Andres Veiel on confronting the RAF past

Thirty years ago, Hanns Martin Schleyer, then president of the German Employers' Association, was kidnapped and later murdered by Red Army Faction terrorists. Documentary film maker Andres Veiel ("Black Box BRD") writes: "Anniversaries always carry the risk of lapsing into an endless loop. The Germans watch the same images and show each other the same texts again and again. The symbolic character of the RAF debates which submerge society can only be overcome if two things happen. First, politicians must reduce the level of hysteria by saying: the RAF is history; none of the perpetrators pose a real threat today, but we want to confront this past. This is starting to happen now. Secondly, the RAF terrorists must gather the courage to face up individually to their own actions, crimes and guilt."

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