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A HERSTORY OF THE REVOLUTIONARY CELLS AND ROTE ZORA
Armed Resistance in West Germany
The Revolutionary Cells (RZ) first appeared on November 16,
1973 with an attack against ITT in West Berlin to point
out the participation of this multinational corporation
in Pinochet's military putsch in Chile. In 1974, the
first high-explosive attack was undertaken by the wimmin
of the RZ against the Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal
Constitutional Court) in Karlsruhe, the day after it
supported the abortion law, Par. 218; a paragraph against
free choice on abortion, allowing abortion only in certain
cases. The wimmin naturally demanded the total right for
every womyn to have an abortion, as a right to self-
determination over their own bodies. In the first issue
of Revolutionarer Zorn (Revolutionary Rage) the RZ
subdivided their actions into three main categories:
1)anti-imperialist actions, 2)actions against the branches,
establishments, and accomplices of Zionism in the FRG, and
3)actions supporting the struggles of workers, wimmin
and youth, and attacking and punishing their enemies.
This thematic spectrum was used in the following years.
One Revolutionary Cell became several Revolutionary Cells.
Later on, in the late 70's, the militant actions by the RZ
became also a part of the anti-nuclear movement (at that
time people marched in thousands against nuclear power
and reprocessing plants in Kalkar, Wyhl, Gorleban, and
Brokdorf) and the Anti-Runway 18 West Movement (Anti-
Startbahn 18 West-Bewegung) in the Rhein-Main area.
In this context, only one attack with deadly consequence
was carried out: the Minister of Economy and Transportation,
Herbert Karry, was assassinated on May 11, 1981 by the RZ.
From 1977 onwards, the militant feminist anti-patriarchal
wimmin's urban guerilla group Rote Zora (Red Zora) acted
autonomously and independently, though some wimmin still
participated in the Revolutionary Cells."Wimmin were
always a part of the armed groups. Their portion was
mostly held back. But the times are changing...subversive
wimmin's groups like Red Zora do exist, indeed still too
few, but even that will be changing."--Red Zora.
Red Zora attacks predominantly patriarchal institutes,
companies, and persons representing and building up a
male sexist society, which is oppressing and exploiting
wimmin worldwide. They are conducting campaigns against
porntraders, sex shops, international traders of wimmin
(those who profit from importing Asian wimmin as "brides"
for West German men), doctors who are carrying out
forced sterilizations, the Doctor's Guild ("We see the
Federal Doctor's Guild as exponents of rape in white
trenchcoats"), drug companies (notably Schering who
produced the birth defect causing drug Duogynon), as
well as computer companies such as Nixdorf and the
multinational Siemens. Very popular as well was the
illegal reprinting of bus and streetcar fares. In
individual cases, Red Zora and the Revolutionary Cells
have worked together such as in the writing of a
critique of the peace movement in 1984. In this paper
they criticised the peace movement as a bourgeois
movement with an apocalyptic vision. The RZ and Red Zora
said that the major mistake of the peace movement was
to concentrate their political goal only on the pres-
ervation of peace in the metropoles instead of discussing
the imperialist context between armament and crisis;
Third World misery and social cutbacks; sexism and racism.
Anti-Imperialism Today
In the last three years the RZ have concentrated their
actions on the issue of West German foreigner and refugee
policies."We want to contribute to the recovery of
a concrete anti-imperialism in the FRG...Anti-imperialism
doesn't mean only attacks on the military industrial
complex and it is more than just solidarity with liberation
movements worldwide."(Quote from Revolutionary Rage,
October 1986).
Attacks such as the one on the Center for the Central
Register of Foreigners in Cologne on the one hand, or
the kneecapping of Hollenburg (Chief of Immigration Police
in West Berlin) show the wide field of these militant
politics. While those who are attacked are responsible for
the racisr refugee policies in the FRG and West Berlin,
the intention of the attacks on institutions, whose doc-
uments, files, and data are being destroyed, is to procure
a space which isn't controlled or regulated by the state.
"But our actions will fizzle out ineffectually, if they
don't contribute to a development of a new beginning
of anti-imperialism within the radical left"(Quote by the RZ).
Since the early 70's, the RZ and Red Zora have launched over
200 attacks. Red Zora's most comprehensive and successful
attack campaign so far has been the deposit of incendiary
bombs in ten branches of the Adler Corporation, one of
West Germany's largest clothing manufacturers selling
discount clothing in the FRG, produced by low paid
wimmin in South Korean and Sri Lankan factories.
"The wimmin at Adler in South Korea struggle against the
exploitation of their capacity for work and are putting
up a fight against the daily sexism. They call for support
from the FRG for their struggle. As a result, the shitty
living and working conditions of wimmin in the vacuous
production centers of the three continents and especially
those of Adler in South Korea and Sri Lanka are
becoming more widely known here through leaflets, events,
and actions in front of Adler's retail centers. In these
actions, anti-imperialism can be practical."(Quote from
Red Zora, in their Adler statement.)
In a later released statement from Red Zora, the
consideration was again concretized that the attacks
were the correct strategy:"Consciousness had already
been raised through the leaflet actions organized by
human rights groups (Terre des Femmes) and independent
church groups. So preparatory work had been done. The
wimmin in South Korea have taken control of and defended
their own situation."They went on strike to protest low
minimum wages, lay offs, deplorable work conditions, and
rampant sexism from West German foremen."So it was
possible that the struggle there (by the wimmin in
South Korea) and the struggle here (by Red Zora) are
compatible. We aren't fighting for the wimmin in the
Third World,"they said,"we're fighting alongside them."
This defines Red Zora's struggle against imperialism.
In 1987, when Red Zora and their sister group in
West Berlin, the Amazonen, fire bombed ten Adler outlets
throughout West Germany, they caused millions of dollars
in damages. Because of this, Adler was forced to meet
the demands of the textile workers. Red Zora and the
Amazonen clearly proved that militant resistance can be
very effective.
Both the Revolutionary Cells and Red Zora have anti-
authoritarian structures and a decentralized decision-
making process for choosing targets. As well, they point
out that militant direct actions are just one part of
the revolutionary movement. Although they participate in
extensive and far-reaching legal work campaigns and
social movements through their militant actions, these
actions aren't of any more importance to handing out
flyers or leaflets, going to demonstrations, having
sit-ins, publishing newspapers, educating people,
squatting houses, or organizing strikes at work.
"We don't have a hierarchical system for choosing actions.
Thinking in hierarchical divisions puts actions in a
perspective of priveledge and is prone to a patriarchal
way of thinking."(Quote by members of the RZ in an
interview that appeared in Autonomie, 1980.)
Besides the RZ and Red Zora, there exists several other
militant autonomous groups who are all integral components
of the revolutionary movement in West Germany and West Berlin.
Most of these groups originate from the mass social
movements of the 80's. They all work independently of each
other and issue political statements of their actions,
much like the RZ and Red Zora, but unlike them, many of
these groups haven't been around very long.
In 1986, at the peak of resistance aginst the nuclear power
plant in Brokdorf and the nuclear reprocessing plant
in Wackersdorf, thousands of people participated in demon-
strations as a part of the anti-nuclear movement. During
this time, several hundred attacks were made by militant
autonomous cells against certain companies and
corporations to protest their involvement in the
nuclear industry. The most popular activity at this time
was sawing down electric power lines that were directly
connected to the nuclear power plants. Around 2-300
attacks were made. Some of the militant autonomous groups
from this period have survived into the present. Others
have disbanded and have gone on th influence and form
other groups. Following is a list of a few of these groups.
It would be impossible to name all of them.
-Revolutionare Handwerker: involved in direct actions against
nuclear plants by sawing down electric power lines. No longer
active.
-Amazonen: Sister group of Red Zora, but independent of them.
Two people are currently in jail for being members of the
Amazonen.
-Zornige Viren: on January 2, 1989, attacked the Gen-Institut
(Gene Institute) at the University of Darmstadt causing
DM2,000,000 in damages.
-Autonome Zellen Alois Sonnenleitner (AS): autonomous anti-
nuclear cell. Destroyed excavators, trucks, and building
site of Hofmeister AG (an NPP company) by setting fire
to them. Alois Sonnenleitner was an elderly man who was
killed in Wackersdorf by the cops in 1986. Still active.
-Revolutionare Viren: fighting gene technology, human genetics,
and biotechnology.
-Anti-rassistische Zellen: carrying out actions against Shell.
-Kampfende Einheiten: "Fighting Units".Anti-imperialist cells
attacking military industrial complexes. One cell, Kampf-
ende Einheit Crespo Cepa Galende, named itself after an
ETA (Basque guerilla organization) fighter who was killed
by the Spanish authorities. Made an attack on a border
police security building.
The militant direct action groups in West Germany and West
Berlin have received widespread support from the larger
movements there, including from some of the more liberal
organizations. This is partially because the underground
cells are dependent on the larger movements and, as well,
are active in them. Their actions address issues that many
people are already educated on and sympathetic to. For
example, Red Zora has gained wide popular support because
their actions appeal to the massive feminist movement
already existing in West Germany, where the leftist and
radical media has been doing much work for some time now to
educate the public on issues involving sexism, wimmin's
oppression and exploitation, and wimmin's rights to the
control of their own bodies. While the RZ doesn't claim as
much support as Red Zora, in 1987, supporters of the
Revolutionary Cells published the book Der Weg zum Erfolg
(The Way to Success), explaining their strategies, politics,
and actions. Less than a week after the book hit the shelves
of radical bookstores, the entire printing (around 3000) was
sold out.
The high degree of effectiveness of many RZ and Red Zora actions
wouldn't be possible without popular support. By themselves,
their actions would only serve to alienate them from the struggle.
Moreover, with the support of the mass movements, members of the
RZ and Red Zora are able to work among the numbers of people active
in the struggle without exposing their underground identities.
In their herstory, only one womyn has been arrested for membership
in Red Zora, but due to lack of evidence against her, the charges
were dropped. The RZ, however, has had a few convictions over the
past 16 years. Ingrid Strobl, most recently was sentenced to five
years in prison on the 9th of June 1989 for being a member of the
RZ. Her sentence is the longest issued to any of the convicted
RZ members. While prisoner support is an important task that
consumes a great amount of time, most of the work is done by
the larger movement, and the RZ and Red Zora can continue organ-
izing actions against oppressive, imperialist companies and
corporations.
Other revolutionaries sentenced to prison:
-Erik Prauss and Andrea Sievering: accused of membership in the
"terrorist" organisation, Red Army Faction (RAF),and a bombing of
Dornier, a war corporation, which caused 1.3 million DM in damages.
Each was sentenced to 9 years in prison on January 18, 1989.
-Norbert Hofmeier, Barbara Perau, Thomas Thoene, and Thomas Richter:
accused of membership in the RAF and a bombing. Sentenced all together
to 32 years on January 20, 1989. Sentencing judge (Arend) also
sentenced Ingrid Strobl.
Hofmeier-10 years, Perau-9, Thoene-9, Richter-4.
In both of the trials involving the mentioned people, the BAW
(Federal State Prosecutors) and the judges were alledging that
the accused people were members of the RAF, but this was the
false claim of the court to get these people stiffer sentences.
Both attacks (the one at Dornier, and the other at the border
police security building) were claimed by the Kampfende Einheiten.
This group works independently from the RAF. But since the RAF is
defined as a "terrorist" organization by the state, conviction
as a member can carry a longer sentence. Kampfende Einheiten
isn't defined as such and would not be subjected to as heavy
a sentence. So the BAW and the judges set up the construct of the
Whole-RAF (Gesamt-RAF) and claimed that Kampfende Einheiten is
a part of the RAF.
At the trial of Erik and Andrea, Eva-Haule Frimpong, an imprisoned
member of the RAF, stated on the witness stand that "in 4 years,
no one but myself has been caught from the RAF. The twelve comrades
of the resistance who were supposedly arrested since then (the
six from Kiefernstrasse nor the people from Stuttgart) were not
organized in the RAF." (Quote by Eva on November 29, 1989).
-Fritz Storim: sentenced to one year in prison. A teacher, accused of
supporting the RAF. Supposedly a member of the autonomous newsjournal SABOT.