Bombing of French consulate in West Berlin

The bombing of the French consulate in West Berlin was a terrorist bomb attack targeting the Maison de France consulate on the Kurfürstendamm in West Berlin, West Germany on 25 August 1983. It killed one person and injured 23 others.[1] The Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) claimed responsibility in a telephone call and also took credit for a bomb at a French base in Beirut the same day, coming a month after the group's Orly Airport attack. The group commented "We will continue our struggle until the liberation of innocent Armenians from French jails."[2][3] However the attack was actually orchestrated by Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, better known as Carlos the Jackal, who had relations with the ASALA's leadership. Carlos claimed responsibility in a letter written to the German Embassy in Saudi Arabia.[4]

Bombing of French consulate in West Berlin
Part of terrorism in Germany
Maison de France pictured in 2013
LocationKurfuerstendamm, West Berlin, West Germany
Date25 August 1983
11:20 am (UTC+01:00)
Deaths1
Injured23
PerpetratorCarlos the Jackal on behalf of Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia

The bomb, containing 20 to 30 kg of explosives, was planted in a storage room on the building's fourth floor by Ahmed Mustafa El-Sibai, a Lebanese man and associate of Carlos.[5] The blast tore the building's roof, destroyed the fourth floor and caused part of it to collapse, causing a total of 2.5 million marks in damage.[6] The explosives were brought into East Berlin by Johannes Weinrich, another close aide to Carlos. Weinrich had brought the explosives in a year prior, they had been confiscated by the Stasi secret police, then returned just prior to the bombing by East German major (later lieutenant colonel/oberstleutnant) Helmut Voigt who passed the explosives back to Weinrich at the Syrian Embassy, which was Carlos's base in East Germany. Weinrich successfully transported the explosives from East to West Berlin via the Friedrichstraße before giving them to El-Sibai who planted it.[7]

The fatal victim was 26-year-old Michael Haritz, a peace activist who was handing out leaflets at the consulate protesting France's nuclear weapons testing in the South Pacific, and died from asphyxiation.[7]

Carlos previously bombed several targets in France, including the 1982 Capitole train bombing. He said the attacks in France and West Berlin were in revenge for French air strikes against a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine training camp in Lebanon.

Aftermath and convictions

The Maison de France is a French cultural centre featuring a French book shop, grocery store, cinema and restaurant. It was rebuilt after the attack and opened by Helmut Kohl and François Mitterrand in 1985.

On 26 March, 1991, approximately six months after the two Germanies officially reunified, Voigt fled to Greece. Voigt had heard in news broadcasts of the planned arrests of stasi employees who had supported terrorist actions in west Germany as part of their East-German stasi work. Voigt lived in the Greek port city of Volos under a false identity, but was found and arrested in 1991, when his wife visited him, carrying a tracking device that had been planted in her luggage by West German investigators, without her knowledge.[8] Voigt was extradited, tried, and found guilty on 12 April 1994 for his role in the bombing, and was sentenced to four years in prison.[4]

In 1995, after years of searching, Weinrich was detained in Yemen and flown back to Germany.[9] In 2000, after a four year trial, Weinrich was found guilty and given a life sentence. Nabil Shritah, the Syrian diplomat who stored the explosives at the embassy, was given a two year sentence at this time.[10]

See also

References
  1. "Rückblick – Anschlag auf Maison de France". Retrieved 2018-07-10.
  2. "Armenian terrorists bomb three French targets". UPI. Retrieved 2018-07-10.
  3. "French Consulate Bombed in Berlin". The New York Times. AP. 1983-08-26. Retrieved 2018-07-10.
  4. Kinzer, Stephen (1994-04-12). "Ex-East German Agent Guilty in Terror Bombing". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-07-10.
  5. Dietl, Wilhelm (1994-01-10). "Einer muß für alle büßen". FOCUS Online (in German). Retrieved 2018-07-10.
  6. Cummings, Richard H. (2009-10-26). Cold War Radio: The Dangerous History of American Broadcasting in Europe, 1950–1989. McFarland. p. 112. ISBN 9780786453009. Sibai 1983 west berlin carlos.
  7. Follain, John (July 2011). Jackal: The Complete Story of the Legendary Terrorist, Carlos the Jackal. Skyhorse. ISBN 9781628724875.
  8. "Wikipedia entry: Helmut Voigt". Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  9. "Chronologie: Der Anschlag und die Justiz". Spiegel Online. 2000-01-17. Retrieved 2019-12-31.
  10. "Wegen Sprengstoffanschlag: Lebenslang für Johannes Weinrich". Spiegel Online. 2000-01-17. Retrieved 2018-07-10.
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