Georg von Rauch

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Georg von Rauch (May 12, 1947–December 4, 1971) was born in Marburg an der Lahn. His father, the historian Georg von Rauch, was university lecturer in philosophy there, and after he finished school in 1966 he started studying philosophy himself. In the same year, he also married his girlfriend Illo, who, one year later, gave birth to their daughter. Politically interested as he was, the climax of the German youth movements with the death of the young student Benno Ohnesorg (who was shot by a police officer, though he was an unarmed demonstrator) influenced him greatly. He transferred to the Freie Universität Berlin and promptly entered the Sozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund, the Socialist Student Association. In Berlin, his political activities against the war in Vietnam led to an ongoing radicalization. The murder attempt by a young Neonazi against the famous idol of the student movement, Rudi Dutschke, in 1968 was the final straw for Georg von Rauch, and he entered a group of anarchist city guerillas. This step into the radical left underground was the beginning of a criminal career, which was halted when he was arrested for beating up a journalist on February 2, 1970. He was sentenced to jail on June 8, 1971, but managed to escape the same day. From now on, he was well known and influential in the German student scene. His escape only lasted six months, though, and on December 4, 1971, he was shot by the police. His violent death made him a martyr, and just as the death of Benno Ohnesorg and the attack on Rudi Dutschke had been good reasons for him to join the underground, his death was reason for others. The remaining members of his organization went on to found the "Bewegung 2.Juni" (the Movement 2 June), the anarchist counterpart of the Red Army Fraction, and to this day the name Georg von Rauch stands as a synonym for the political struggle of his time. The squatters of the Bethanien hospital in Berlin renamed it to Georg-von-Rauch-Haus, as a memorial for the passing of the young student who died for a dream many dreamt in 1971.