Archive notice: This article was originally published on July 31, 2007. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
But during research for the two-part NDR documentary “The RAF”, the authors Stefan Aust and Helmar Büchel came across parts of the tapes in side rooms of the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court. After lengthy negotiations with the Higher Regional Court and the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Karlsruhe, which had initially insisted on destruction of the audio documents, copies of the tapes were finally handed over to the documentary filmmakers through the Ludwigsburg State Archive. (Broadcast dates “The RAF”: Part 1 – “The War of the Citizens’ Children” – Sunday, September 9, at 21.45 on Das Erste, Part 2 – “The Autumn of Terror” – on Monday, September 10, at 20.15 on Das Erste).
They are 21 tapes with about twelve hours of recordings from the courtroom in Stuttgart-Stammheim, whose actually intended deletion after transcription had been forgotten. The defendants Baader, Meinhof, Ensslin and Raspe as well as lawyers, judges and prosecutors can be heard. For publication in the documentary about the history of the RAF (produced by SPIEGEL TV on behalf of NDR), the authors had to obtain the written permission of the trial participants who are still alive. Tagesthemen will show an excerpt from the two-part documentary, in which original audio from the trial participants can be heard, on Monday, July 30, at 22.15.
