The RAF Assassination - Rheinuferpromenade

À propos de ce lieu

The Rheinuferpromenade is one of Düsseldorf's great pleasures, a broad, tree-lined walkway where locals stroll and the Rhine stretches out in a wide silver band. But roughly 1.1 kilometres across the water, tucked among the villas of Kaiser-Friedrich-Ring, stands the house where Germany's most audacious post-war political assassination unfolded. On Easter Monday, 1 April 1991, at 23:30, Detlev Karsten Rohwedder, head of the Treuhandanstalt and the agency tasked with privatising the entire East German economy, was shot dead through his study window. He had been a lightning rod for fury on the radical left: the man deciding which factories would close, which workers would lose their livelihoods, which companies would pass to West German investors. Someone had stalked him, selected a position just 63 metres away in a neighbouring garden, and fired three shots in the dark. The first killed him instantly. The second wounded his wife Hergard, standing nearby. The third buried itself in a bookcase. At the scene: three cartridges, a plastic chair, a towel, and a claim letter signed by the RAF Kommando Ulrich Wessel. The weapon was never found. The shooter was never identified. The case remains open.

À retenir

• 63 metres — The sniper positioned himself just 63 metres from Rohwedder's study window, close enough for a lethal shot through the glass and far enough to vanish into the night.
• 3 rifle shots — Three shots rang out at 23:30 on Easter Monday: the first killed Rohwedder instantly, the second wounded his wife Hergard, and the third struck a bookcase.
• 35 years unsolved — Despite DNA evidence collected in 2001 and decades of investigation, the murder remains officially unsolved, the last major unresolved case linked to the Red Army Faction.

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