In June 1995, the Museum of Modern Art in New York announced that it had acquired a series of 15 paintings by the German artist Gerhard Richter, collectively entitled October 18, 1977. At 11 p.m. on 17 October, the prison officer in charge of the four prisoners on the seventh floor of the high-security wing of Stammheim prison in Stuttgart had noted in his night duty report: '23.00 hours. Baader and Raspe given medicaments. Otherwise no incidents.' The following morning, at 7.41 a.m. - breakfast time - guards discovered Andreas Baader and Gudrun Ensslin dead in their cells. Jan-Carl Raspe was badly wounded. He was rushed to hospital but died soon afterwards. Irmgard Möller, who was also taken to hospital, survived. She had stabbed herself with a knife; Baader and Raspe were shot in the head and Ensslin was found hanged. There are those who believe that the prisoners were murdered, but that is not my view.

LRB 5 April 2001 | PDF Download