Petra Schelm

Petra Schelm (died 1971) was a German founding member of the Red Army Faction (RAF). She trained as an urban guerilla in Jordan and was killed in a shootout with the police in Hamburg in July 1971.

Petra Schelm
Born	(1950-08-16)16 August 1950 Hamburg, West Germany
Died	15 July 1971(1971-07-15) (aged 20) Hamburg, West Germany
Cause of death	Gunshot wounds
Organization	Red Army Faction

Early life and RAF

Petra Schelm grew up in West Berlin and worked as a hairdresser.^[1] She started a relationship with Manfred Grashof and the two lived together on Bleibtreustrasse in Charlottenburg. The apartment was used as a distribution hub for the anarchist newspaper Agit 883.^[1]

In 1970, Schelm was a founding member of the Red Army Faction (RAF), a far-left militant group.^[2]: 360 In June 1970, she travelled on false identification to Beirut with Brigitte Asdonk, Hans-Jurgen Backer, Monika Berberich, Grashof and Horst Mahler. From there, the group went to Jordan to attend urban guerilla training at a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLFP) facility. They were joined by Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Ulrike Meinhof.^[3]: 179

Roadblock and death

House in Reineckestraße in Hamburg where the fatal shooting occurred

On 15 July 1971, Schelm was driving through Hamburg with Werner Hoppe in a stolen BMW when she avoided a police roadblock.^[4]: 194 The police gave chase and stopped the BMW. Hoppe stepped out of the car and shot at police officers, before escaping; Schelm fired at police and was shot dead.^[A] A police helicopter chased Hoppe and he was arrested.^{[4]: 194 [6][7][8]}

Schelm was buried at Spandau cemetery in West Berlin. At her funeral, fifty supporters laid a red flag on her grave, which was removed by the police.^[3]: 231

Legacy

Grave of Petra Schelm

The Petra Schelm Commando of the RAF bombed the Frankfurt headquarters of the United States V Corps on 11 May 1972, in support of North Vietnam. A lieutenant colonel died and 13 other soldiers were injured. The cost of repairs to the building was calculated to be DM 1,000,000 (or $310,000 at the time).^{[2]: 368 [3]: 244}

Notes

1. Jillian Becker states that Schelm was killed by a burst of gunfire from a submachine gun; Stefan Aust states that it was a single bullet wound to the head that killed Schelm.^{[5][3]: 231}

References

1. Sontheimer, Michael (15 July 2011). "Anfänge der RAF [Beginnings of the RAF]". Der Spiegel (in German). Archived from the original on 6 June 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
2. Moncourt, André; Smith, J. (2013). The Red Army Faction Volume 2: Dancing with imperialism. Montreal, Quebec: Kersplebedeb. ISBN 978-1-60486-030-6.
3. Becker, Jillian (1978). Hitler's children: The story of the Baader- Meinhof terrorist gang (3 ed.). London: Joseph. ISBN 0-7181-1582-1.
4. Nash, Jay Robert (1998). Terrorism in the 20th Century : A Narrative Encyclopedia from the Anarchists, Through the Weathermen, to the Unabomber. New York: M. Evans and Co. ISBN 9780871318558.
5. Aust, Stefan (2009). Baader-Meinhof: The inside story of the RAF. Anthea Bell. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 118. ISBN 978-0-19-537275-5.
6. Sanguinetti, Gianfranco (2015). Red Army Faction. Red Brigades, Angry Brigade. The Spectacle of Terror in Post War Europe. John Barker, Charity Scribner. Bread and Circuses. ISBN 978-1-62517-888-6.
7. Sargeant, Jack (2003). Guns, Death, Terror : 1960s & 1970s Revolutionaries, Urban Guerrillas and Terrorists. London: Creation. p. 172. ISBN 9781840680997.
8. Graaf, Beatrice de (2011). Evaluating Counterterrorism Performance : A Comparative Study. Abingdon, Oxon: Taylor & Francis. p. 161. ISBN 978-1-136-80655-1.