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Sanctuary, Armory, and Prison: Switzerland and the Role of Swiss Anarchists as Intermediaries in the European Terrorist Network in the 1970s
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 January 2020
Abstract
This article focuses on how Switzerland played a dual role in providing a sanctuary for retired left-wing radicals while serving as an armament source for the distribution of weapons and explosives throughout Europe in the 1970s. A significant part of the article delves into the case of the AKO (Anarchistische Kampforganisation), a Swiss anarchist group that supplied several European terrorist groups with weapons. The position of this group will be analyzed in the context of the transnational terrorist network as a way of assessing to what extent their cooperation with other groups was rooted in mutual ideological affiliations, and how closely the anarchist tradition, of which they were a part, related to the European framework of the New Left. The case of Petra Krause, one of the group's key figures, is latterly discussed, particularly her imprisonment in Switzerland and the campaign for her release, which mobilized a large number of supporters across Europe and contributed to the portrayal of Switzerland as a prison.
Dieser Beitrag widmet sich der Doppelrolle der Schweiz einerseits als Zufluchtsstätte für Linksradikale, die sich aus dem Aktivismus zurückzogen, andererseits als Quelle für die Verteilung von Waffen und Sprengstoff in ganz Europa während der 1970er Jahre. Ein erheblicher Teil des Beitrags untersucht im Einzelnen den Fall der Anarchistischen Kampforganisation (AKO), einer Schweizer anarchistischen Gruppierung, die mehrere europäische Terrorgruppen mit Waffen versorgte. Die Stellung dieser Gruppe wird im Kontext des transnationalen terroristischen Netzwerks analysiert, um abzuwägen, in welchem Maße ihre Kooperation mit anderen Gruppen in gemeinsamen ideologischen Bindungen wurzelte und wie eng die anarchistische Tradition, der sie zugehörte, mit dem europäischen Rahmen der Neuen Linken in Beziehung stand. Im Weiteren wird der Fall der Petra Krause, einer Hauptfigur dieser Gruppe, behandelt, insbesondere ihre Inhaftierung in der Schweiz und die Kampagne für ihre Freilassung, die europaweit zahlreiche Unterstützende mobilisierte und zur Darstellung der Schweiz als Gefängnis beitrug.
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- Copyright © Central European History Society of the American Historical Association 2020
Footnotes
This study was published as part of the Charles University program PROGRES Q09: History – The key to understanding the globalized world.
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