Jürgen Ponto

Jürgen Ponto (17 December 1923 Bad Nauheim, Hesse - 30 July 1977 Frankfurt am Main) was a German banker and since 1969 chairman of the Dresdner Bank board of directors.^[2] Previously, he had worked as a lawyer. He was murdered by members of the Red Army Faction in events leading up to the German Autumn. Actor Erich Ponto was his uncle.

Assassination of Jürgen Ponto
Location	Oberursel, Hesse, West Germany,
Date	30 July 1977 17:10[1] – 17:30 at the latest. (CET)
Target	Jürgen Ponto
Attack type	Attempted kidnapping, murder
Weapons	firearms
Deaths	1 civilian
Perpetrators	Roter Morgen RAF Brigitte Mohnhaupt Christian Klar Susanne Albrecht

Death

On Saturday 30 July 1977, Ponto and his wife Ignes were at their Oberursel villa packing for a vacation in Rio de Janeiro, but were also expecting a visit from Susanne Albrecht, the daughter of a good friend of the Pontos. They didn't know that Susanne belonged to the RAF and had gone underground some weeks before.^[3] She arrived at around 17:10 with two strangers, later identified as Brigitte Mohnhaupt and Christian Klar. Albrecht gave Ignes a bouquet of red roses, and all the guests were invited into the living room, where Ignes left them alone with Ponto.

From the living room, raised voices were heard and then gunshots. It is thought that Albrecht and her accomplices attempted to kidnap Ponto, and after he resisted they shot him. He was shot five times and later died in a hospital in Frankfurt of his wounds. The three killers fled the villa, and escaped with their getaway driver Peter-Jürgen Boock. The killers took responsibility for the murder in the name of Roter Morgen (Red Morning).^[1][4]

See also

• Banks portal

• German Autumn
• Red Army Faction

References

1. "Commerzbank AG" (PDF). Dresdner Bank. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
2. Heinrich August Winkler (2007). Germany: 1933-1990. Oxford University Press. p. 318. ISBN 978-0-19-926598-5.
3. Patricia Melzer (2009). "'Death in the Shape of a Young Girl': Feminist Responses to Media Representations of Women Terrorists during the 'German Autumn' of 1977". International Feminist Journal of Politics. 11 (1): 35–62. doi:10.1080/14616740802567782. S2CID 145187393.
4. "Red Roses from Roter Morgen". TIME. 15 August 1977. Archived from the original on 15 December 2008. Retrieved 13 September 2013.