Category: Germany and me
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Rejecting “Us versus Them” in the Aftermath of Paris
The day after the attacks on Paris, I had a spaghetti dinner in Prenzlauerberg (a neighborhood in the former East Berlin) with a German man I am just getting to know. We talked about our concerns that these deaths would lead to more escalation in political violence, especially actions by the U.S. and member states of the EU that could lead to more deaths. But we are an unusual pair of people to be having this conversation. He is a former member of the Red Army Faction (RAF), and I am an American whose only brother was killed by the Red Army Faction in 1985 as part of an attack on the US airbase on Rhein-Main (my dinner partner was already serving time in prison for other deaths at the time). For the two of us, the pain of families in Paris, Beirut, Syria, and many other places in the world torn by political violence is not abstract.
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What Would My Mother Have Said About Birgit Hogefeld’s Clemency?
I was working away from home when I heard that Birgit Hogefeld had been denied clemency again via a Yahoo News story. It’s strange to me that it’s even news here in the U.S., since my brother Eddie was murdered by the Red Army Faction almost 25 years ago, but then I could see from […]
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Yes, I am Edward Pimental’s sister
The Associated Press tracked me down for their news story about the release of Eva Haule, one of the Red Army Faction members convicted for my brother Eddie’s murder in 1985. She has been locked up since 1986, and is being released Tuesday. I only had a little time to talk to my mom on […]
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It’s weird to hear yourself on tape
KBOO has posted a clip of three of us who testified last week at the Portland City Council in support of the Department of Peace. I don’t know how long they leave audio content up, but the audio file is posted here. I know it sounds like I was about to cry the whole time… […]