Bruce Allen Scharlau PhD thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText

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Apart fran trying to convince people of the benefits of democracy,
the German government also needs to deter people fran entering terrorist
organisations. However, as mentioned, the government realised the
futility of trying to dissuade people fran terrorism, who would risk
their lives pursuing their goals. In this case legislation is not
counter-, but antiterrorism when it becanes aimed at the apprehension
and conviction of suspected terrorists. This is discussed later.
On the government side, the success of efforts to dissuade people
fran entering or forming a terrorist organisation depends upon proper
institutional coordination, legislation that provides them with
requisite powers to fulfil their roles, and incentives for these to be
fulfilled.
Fran the earliest days of terrorism West German federal and state
institutional cooperation was a problem in the area of preventative
surveillance and other intelligence operations designed to oversee the
operations of the left-wing terrorist groups.
The group of people in and around Kammune I, (part of the nucleus of
the Second of June) f and the people around Mahler, Baader and Ensslin,
who formed the Red Army Faction f were under surveillance by the West
Berlin Landesamt fuer VerfasSlIDgsschutz since the summer of 1967 via the
undercover agent Peter Urbach. He was involved in the 'pudding attack'
preparations on US vice-president Hubert H. Humphrey that year, and
supplied the molotov cocktails that burned out the Springer press
vehicles after the attempted murder of Rudi Dutschke in 1968. Later in
early April 1970 he met up with Baader, Ensslin and Mahler to help the
group find weapons to begin their armed struggle. During one of these
unsuccessful trips Baader was arrested. 1
However, as arrest warrants had been issued for Baader and Ensslin
earlier in MarchI the question is raised as to why only Baader was
arrested at this time, and not also Ensslin and the others, although
Urbach knew where they were to be found. Apparently he arranged for
notice of Baader's vehicle to be passed on to the authorities. 2
In 1987 the Green party asked the government whether an early
release for Baader and Ensslin after serving one third of their sentence
for arson in 1969 might not have ended their career before it began. The
government said they did not know the grounds for the state of Hesse's
refusal of an early release, but added that the two did not need to
enter the underground, because the continuation of their prison sentence
1 Aust (1987), 33, 47,56, 80-3.
2 Scheerer, 318-9; n.n., Der Baader-Meinhof-Report, 25-8.