Political resistance in German prisons 1970s and 80s: prison life stories of survival and the fight for intercommunicative groups.

Emmerich, F

Abstract

This paper is part of a wider study of the prison life stories of former members of the Red Army Faction (RAF) also known as the Baader-Meinhof Group from 1970-1996. The research is based on in-depth, narrative interviews conducted in 2008 with former women and men of the RAF and one former sympathiser.
So far RAF resistance in prison has been analysed within the wider context of protest in Germany, democracy and its defence. The focus of this paper is read RAF prisoner experiences of political resistance in the context of German imprisonment, more specifically power/gender and resistance in prison. The RAF prisoner stories deal with the intersection of the history of the RAF and collective identiy on the one hand, and life after the RAF and individualism on the other. Their analysis highlights the value and meaning that these former RAF members attach to both their collective resistance strategies, such as hunger strikes and everyday refusals, and to the collective goal to achieve their integration into intercommunicative groups.

Citation

Emmerich, F. (2015, June). Political resistance in German prisons 1970s and 80s: prison life stories of survival and the fight for intercommunicative groups. Paper presented at AHRC Workshop The Political Prison: Dissent, Incarceration, and Penal Regime, University of Dundee, UK

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: AHRC Workshop The Political Prison: Dissent, Incarceration, and Penal Regime
• Conference Location: University of Dundee, UK.
• Start Date: Jun 18, 2015
• End Date: Jun 19, 2015
• Deposit Date: Jun 13, 2023