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Gudrun Ensslin, co-founder of the “Red Army Faction” (RAF) and one of the most important terrorists of the Federal Republic of Germany, was one of the leading cadres of the so-called “May Offensive” of the RAF, a series of attacks that claimed four lives and injured 74 in 1972. Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier apparently has a different view of the left-wing extremist, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for multiple murders and took her own life in Stammheim prison in 1977: In a congratulatory letter on the 80th birthday of the director Margarethe von Trotta, who made the benevolent film “Die bleierne Zeit” (The Leaden Time) about Ensslin’s biography, he counts Ensslin among the “great women of world history” who had a “pronounced will to change”. Steinmeier’s letter states:
“‘Film is part of life for me – I film to survive’, you once said. With your own characteristic style, you make new perspectives possible, especially on great women in world history who faced the fractures and impositions of their respective times with great intelligence, personal strength and a pronounced will to change social as well as political conditions. Be it the lives of Gudrun Ensslin, Rosa Luxemburg, Hildegard von Bingen or Hannah Arendt – you have dedicated unforgettable cinematic portraits to all these women and many others. Films like ‘Die bleierne Zeit’ or ‘Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum’ have become milestones of German cinema history. They will remain in our cinematic memory forever. With your work, you have contributed to the cultural reputation of our country. For that I say thank you today.”
The corresponding tribute to Rosa Luxemburg is also hardly fitting for a head of state: Luxemburg was one of the communist functionaries who led a coup in Germany in 1919 to establish a communist dictatorship on the Soviet model.
The Federal President’s Office’s handling of the congratulatory letter is also embarrassing. The Federal President’s page does list it as a catchword.
When you click on it, however, the text no longer appears – but only the message: “Error 404 – Page not found.
Steinmeier’s spokesperson said after the first protests, which were spread via social media: “This is clearly a mistake. A convicted murderer does not belong among these people. We apologise and will correct the congratulatory letter.” Rosa Luxemburg, however, obviously continues to belong to the great women of world history.
After his re-election as Federal President, Steinmeier had exclaimed: “I am not neutral when it comes to the cause of democracy.”
https://www.tichyseinblick.de/daili-es-sentials/bundespraesident-ensslin-wuerdigung/