FAQ

It is not unusual that several German high profile productions, esp. those co-financed by the big German public-service broadcasters, are being extended for their television premieres and shown in two parts. With Der Baader Meinhof Komplex it's not different and an Extended Television Version was created as well. This cut runs approx. 15 minutes longer than the Theatrical Version. Unfortunately this prolonged version doesn't add that much to the movie.

This is a famous event from recent German history but will likely be baffling to many non-Germans unfamiliar with German history. The event depicted is the killing of Benno Ohnesorg by West German police officer Karl-Heinz Kurras. Ohnesorg had gone to a demonstration protesting the appearance of Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, at the opera. People were protesting the Shah's brutal policies in ruling Iran which included torture and the use of secret police (both sensitive subjects in West Germany since the fall of the Nazis). This was the first political protest Ohnesorg had attended and the event quickly turned into a riot as police, the Shah's security, and protesters clashed outside the opera. During the mayhem, Ohnesorg, who was unarmed, was shot in the back of the head by a West German policeman named Karl-Heinz Kurras. As shown in the movie, a photographer shot an iconic photograph of a woman cradling Ohnesorg as he lay dying and this photograph was widely reprinted in the media. Kurras claimed he had shot Ohnesorg accidentally, and he was acquitted of wrongdoing in two trials. The brutal cold blooded slaying of of an innocent German family man trying to exercise his right to protest, as well as the acquittals of his murderer, sparked protests throughout West Germany and is generally credited by German historians as giving new energy to leftist German groups. While mainstream leftists moved the Federal Republic of Germany away from its conservative Nazi past and towards a more progressive politics, radical leftists like the RAF carried out more violent actions.

Interestingly enough, in the 21st century, after the communist regimes in East Germany and Russia had fallen, it was revealed that at the time of the shooting, and for many years before, Karl-Heinz Kurras had secretly been a devoted communist and an agent of the Stasi, the East German intelligence service. After this revelation some wondered whether Kurras, whose shooting of Ohnesorg had always been perplexing to most Germans, had acted under orders from his East German handlers as an agent provocateur. However, both Kurras and former Stasi members deny this and it would seem to make little sense for him to have killed Ohnesorg on orders from East Berlin. Before the Ohnesorg killing, Kurras had been a powerful member of the West German police unit charged with uncovering communist moles, a valuable position for the East Germans. After the killing, Kurras became politically radioactive and ended his career in the traffic unit.