The search led to a place that is hardly impressive and probably not expected today: the bustling district of Kreuzberg in the heart of Berlin where, due to the crowd, everyone theoretically goes unnoticed. Here live families of Turkish origin who spend almost every day on the street. But also many others who seek anonymity in the bustling district of the German capital. This is exactly what Daniela Klette, or as everyone knew her, Claudia, took advantage of. Clete joined a Brazilian cultural club and danced Capoeira there. She made sure to go unnoticed but always said hello, according to local residents. Above all, however, many knew her because of her large dog, which was said to bark a lot. “She was usually reserved but always friendly,” says a neighbor who lives with her mother in a high-rise multi-apartment building on Sebastianstrasse.

“Everything has an end”

There, the police rang a doorbell last Monday afternoon. A woman who introduced herself as Claudia Yvone opened up. He also maintained a profile on Facebook under this name. The police asked for ID and she showed them an Italian passport. She was then taken to the identification department, fingerprinted and the truth came out. Claudia was actually Daniela. Daniela Klette, the third generation terrorist of the Red Army Faction (RAF).

If we believe what is written in today’s press, the 65-year-old Clete did not resist, on the contrary, she looked relaxed. “Everything has an end,” he reportedly said. Klette was the number one wanted woman in Germany. Her capture is undoubtedly a spectacular success. But the hunt is not over. Police are still looking for two of her co-conspirators: Ernst Volker Staub, 69, and Burhard Garweck, 55. All three belong to the third generation of the RAF which was formed in the early 1980’s. All three got their hands in blood. In 1986 a bomb killed Siemens director Karl Heinz Bekurz.

In 1991 shortly after German reunification, a bullet from a distance of 63 meters killed Detlef Kartzen Rovender, head of the Treuhand Trust for the property of the former East Germany. These are just two examples of their action. In 1993 Klette, Staubbe and Garweck are said to have been there when the RAF struck Weiterstadt prison during its construction phase. But authorities have never identified exactly who fired or planted the explosives. In 1989/90 Daniela Klette disappears from the radar of the security authorities. But it leaves behind a hair on a VW Passat in 1991 after the attack on the US embassy in Bonn, leaving 60 bullet holes in the facade of the building. It wasn’t until a decade later that authorities were able to genetically identify her hair using DNA testing. In 1998 the RAF announced its disbandment but the three terrorists disappeared.

“The rule of law showed persistence and endurance”

This was followed by robberies like the one in Duisburg in 1999 which were blamed on the three former terrorists. In 2015 they make a mistake. They rob an armored van near Bremen. The robbery fails but the police manage to find traces of DNA. They belong to members of the RAF who have gone into hiding. In December of the same year, another armored car robbery failed. This time in Wolfsburg where the three wanted men also left DNA traces behind. The cord begins to tighten. The tip-off to Clete’s arrest came in November 2023, the head of the Lower Saxony Crime Squad said, but he declined to reveal what exactly led to her arrest. Klette has already been airlifted to Bremen. She was brought before the investigator, who ordered her temporary detention. Authorities have not disclosed which prison he is in. Perhaps they are afraid of any attempts to free her as they did in the past when the RAF left behind – from 1971 and for three decades – dozens of murdered in the war against the “imperialist system” of Federal Germany, businessmen, politicians, bankers and others.

Interior Secretary Nancy Feser said she was pleased. “The rule of law has shown persistence and resilience. No one should feel safe even if they are hiding,” he stressed. Warning for the other two who are still wanted. In the morning, outside the apartment building on Sebastianstrasse in Kreuzberg, there were police patrol cars again, as a reporter from the German News Agency observed. Searches continue in Clete’s apartment for other evidence that could prove useful to the investigative authorities. Film has been put up at the entrance of the apartment building. Neighbors and tenants stand by and watch the events. And they wonder how it was possible for Daniel Klette, or Claudia Ivone, to move among them for so many years dancing Capoeira in a Brazilian cultural club…