The Slow Death of Andreas Baader by Jean-Paul Sartre. Short summary

5 seconds

An article in which the author calls for respect for the rights of prisoners, both criminal and political, on the example of the inhumane treatment of Andreas Baader.

1 minute

Andreas Baader, together with Ulrich Meinchf, led a terrorist organization in Germany called the Red Army Faction. It carried out murders and kidnappings in the 1970s. In 1977 Baader and five members of his gang were arrested.

Sartre paid a visit to the pre-trial prison where Baader was being held. He wanted to learn about the views that pushed the «leftist» Germans to commit terrorist acts. In addition, Sartre learned that Andreas and his comrades had gone on hunger strike.

Baader said that the hunger strike was a protest against the inhumane conditions in the cells. The lights there are on all 24 hours a day. The walls are padded with soundproof material. The complete sound vacuum has a bad effect on the psyche of the prisoners.

Despite the fact that the prison doctors force-feed Andreas, he lost 15 kilograms of weight, and his comrades are in a coma. Sartre later learned that members of the Red Army Faction had died in prison before trial under unexplained circumstances. The author calls for a committee to be established in Germany to monitor the rights of prisoners.