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In the early 1970s, a number of West German left-wing activists took up arms, believing that revolution would lead to social change. In the years to come, the bombings, shootings, kidnappings and bank robberies of the Red Army Faction (RAF) and Movement 2nd June dominated newspaper headlines and polarized legislative debates. Half of the terrorists declaring war on the West German state were women who understood their violent political actions to be part of their liberation from restrictive gender norms. As women participating in a brand of systematic violence usually associated with masculinity, they presented a cultural paradox, and their political decisions were viewed as gender transgressions by the state, the public, and even the burgeoning women’s movement, which considered violence as patriarchal and unfeminist. Death in the Shape of a Young Girl questions this separation of political violence from feminist politics and offers a new understanding of left-wing female terrorists’ actions as feminist practices that challenged existing gender ideologies. Patricia Melzer draws on archival sources, unpublished letters, and interviews with former activists to paint a fresh and interdisciplinary picture of West Germany’s most notorious political group, from feminist responses to sexist media coverage of female terrorists to the gendered nature of their infamous hunger strikes while in prison. Placing the controversial actions of the Red Army Faction into the context of feminist politics, Death in the Shape of a Young Girl offers an innovative and engaging cultural history that foregrounds how gender shapes our perception of women’s political choices and of any kind of political violence.

Women terrorists --- Women revolutionaries --- Women political activists --- Political activists --- Women revolutionists --- Revolutionaries --- Female offenders --- Terrorists --- History --- Rote Armee Fraktion --- Red Army Faction --- Baader-Meinhof Gang --- Baader-Meinhof Group --- RAF (Red Army Faction) --- Vörös Hadsereg Frakció --- History. --- Politiska förhållanden. --- Könsroller --- Politiskt våld --- Kvinnliga revolutionärer. --- Kvinnliga terrorister. --- Terrorismus --- Frau --- Politik --- Gewalt --- Women terrorists. --- Women revolutionaries. --- Women political activists. --- Social conditions. --- Sex role --- Politics and government. --- Political violence. --- Feminism --- Political violence --- Violence --- Political crimes and offenses --- Terrorism --- Emancipation of women --- Feminist movement --- Women --- Women's lib --- Women's liberation --- Women's liberation movement --- Women's movement --- Social movements --- Anti-feminism --- politiska aspekter. --- genusaspekter. --- Political aspects. --- Political aspects --- Emancipation --- Rote-Armee-Fraktion --- Rote Armee Fraktion. --- Kollektiv RAF --- Kollektiv Rote-Armee-Fraktion --- Fraction armée rouge --- Frakce Rudé armády --- RAF --- Baader-Meinhof-Gruppe --- Meinhof-Gruppe, Baader --- -Rote-Armee-Fraktion --- Terroristische Vereinigung --- Deutschland --- 1970-1998 --- Germany. --- Germany --- Social conditions --- Politics and government --- Descriptive sociology --- Social history --- Sociology --- Vörös Hadsereg Frakci --- Alemania --- Ashkenaz --- BRD --- Bu̇gd Naĭramdakh German Uls --- Bundesrepublik Deutschland --- Deutsches Reich --- Doitsu --- Doitsu Renpō Kyōwakoku --- Federal Republic of Germany --- Federalʹna Respublika Nimechchyny --- FRN --- German Uls --- Germania --- Germanii︠a︡ --- Germanyah --- Gjermani --- Grossdeutsches Reich --- Jirmānīya --- KhBNGU --- Kholboony Bu̇gd Naĭramdakh German Uls --- Nimechchyna --- Repoblika Federalin'i Alemana --- República de Alemania --- República Federal de Alemania --- Republika Federal Alemmana --- Vācijā --- Veĭmarskai︠a︡ Respublika --- Weimar Republic --- Weimarer Republik --- ХБНГУ --- Германия --- جرمانيا --- ドイツ --- ドイツ連邦共和国 --- ドイツ レンポウ キョウワコク --- Germany (East) --- Germany (Territory under Allied occupation, 1945-1955) --- Germany (Territory under Allied occupation, 1945-1955 : British Zone) --- Germany (Territory under Allied occupation, 1945-1955 : French Zone) --- Germany (Territory under Allied occupation, 1945-1955 : Russian Zone) --- Germany (Territory under Allied occupation, 1945-1955 : U.S. Zone) --- Germany (West) --- Holy Roman Empire --- Deguo --- 德国 --- Gėrman --- Герман Улс --- Macht --- Staatspolitik --- Politische Lage --- Politische Entwicklung --- Politische Situation --- Erwachsene Frau --- Weib --- Weibliche Erwachsene --- Frauen --- Erwachsener --- Weiblichkeit --- Politischer Terrorismus --- Bu̇gd Naĭramdakh German Uls --- Doitsu Renpō Kyōwakoku --- Federalʹna Respublika Nimechchyny --- Gėrman --- Germanii︠a︡ --- Jirmānīya --- Kholboony Bu̇gd Naĭramdakh German Uls --- República de Alemania --- República Federal de Alemania --- Vācijā --- Veĭmarskai︠a︡ Respublika --- Europe --- Fraction armée rouge --- Frakce Rudé armády