Ullrich shrugged. ‘I didn’t really have the opportunity to deal with it that way. The operation’s commanders – especially, I have to say, those from the Polizei Hamburg’s LKA Six – were incensed that Frau Klee was trampling all over their case. It has been a highly sensitive operation.’
‘But for God’s sake, Ullrich, you know how intimately my team were involved with the Vitrenko investigation.’
‘That was a previous case. I’m sorry, Fabel, but life moves on. We are dealing with the threat Vitrenko presents now. And it’s much bigger than the Polizei Hamburg can handle alone. We had officers from the BKA, from LKA Six, from the Federal Border Police, from the Cologne Police organised-crime squad… a hell of a lot of man-hours went into the operation. I’m sorry I couldn’t talk to you about it personally, but there was a lot of politics involved too. I just wanted you to know that I wasn’t deliberately going over your head…’
‘Fair enough,’ said Fabel.
‘Anyway…’ Ullrich lifted his briefcase. ‘I did what you asked and did a bit of checking into your two murder victims.’
‘And?’
‘And, although the connections are vague, there are too many coincidences – in my opinion, anyway – to suggest that your so-called Hamburg Hairdresser is making random selections. As you suspected, there were Hamburg LKA and Federal BKA intelligence files on Hans-Joachim Hauser. He was very active all the way through to the nineteen eighties. I thought it would be of interest to you. Just as background. I had a copy made of the file…’ Ullrich reached into his briefcase and pulled out a thick file which he laid on the white-painted surface of the metal cafe table. There was nothing on the buff-coloured cover to hint at what lay within. Fabel was about to pick up the file when Ullrich laid his hand flat on it. ‘Please don’t mislay it. Even if it is a copy, it would be most embarrassing. There’s not a lot in there that would surprise you, Herr Fabel. But this is where it gets interesting…’ He laid a second file on top of the first. ‘Your second victim also had a BKA file back then.’
Fabel leaned forward. ‘Griebel was under surveillance?’
‘I thought that would intrigue you.’ Ullrich smiled. ‘On the surface there’s no direct connection that I can see between Hauser and Griebel, other than, as you said, that they were at the Universitat Hamburg at roughly the same time and they were both politically active, if to different degrees. But the thing that’s most interesting is that both men later fell under general suspicion of being figures in the so-called RAF-Umfeld.’
‘Griebel too?’ Fabel was familiar with the term: ‘RAF-Umfeld’ referred to the vague general network of supporters who had provided assistance, often financial or logistical, for the Red Army Faction/Baader-Meinhof gang and other terrorist organisations.
‘Griebel too,’ confirmed Ullrich. ‘As you know, all through the nineteen seventies and nineteen eighties, anarchist terror groups in Germany were sustained by these networks. To begin with there was the “Schili” or the “chic left” who were mainly middle-class liberals who funded the activities of the anarchists. The Schili were mainly left-wing lawyers, journalists, university lecturers and the like who coughed up money to support the “direct-action” activities of the anarchists… until that “direct action” moved on from “walk-ins” on posh restaurants, daubing slogans on government buildings and posing naked for the press, to kidnap, murder and bombings. The activists became terrorists and it all became too much for the trendy left. It really sorted the wheat from the chaff, and the terrorist groups ended up with a hard core of helpers who were deployed in roles where they did not actually break the law.’
‘I know,’ said Fabel. ‘The so-called “legals”.’
‘Exactly. But as well as the “legals” there was a nationwide network of sleepers. These people could be called on to break the law to finance or support the activities of the main terror group, maybe even to carry out a high-profile assassination… but, on the surface, they led normal lives and did not draw attention to themselves. The terrorist groups often picked people who had never been connected officially with the protest movement or with any type of political activity.’ Ullrich gave the files a nudge towards Fabel. ‘In there, you’ll see that Hans-Joachim Hauser was suspected of being a “legal”: he was openly in support of the “cause”, but did not break the law. Herr Dr Griebel, on the other hand, was considered a possible sleeping agent…’
‘And they were suspected of being tied in with the Red Army Faction?’
‘That’s the thing. As you know, there was a fair amount of cross-fertilisation between groups – the Socialist Patients’ Collective, the Revolutionary Cells, Rote Zora and the Baader-Meinhof gang – and there was also a fair amount of freelance activity, for want of a better word. And I know that you yourself encountered one of these splinter groups early in your police career.’
Fabel nodded curtly. Ullrich was clearly referring to the 1983 Commerzbank shootings carried out by Hendrik Svensson’s Radical Action Group – in the course of which Franz Webern had been killed and Fabel had been wounded and forced to take a life to save his own. Fabel did not like the idea that the BKA man probably had, sometime, run a check on him. But there again, he told himself, that was the business Markus Ullrich was in.
‘You will remember,’ continued Ullrich, ‘after the Stammheim prison suicides of Meinhof, Baader, Ensslin and Raspe in nineteen seventy-six and nineteen seventy-seven, German domestic terrorism lost its focus and became very fragmented – which actually made our job more difficult. It also resulted in a steeply increased level and intensity of violence. The truth is that Hauser and Griebel were both low-priority subjects… and there was never any suggestion of a connection between them. They did share common acquaintances – but, there again, so would anyone involved even marginally with that scene. There is something else about Griebel.’
‘Oh?’
‘I noticed that his file was recently updated. He was looked at again only a couple of years ago, in fact. I get the feeling it had to do with his field of research. Why his particular speciality was of interest I couldn’t tell you, but our counter-terrorism people felt the need to run another check on him. But again, low-priority stuff. Anyway… happy reading.’
‘I really do appreciate you doing this for me,’ Fabel said as their lunches arrived.
‘You’re welcome. All I would ask is that if the political backgrounds of your murder victims turn out to be a positive lead, please do let me know. It may be that there is a dimension to this case that may interest us. And Herr Fabel…’ Ullrich looked uncertain, as if weighing up whether to say what he had to say or not.
‘Yes?’
‘Be careful. As you’ll see from the files, some of the figures who were subject to our scrutiny in the past have become important people today. All you need to do is look at Gerhard Schroder’s government cabinet. A Foreign Minister who has admitted to street violence and an Interior Minister who was a defence attorney for the Baader-Meinhof gang.’ Ullrich was referring to Joschka Fischer who had been ‘outed’ when Bettina Rohl, the daughter of Ulrike Meinhof, had released to the press photographs of Fischer assaulting a police officer, and to Otto Schily, who had represented the terrorists early in his legal career. ‘And there are others with big ambitions much closer to home…’
‘Like Muller-Voigt?’
‘Exactly. If you find yourself going down this line of inquiry, watch your back.’
Fabel gave a grim laugh. ‘I’m not worried about political flak,’ he said. ‘I’m well used to that by now.’
‘Political flak isn’t all you have to worry about…’ Ullrich said. ‘I can’t believe that the so-called sleepers who were put in place back then believe in any of that crap now, but they have been living their normal lives for two decades. I’m sure some of them are quite prepared to go to any lengths to protect themselves. Like I said: be careful.’