GSG 9 — Profis Combat Terrorism
| Author | Robert Harnischmacher |
| Published date | 01 October 1985 |
| Date | 01 October 1985 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0032258X8505800406 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
ROBERT
HARNISCHMACHER
Free-lance Journalist in the Legal Sciences
and
Police Affairs, Munster. Federal Republic
of
Germany.
GSG 9 - PROFIS
COMBAT
TERRORISM
On September 26, 1985, the GSG 9 -
Group
9-Special - will
celebrate its thirteenth birthday. Reason enough to remember this
special police
detachment
of
the
Federal Border
Guard,
which saved
86 lives in
Mogadisciu/
Somalia
on
October
18,1977. It was
the44th
day of
the
kidnapping
of
Hanns
Martin
Schleyer,
joint
President of
the
Employers'
Federal
Association
and
Federal Association
of
the
German
Industry. At 00.05 hours on this day
the
Special Assignment
Squad
freed the passengers
and
remainingcrew -
the
pilot had been
shot - of a
Lufthansa
aeroplane which
had
been in the hands of
terrorists for five days holding the Federal Government of Germany
at ransom. Since this mission,
the
Group
9-Special is world
famous.
Plans
to set up special police
task
forces
took
aconcreteform after
the terrorist
attack
on
the
Israeli delegation during
the
1972Olympic
Games in
Munich
on
September
5
and,
following that, the failure in
rescuing the hostages on the Army Airfield in Furstenfeldbruck,
The
analysis of the events showed how helpless
and
inefficient the police
were at the time
and
how urgent the need was for new methods of
police training
and
tactics in the fight against violent criminals
and
terrorists.
The
Conference of the Federal
Home
Secretary
and
the
II
Federal
States'
Home
Department
Secretaries
had
passed aresolution to
form special police
task
forces at
both
levels on
September
3, 1972.
Thisdecision was followed a week later by the unanimous grantingof
188 authorized posts for a special FBG-unit by the Federal
Parliamentary
Budget Commission.
With
the
order
from
September
26, 1972, by
Hans
Dietrich Genscher, the
then
Federal
Home
Secretary, to establish
the
GSG
9immediately,
the
Federal Republic
of
Germany
met
the
challenge from extremists
and
militant
violators.
GSG 9 ready for combat
Hangelar-St. Augustin was made
Post
Command
of this special
detachment. On
September
I, 1973,
the
GSG
9 was ready for
combat. Its special task is to fight against militant
perpetrator
groups.
The
task force
can
be called
into
action
supporting
the
Federal
Border
Guard
in theirspecific duties,
supporting
the Federal
Office of
Criminal
Investigation or the police force
of
any
Federal
State,
in particularly extreme cases
of
violent criminality, especially
304 October 1985
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