Josef Bachmann

In 2009, it emerged that Bachmann had contact with an active cell of Neonazis in Peine starting in 1961 and that he participated in shooting practice with them.

Bachmann was portrayed by Tom Schilling in the 2008 film The Baader Meinhof Complex.

In the night of 23–24 February 1970, Bachmann committed suicide by suffocating himself with a plastic bag.

Bachmann confessed to the assassination attempt and was convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison in 1969.

In 1968, he moved to Munich, searching for work. While in Munich, he had heard of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. This inspired him to assassinate Dutschke, whom he disliked for "being a communist".

Bachmann left his place of work in Munich on 10 April 1968 and travelled by train to Berlin. On his departure, he told his fellow workers that they would hear about him in the media soon.

Josef Erwin Bachmann (12 October 1944 – 24 February 1970) became widely known in Germany for his assassination attempt on the Marxist activist Rudi Dutschke, firing three bullets at him, on 11 April 1968. Bachmann was convicted of the attack and sentenced to seven years in prison. He committed suicide in 1970 while serving his sentence.

Bachmann was born on 12 October 1944 in Reichenbach im Vogtland, Saxony and grew up in East Germany in a family situation that had been described as difficult. In 1956, he left East Germany with his mother for West Germany and settled in Peine, Lower Saxony. Considered a poor student, he began to finance his lifestyle with a series of break-ins. He moved around frequently and changed jobs multiple times. In 1966, he was convicted for break-ins he committed in France.