On December 21, 1975, six terrorists led by Carlos 'The Jackal' forced their way into OPEC headquarters in Vienna and took seventy ministers hostage. After a gun battle, three people killed and one terrorist seriously wounded, the terrorists managed to escape to Algiers. The wounded terrorist was HANS-JOACHIM KLEIN. For the first time he retraces his steps and tells his life story.
At the moment that Klein arrived in Algiers, he decided to quit terrorism. The only question was how. Quitting would be seen as treason, and Carlos was known for his relentless position about this. Klein escaped with the help of an old comrade from the student movement. This comrade was Daniel Cohn-Bendit who would continue to help him in subsequent years, until Klein let himself be arrested in 1998. When Klein broke away from terrorism, he took refuge in the countryside of Normandy and continued to hide there for many years. The villagers in his area knew who Klein really was, but they let his terrorist past rest. Klein blames himself for realizing too late what terrorism was about.
He now sees that he was used by Middle East organizations. Klein believed in the idealism of terrorism, but there proved to be great political powers at work that had their own agenda.
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