Peter Lorenz

Who was Peter Lorenz?

Peter Lorenz was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union.

In 1975 Lorenz was a candidate for mayor of West Berlin. He was kidnapped by the terrorist Movement 2 June group three days before the elections on 27 February. The terrorists demanded a release of several imprisoned group members, including Horst Mahler, one of the founders of the Red Army Faction and future RAF militants Verena Becker and Rolf Heissler. Although Mahler refused to be exchanged, the other prisoners were set free.

After the militants had been flown out to Aden, South Yemen, Lorenz was set free on 4 March. He had won the plurality of votes while being absent, nevertheless Klaus Schütz relying on a coalition of Social Democrats and Free Democrats remained mayor.

One of the freed prisoners, Rolf Heißler, became a member of the group which abducted Hanns-Martin Schleyer in 1977 to exchange him for imprisoned RAF members. After the operation had failed, Schleyer was killed. Heißler was one of his two murderers.