Mogadischu

The memories of Germany in the 70s are currently being refreshed at a very rapid rate. The Baader-Meinhof film was released, the terrorist Christian Klar is being released from prison in January after serving 26 years of 9 "life-long" sentences, and the TV-movie Mogadischu premiered on TV this evening, followed by a talk show including the co-pilot of the "Landshut" plane, one of the hostages, one of the GSG-9 men who freed the hostages and killed the hijackers, a politician and a journalist from the time.

The hijackers had kidnapped a Lufthansa plane, attempting to free the RAF prisoners in Stammheim. After 5 grueling days - and the murder of the pilot - the GSG-9 managed to enter the plane and free the hostages.

The film was very well done, very suspensful, even though you already know that there will be a more or less happy end. You began to realize how difficult the political manuverings were, and how hard this all was for the chancellor, Helmut Schmidt.

The co-pilot of the plane has sent the medal he received from the German government back in protest of the release of Christian Klar. And he made it very clear that he is a proponent of the death penalty.

A difficult situation all around. And one that moves me, as I came to Germany just as this whole thing was in full swing. I didn't not understand much of what went on at the time, so it is indeed interesting to learn more about that time, looking back through a 30-year filter.

The terrorists are different now, but also strangely the same in some aspects. Will there ever be a solution?