Germany: Democracy in Trouble

The recapture of the hijacked plane at Mogadishu, the death of three leading terrorists in Stammheim prison, and the murder of kidnapped industrialist Schleyer may, for a while, have put an end to the wave of terrorism in West Germany. But the larger questions remain: how could it develop in a country where dissent can be rather freely expressed, and what might be its effects on the society? To explore these questions, even to properly pose them, requires a look at some of the facts.

After a two-year lull, which had followed six years of intermittent terrorist activity, the recent months have seen a succession of spectacular actions:

• in April, the assassination of the Baader-Meinhof trial’s Chief Federal Prosecuto...