The
preserved brain of Ulrike Meinhof, notorious member of a German
terrorist group in the early 1970s, was discovered at a German
university recently. As a result, one of her surviving daughters, Bettina Röhl,
has filed a lawsuit, some 26 years after her mother's death, charging that
the brain was removed and preserved without permission and demanding that
the brain be returned for burial.
In the early 1970s, Ulrike
Meinhof was a member (though not a leader, according to most sources) of the infamous Baader-Meinhof Gang (also known as the Red Army
Faction) which was responsible for a series of killings, bombings,
and kidnappings directed against the (West) German (and U.S.) government. She was captured
in 1972, tried, and sentenced to eight years in prison. In 1976, while in
prison, she hanged herself.
She killed herself the night before Mother's Day, perhaps despondent that
she was unable to see her twin daughters.
After her suicide, an
autopsy was performed, and her brain was removed from the body for
examination. Prosecutors wanted to determine what could have caused her
violent behavior. Medical examiners apparently did find evidence of neurological
abnormalities.
"A dead terrorist has
a right to be treated fairly and the right to a decent burial," her
daughter said. "You can only say there has been a proper funeral if
the brain is buried with the body."
The brain was never
returned with the body to the family. Instead, it appears as if it has
been moved to various research institutions, most recently at Magdeburg
University where it was discovered in a cardboard box. According to newspaper accounts, a researcher there is comparing
Meinhof's brain to the brain of a serial killer.
An investigation will
determine if the brain has been kept illegally.
