Festival, parties, drugs
Friends report on RAF terrorist’s free life
21.06.2024, 15:55
There is still no trace of the former RAF terrorists Staub and Garweg. Even the arrest of their companion Klette did not bring a breakthrough. A report now traces Garweg’s life over the past decades. He was clearly not worried about being discovered.
For years, German authorities have been investigating Ernst-Volker Staub and Burkhard Garweg for attempted murder and various attempted and completed robberies. Both are considered members of the Red Army Faction (RAF). The latter is said to have gone underground in 1989/90 and joined the third generation of the left-wing extremist terrorist organization. As “Spiegel” reports, Garweg enjoyed a relatively blameless life in Germany despite the circumstances. The magazine claims to have previously unknown photos of the internationally wanted ex-RAF terrorist before.
A photo is said to have been taken at the beginning of the 2000s at one of the largest electronic music festivals in Germany: the Fusion Festival in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. A raver, now almost 70 years old, who wishes to remain anonymous, told “Spiegel” that he had met the ex-terrorist under the name “Martin Schweigert” about 20 years ago: “Martin often went dancing and liked to go. He smoked weed and took ecstasy pills, just like the rest of us.”
Garweg’s girlfriend at the time told “Spiegel” that she had met Garweg in a Cologne techno club in the early 2000s, “he could be very charming. We fell in love immediately.” She moved with “Martin” from Cologne to Berlin. Garweg was active in the techno scene there. “He often came home from partying in the morning.” They cycled to the Fusion Festival. “We had a small tent at the time and then cycled through Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.”
Raver knew about RAF past
Further photos, which are available to “Spiegel”, show Garweg in a blue shirt at a birthday party in Cologne. The girlfriend at the time claims not to have known who her boyfriend was. “I had no idea. He was good at steering topics in a different direction when he didn’t want to talk about something. He could manipulate people,” she said. She only recognized him in mug shots when his RAF accomplice Daniela Klette was arrested in February and the manhunt was intensified again.
In a conversation with “Spiegel”, the raver contradicted this portrayal. They both knew that “Martin Schweigert” was actually the wanted Burkhard Garweg. Garweg’s RAF past was never important to him, the man said: “In any case, it would never have occurred to me to go to the police to betray him.” To this day, there is no trace of Garweg or Staub.