27 February 75: West German politician Peter Lorenz is kidnapped by members of the Baader-Meinhof group.
24 April 75: West German Ambassador in Stockholm, Herr Dietrich Stoker, is kidnapped by members of the Baader-Meinhof group.
How is it that the richest state in Europe has produced a group of young people prepared to kill and be killed for a revolutionary ideal? The Baader-Meinhof terrorists have bombed, shot and kidnapped their way through the last four years, creating a corresponding atmosphere of hysteria and near panic in West German society itself. Why do they do it? What do they hope to achieve? Are the authorities, with a £ 2½million fortified courthouse built specifically for the Baader-Meinhof trial, over-reacting to the violence of a tiny minority, or is there a real threat to social stability? Tonight's film asks these questions, and tries to get close to some of the answers.
Camera PETER MATTHEW 'S Sound BILL NORMAN
Film editor MIKE BURGESS
Written and produced by GORDON CARR
Thursday 5 June: Man Alive looks at the use of violence as a political weapon in 'The Negotiators