also try to avoid touching things like toilet door handles, soap dispenser levers and other human beings. The first suggestion could lead us to having to kick the toilet door in which leads to privacy problems and to possible arrest for vandalism. The second point means perhaps just using running water but then the tap has to be turned on. Avoiding physical contact with other humans is disappointing news for the frottage community and in the long term would lead to the dying out of the human race.
One comment on Matt Brown’s blog says that it is advisable to be at least 5 metres away from the toilet when cleaning your teeth. I suppose we must brace ourselves for a worrying report about the incidence of faecal matter on teeth.
Mercifully the faecal matter researchers did not include faecal quantity details. I can only assume that they were finding microscopic amounts as opposed to full-blown stools.
Anyway, time for lunch preceded and followed by a thorough head to toe scrubbing.
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