Red Army Faction Red Army Faction The Red Army Faction (RAF; German: '), also known as the Baader-Meinhof Group or Baader-Meinhof Gang (), was a West German far-left militant organization founded in 1970. Key early figures included Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, Horst Mahler and Ulrike Meinhof, among others. Ulrike Meinhof was involved in Baader's escape from jail in 1970. The West German government as well as most Western media and literature considered the Red Army Faction to be a terrorist organization. The Red Army Faction engaged in a series of bombings, assassinations, kidnappings, bank robberies and shoot-outs with police over the course of
Red Army Faction a fair trial." In February 1976, when interviewed by "Der Spiegel" he stated that "We do not need regulation of our jurisdiction, national security survives thanks to people like me and Herold (chief of BKA), who always find the right way..." Eventually, on 28 April 1977, the trial's 192nd day, the three remaining defendants were convicted of several murders, more attempted murders, and of forming a terrorist organization; they were sentenced to life imprisonment. A new section of Stammheim Prison was built especially for the RAF and was considered one of the most secure prison blocks around the world at