West German Embassy Siege - Aftermath

Aftermath

The entire siege lasted for approximately twelve hours, and it was later proven that the explosives had been set off accidentally. This event was one of many terrorist activities related to the Red Army Faction during the 1970s, although it marked the turning point in relations with the government, which decided it would no longer co-operate/negotiate with terrorists as they had during the Peter Lorenz kidnapping.

Norbert Kröcher, another German radical militant, was caught by Swedish police in May 1977. By then, he (along with another Red Army Faction group, "Kommando Siegfried Hausner") had been planning another attack, this time targeting minister Anna-Greta Leijon. The justification for their new plan was that Siegfried Hausner had been expelled from the country and had later died because of this. The goal of the attack would be the same as the occupation of the embassy; to free numerous RAF leaders imprisoned in Germany.

Also, on 28 February 1986, eleven years after the embassy incident, Olof Palme, the Prime Minister of Sweden, was assassinated. Although there are numerous theories on who assassinated Palme, the Red Army Faction was one of the organisations which claimed responsibility via an anonymous call to a London news agency. They said the assassination was carried out by the 'Holger Meins Commando' and that "you can check the history books for why this was carried out". Palme had been the PM of Sweden during the Occupation of the West German Embassy in 1975.