Jürgen Ponto

Assassination of Jürgen Ponto
Location Oberursel, Hessen, West Germany,
Date 30 July 1977
17:10[1] – 17:30 at the latest. (CET)
Target Jürgen Ponto
Attack type
 Attempted kidnapping, murder
Weapons firearms
Deaths 1 civilian
Perpetrators Roter Morgen
RAF
Brigitte Mohnhaupt
Christian Klar
Susanne Albrecht

Jürgen Ponto (17 December 1923 Bad Nauheim, Hesse - 30 July 1977 Frankfurt am Main) was a German banker and chairman of the Dresdner Bank board of directors.[2] Previously, he had worked as a lawyer. He was assassinated by members of the Red Army Faction in events leading up to the German Autumn. Actor Erich Ponto was his uncle.

Death

On Saturday 30 July 1977, Ponto and his wife Ignes were at their Oberursel villa packing for a vacation in Rio de Janeiro, but were also expecting a visit from Susanne Albrecht, the daughter of a good friend of the Pontos.[3] She arrived at around 17:10 with two strangers, later identified as Brigitte Mohnhaupt and Christian Klar. Albrecht gave Ignes a bouquet of red roses, and all the guests were invited into the living room, where Ignes left them alone with Ponto.

From the living room, raised voices were heard and then gunshots. It is thought that Albrecht and her accomplices attempted to kidnap Ponto, and after he resisted they shot him. He was shot five times and later died of his serious wounds. The three killers fled the villa, and escaped with their getaway driver Peter-Jürgen Boock. The killers took responsibility for the murder in the name of Roter Morgen (Red Morning).[1][4]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Commerzbank AG" (PDF). Dresdner Bank. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  2. ↑ Heinrich August Winkler (2007). Germany: 1933-1990. Oxford University Press. p. 318. ISBN 978-0-19-926598-5. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  3. ↑ Patricia Melzer (2009). "'Death in the Shape of a Young Girl': Feminist Responses to Media Representations of Women Terrorists during the 'German Autumn' of 1977". International Feminist Journal of Politics. 11 (1): 35–62. doi:10.1080/14616740802567782.
  4. ↑ "Red Roses from Roter Morgen". TIME. 15 August 1977. Retrieved 13 September 2013.


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