Daniel Cohn-Bendit - Radical Activism

Radical Activism

In Frankfurt in the family house, Cohn-Bendit became one of co-founders of the autonomist group Revolutionärer Kampf (Revolutionary Struggle) in Rüsselsheim. From this point his fate was linked with Joschka Fischer, another leader in the group. Both were later to become leaders of the Realo wing of the German Green Party, alongside many former Communist and non-Communist libertarian leftists.

Some have suggested that the group participated in violent action, which was common in the German extreme left of the early-seventies. But testimony from witnesses appears contradictory, sometimes unreliable. Communal apartments were common on the left, and peaceful political activists could easily have shared living quarters with terrorists, without further collaboration. In 2003 a request was presented by Frankfurt prosecutors to the European Parliament, requesting they waive the immunity of MEP Cohn-Bendit, in the context of a criminal investigation against the terrorist, Hans-Joachim Klein, but the request was rejected by the assembly.

While Fischer was more concerned with demonstrations, Cohn-Bendit worked in the Karl-Marx-Buchhandlung bookshop and ran a kindergarten. In his 1975 book Le Grand Bazar, he described himself as engaging in sexual activities with very young children at the kindergarten. In 2001 Cohn-Bendit said that the account was invented for purposes of "verbal provocation", and that “I admit that what I wrote is unacceptable nowadays”.