Horst Mahler Biography

Birth of Horst Mahler

Joins the new organisations call for "extra-parliamentary opposition", or forceful resistance. Expelled from the SDP in 1960, as are other members of the SDS, that had developed from being the SPD youth wing to a radical left-wing group

Mahler joins the Ausserparlamentarische Opposition

Defends Baader at the Frankfurt arson trial

The Red Army Faction is founded by Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, Horst Mahler, Ulrike Meinhof, Irmgard Muller and others

Having earlier befriended Ensslin and Baader, Mahler helps plot to spring Baader from prison after his 1970 arrest. Baader, Ensslin, Mahler, and Meinhof go to Jordan for their brief guerrilla warfare training with the PFLP/Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO)

Mahler conceives of an audacious plan to rob four Berlin banks simultaneously. The Red Army Faction is founded by Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, Horst Mahler, Ulrike Meinhof, Irmgard Muller and others.

Tried and convicted for bank robberies and for assisting Baaders prison escape. Escapes to Jordan and trains in guerrilla tactics with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Once Baader escaped, the three, along with Ulrike Meinhof, commit a series of bank robberies.

The RAF is formally founded in 1970 by Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, Horst Mahler, Ulrike Meinhof, Irmgard Muller and others

Once Baader escaped, the three, along with Ulrike Meinhof, commit a series of bank robberies. Mahler conceives of an audacious plan to rob four Berlin banks simultaneously

Escapes to Jordan and trains in guerrilla tactics with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

Escapes to Jordan and trains in guerrilla tactics with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

Escapes to Jordan and trains in guerrilla tactics with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

Acting on a tip, police stake out a Berlin apartment where they have been told that Baader, Ensslin, and Mahler will be meeting. Baader and Ensslin never show, but Mahler, Monika Berberich, Brigitte Asdonk and Irene Goergens are all captured

Upon his return from Jordan, Mahler is arrested with fellow RAF members Ingrid Schubert, Brigitte Asdonk, and Irene Goergens

The surviving groups members meet up, and with Mahler under arrest, there is little doubt that Baader is in control

Tried and convicted for bank robberies and for assisting Baaders prison escape

Tried and convicted for bank robberies and for assisting Baaders prison escape

Writes the Red Army Faction manifesto, "The Urban Guerrilla Concept"

Writes the Red Army Faction manifesto, "The Urban Guerrilla Concept"

Writes the Red Army Faction manifesto, "The Urban Guerrilla Concept". Begin what they called "anti-imperialistic fight", with bank robberies to raise money and bomb attacks against U.S. military facilities, German police stations, and buildings of the Axel Springer press empire

Horst Mahler, Irene Goergens, and Ingrid Schubert go on trial, for their involvement in the release of Baader, in the court of Moabit prison, Mahler is acquitted (though he still has two other charges pending), and Goergens and Schubert are convicted

Mahler penned a manifesto in prison, the rest of the Baader-Meinhof Group, however, resoundingly rejected it - effectively expelling him from the group

Mahler had been sentenced to 14 years imprisonment and had his license to practice law revoked

The Movement 2 June takes Peter Lorenz hostage and demands, among others, that Mahler be freed from prison, Mahler is offered liberty, but refuses it

The Movement 2 June takes Peter Lorenz hostage and demands, among others, that Mahler be freed from prison, Mahler is offered liberty, but refuses it

Mahler is freed from prison after serving 10 years of his 14-year sentence, largely due to the efforts of his lawyer, Gerhard Schr”der, who would later become Chancellor

Mahler joins the National Democratic Party of Germany (Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands, or NPD), an extreme nationalist party

The German Government begins a process to attempt to ban the NPD in 2001, Mahler is an attorney for the party at the time

The German Government begins a process to attempt to ban the NPD in 2001, Mahler is an attorney for the party at the time