Claudia Ivone lived an anonymous life. She walked her dog and taught the neighboring children German and mathematics.
The neighbors in the Berlin district of Kreuzberg testify to a kind and quiet lady. Little did they know that they were living next door to Germany's most wanted woman: Daniela Klette, a member of the notorious Red Army Faction (RAF), also known as the Baader-Meinhof gang.
Gold and armor-piercing rounds
On February 26 last year, the police rang the doorbell in Kreuzberg after a tip from the public. In the modest one-room apartment, they found a Kalashnikov, an automatic pistol, an armor-piercing round, and two more weapons. Packed in lunchboxes lay sharp ammunition, and in a piece of furniture, they found 1.2 kilos of gold and inside a double wardrobe wall, the equivalent of over 1.5 million kronor. According to German media reports, they also found jamming devices, several mobile phones, and multiple identity documents.
Klette was arrested without resistance and later identified through fingerprints.
The Red Army Faction, which emerged from the left-wing radical German student movement in the 1960s, instilled fear in West Germany from the early 1970s onwards. Bombings, kidnappings, robberies, and murders followed each other.
Accomplices on the loose
Between 1971 and 1993, more than 30 people were murdered by members of the terrorist group, according to German police. Among the victims were the then-CEO of Deutsche Bank, Alfred Herrhausen, the Attorney General Siegfried Buback, and the employers' association chairman Hanns Martin Schleyer.
When the RAF dissolved in 1998, Daniela Klette and two male accomplices went underground. The two men are still at large.
The latest crimes committed by the trio may, according to German reports, have taken place as recently as 2016.
1968: Arson attacks on two department stores in Frankfurt.
1970: Ulrike Meinhof frees Andreas Baader from prison. The Red Army Faction, RAF, is founded.
1972: Three people are killed in an attack on an American army base in Frankfurt.
1974: A judge in West Berlin is murdered.
1975: The Christian Democratic politician Peter Lorenz is kidnapped. The government gives in, and five terrorists are released and flown to Aden. The West German embassy in Stockholm is occupied, and three diplomats are taken hostage. Two of them are shot, and two terrorists die when an explosive device detonates.
1976: Ulrike Meinhof commits suicide in prison.
1977: Attorney General Siegfried Buback, his chauffeur, and an employee are murdered. Bank director Jürgen Ponto is murdered during a kidnapping attempt. Employers' association chairman Hanns Martin Schleyer is kidnapped, his chauffeur and three police officers are murdered. Palestinian terrorists hijack a Lufthansa plane to free terrorists. The action fails, Schleyer is found murdered, and three RAF members commit suicide in prison – including the leading figure Andreas Baader.
1986: A Siemens director and his chauffeur are murdered in a bomb attack. An official at the Foreign Ministry is murdered outside his home.
1989: The CEO of Deutsche Bank, Alfred Herrhausen, is murdered in a bomb attack.
1990: Ten wanted RAF members are arrested in the GDR shortly before the German states are unified.
1998: The RAF declares itself dissolved. Daniela Klette goes underground along with her accomplices Ernst-Volker Staub and Burkhard Garweg. The trio, later dubbed the "RAF pensioners" in German media, is suspected of attempted murder and a long series of armed robberies against food stores and armored transports, at least one of which took place as recently as 2016.
