| West German Embassy siege | |
|---|---|
 German embassy in Stockholm (photo from 2008) | |
| Location | Stockholm, Sweden |
| Coordinates | 59°20′4.36″N 18°6′22.96″E / 59.3345444°N 18.1063778°E |
| Date | 24 April 1975 12.00 – 23.47 (CET) |
| Target | West German embassy |
Attack type | Siege, hostage crisis |
| Weapons | TNT, submachine guns |
| Deaths | 2 embassy personnel, 2 perpetrators |
| Injured | 10 embassy personnel, 4 perpetrators |
| Perpetrators | Kommando Holger Meins/Red Army Faction |
The West German Embassy siege in Stockholm, Sweden, was a hostage standoff initiated by the Red Army Faction (RAF) on 24 April 1975.[1] Collectively, the attackers referred to themselves as Kommando Holger Meins, after Holger Meins, an RAF member who had died of starvation during a (collective) hunger strike in Wittlich Prison on 9 November 1974.
The RAF group carried out the attack with the goal of forcing the release of RAF members and others[2] from prison in West Germany.[3] During the siege they stated: "The Holger Meins Commando is holding members of the embassy staff in order to free prisoners in West Germany. If the police move in, we shall blow the building up with 15 kilos of TNT."
- ^ "BBC on this day 24 April". BBC News. 24 April 1975. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
- ^ Dellwo, Karl-Heinz (2007). Das Projektil sind Wir (in German). Hamburg: Verlag Lutz Schulenburg. p. 5. ISBN 978-3-89401-556-5.
- ^ Ascherson, Neal (28 September 2008). "A terror campaign of love and hate". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 23 July 2015.