Petra Schelm
{{Short description|Founding member of Rote Armee Fraktion (RAF)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Petra Schelm
| birth_date = {{birth date|1950|8|16|df=y}}
| birth_place = Hamburg, West Germany
| death_date = {{death date and age|1971|7|15|1950|8|16|df=y}}
| death_place = Hamburg, West Germany
| death_cause = Gunshot wounds
| image = Petra Schelm.jpg
| caption =
| other_names =
| movement =
| organization = Red Army Faction
| monuments =
| awards =
| footnotes =
}}
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.
Early life and RAF
Petra Schelm grew up in West Berlin and worked as a hairdresser.{{cite news |last1=Sontheimer |first1=Michael |title=Anfänge der RAF [Beginnings of the RAF] |url=https://www.spiegel.de/geschichte/anfaenge-der-raf-a-947270.html |access-date=9 February 2024 |work=Der Spiegel |date=15 July 2011 |language=de |archive-date=6 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606205844/https://www.spiegel.de/geschichte/anfaenge-der-raf-a-947270.html |url-status=live }} 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.
In 1970, Schelm was a founding member of the Red Army Faction (RAF), a far-left militant group.{{cite book |last1=Moncourt |first1=André |last2=Smith |first2=J. |title=The Red Army Faction Volume 2: Dancing with imperialism |date=2013 |publisher=Kersplebedeb |location=Montreal, Quebec |isbn=978-1-60486-030-6}}{{rp|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.{{cite book |last1=Becker |first1=Jillian |title=Hitler's children: The story of the Baader- Meinhof terrorist gang |date=1978 |publisher=Joseph |location=London |isbn=0-7181-1582-1 |edition=3}}{{rp|179}}
Roadblock and death
Image:Schelm Reineckestrasse.jpg
On 15 July 1971, Schelm was driving through Hamburg with Werner Hoppe in a stolen BMW when she avoided a police roadblock.{{Cite book |last=Nash |first=Jay Robert |title=Terrorism in the 20th Century : A Narrative Encyclopedia from the Anarchists, Through the Weathermen, to the Unabomber |publisher=M. Evans and Co. |year=1998 |isbn=9780871318558 |location=New York|language=en}}{{rp|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.{{efn-ua|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.{{Cite book |last=Aust |first=Stefan |title=Baader-Meinhof: The inside story of the RAF|publisher=Oxford University Press |others=Anthea Bell |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-19-537275-5 |location=Oxford |pages=118 |language=en}}{{rp|231}}}} A police helicopter chased Hoppe and he was arrested.{{rp|194}}{{Cite book |last=Sanguinetti |first=Gianfranco |title=Red Army Faction. Red Brigades, Angry Brigade. The Spectacle of Terror in Post War Europe. |publisher=Bread and Circuses |others=John Barker, Charity Scribner |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-62517-888-6 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Sargeant |first=Jack |title=Guns, Death, Terror : 1960s & 1970s Revolutionaries, Urban Guerrillas and Terrorists |publisher=Creation |year=2003 |isbn=9781840680997 |location=London |pages=172 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Graaf |first=Beatrice de |title=Evaluating Counterterrorism Performance : A Comparative Study |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-136-80655-1 |location=Abingdon, Oxon |pages=161 |language=en}}
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.{{rp|231}}
Legacy
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).{{rp|368}}{{rp|244}}
Notes
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References
{{reflist}}
{{Members of the Red Army Faction}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schelm, Petra}}
Category:Members of the Red Army Faction
Category:People shot dead by law enforcement officers in Germany