Even today, talk of the Red Army Faction (RAF) often provokes a heated debate in Germany. The crimes of the RAF, said Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) at the end of February, are "today still unmatched as examples of the dangers of left-wing extremism and left-wing terrorism in the Federal Republic of Germany."

More than a quarter of a century has passed since the terrorist organization announced its dissolution. Nonetheless, there are those who are still grieving, victims who are still injured, RAF members who are still on the run — and many unanswered questions. At the end of February 2024, after many years without success, special police units began once again publicly tracking down the last prominent suspects involved in RAF terrorism.

For those who lived through it, the "German Autumn" (Deutscher Herbst) was in the fall of 1977. That was when the RAF emerged as a far-left terrorist organization.

In 1968, there had already been two arson attacks on Frankfurt department stores, using tactics typical of left-wing urban guerrillas, which resulted in Andreas Baader's conviction and imprisonment for his involvement. His escape from prison in 1970 marked the birth of the RAF. The most prominent members of the first generation of the RAF were Baader, Ulrike Meinhof, and Gudrun Ensslin. In these early years, the group was........

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