Editing Siegfried Buback

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{Short description|Public Prosecutor General of Germany from 1974 to 1977}}
[[File:Siegfried Buback.jpg|thumb|upright=0.85|Siegfried Buback, 1976]]

'''Siegfried Buback''' (3 January 1920, [[Wilsdruff]], [[Saxony]] – 7 April 1977, [[Karlsruhe]]) was the [[Attorney General of Germany|Attorney General of West Germany]] from 1974 until his murder in 1977.

== Life and career ==
Buback studied at the [[University of Leipzig]]. From 1940 to 1945, he was a member of the [[Nazi Party]], while serving as a soldier in [[World War II]]. From 1945 to 1947, he was a prisoner of war in [[France]]. In 1953 he became an attorney, and continued his career until 1972 as general attorney. 

His name first appeared in public in 1962 when he accused the political magazine ''[[Der Spiegel]]'' of [[high treason]] in the [[Spiegel scandal|''Spiegel'' scandal]]. In 1966, the case lead to a groundbreaking ruling of the [[Federal Constitutional Court of Germany]] about the [[freedom of the press]].

In the 1970s he was decidedly opposed to the [[Red Army Faction]] (RAF) and became the first assassination victim, along with his driver Wolfgang Göbel and judicial officer Georg Wurster, in a series of events called the "[[German Autumn]]".

==Assassination==
On 7 April 1977, Buback was shot by members of the RAF while travelling from his home in [[Neureut (Karlsruhe)|Neureut]] to the [[Bundesgerichtshof]] in [[Karlsruhe]]. While Buback's [[Mercedes-Benz W114|Mercedes 230.6]] was stopped at a traffic light, two unknown persons on a [[Suzuki GS series|Suzuki GS 750]] motorcycle pulled alongside him, both wearing olive green [[motorcycle helmet]]s. The passenger on the rear of the motorcycle quickly fired fifteen shots with a semi-automatic [[Heckler & Koch HK43|HK43]] rifle at the vehicle before fleeing. Buback and his driver, Göbel, died at the scene of the crime; Wurster died six days later from his injuries. Even though four RAF members ([[Christian Klar]], [[Knut Folkerts]], [[Günter Sonnenberg]], and [[Brigitte Mohnhaupt]]) were formally charged and prosecuted in connection with the Buback murder, important details of their involvement have not been solved. German authorities have so far been unable to find out who was driving the motorcycle and who was firing the weapon at Buback.

[[Image:Memorial Stone for Siegfried Buback in Karlsruhe.jpg|thumb|Memorial stone in Karlsruhe]]
In April 2007, 30 years after his assassination, Buback's violent death again became the subject of public discussion when his son, [[Michael Buback]], was contacted by former RAF member [[Peter-Jürgen Boock]]. Boock shared details with Buback's son indicating that it was [[Stefan Wisniewski]] who had fired the gun at Siegfried Buback.<ref>
 {{cite news
 | title = Baader-Meinhof gang member released
 | date = 12 February 2007
 | publisher = Times Online
 | url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article1371272.ece
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070214072012/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article1371272.ece
 | url-status = dead
 | archive-date = 14 February 2007
 | accessdate = 12 February 2007
 }}
</ref><ref>
 {{cite news
 | title = Wisniewski soll Buback-Mörder sein
 | date = 21 April 2007
 | publisher = Spiegel Online
 | url = http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,478615,00.html
 | accessdate = 22 April 2007
 }}
</ref><ref name=spon>{{cite news |url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,478928,00.html |title=Who Assassinated Siegfried Buback? Germany Revisits RAF Terrorism Verdict |work=[[Spiegel Online]] |date=23 April 2007 |accessdate=7 September 2018 }}</ref> [[Verena Becker]], another former RAF member, has also claimed Wisniewski was the killer.<ref name=spon />

On 6 July 2012, Becker was convicted of assisting the (still unknown) murderers and sentenced to four years in prison.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.ksta.de/politik/raf-prozess-becker-wegen-beihilfe-verurteilt,15187246,16561874.html |language=German |title=RAF-Prozess: Becker wegen Beihilfe verurteilt |date=6 July 2012 |accessdate=7 September 2018 |work=[[Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger]] }}</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of unsolved murders (20th century)|List of unsolved murders]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Attorneys-General of Germany}}

{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buback, Siegfried}}
[[Category:1920 births]]
[[Category:1977 deaths]]
[[Category:Assassinated German people]]
[[Category:Deaths by firearm in Germany]]
[[Category:German Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:German murder victims]]
[[Category:German prisoners of war in World War II held by France]]
[[Category:German prosecutors]]
[[Category:Jurists from Saxony]]
[[Category:Nazi Party members]]
[[Category:People from Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge]]
[[Category:People murdered in Germany]]
[[Category:Public Prosecutors General of Germany]]
[[Category:Unsolved murders in Germany]]
[[Category:Victims of the Red Army Faction]]
[[Category:People assassinated in the 20th century]]