Celle Hole

Celle Hole ( _de. Celler Loch) is a breach in the outer wall of the prison of Celle, Germany. First used on July 25, 1978, the name was part of a campaign by the West German secret service (Landesbehörde für Verfassungsschutz) and the GSG 9 in an attempt to lay blame on the Red Army Faction, West Germany's most active and prominent left-wing terrorist group. However, the incident was revealed in 1986 to be a plot by the government, much to the embarrassment of the government. Verfassungsschutz used the name 'operation fire magic' ( _de. Aktion Feuerzauber).

Verfassungsschutz used a stolen Mercedes SL, driven by two criminals named Klaus-Dieter Loudil and Manfred Berger, who were recruited by Verfassungsschutz. In the car were forged passports, one passport with a photograph of Sigurd Debus. Serial numbers of the passports showed that they were stolen from German authorities. Mr. Debus was an inmate in the Celle prison. He was considered as a Red Army Faction terrorist suspect. Some tools to be used for a prison escape attempt, were brought secretly to Mr. Debus' prison cell by Verfassungsschutz.

The action should take place one night earlier, when twelve Verfassungsschutz officers, one GSG 9 demolition squad officer and Jürgen Wiehe, civil servant in the ministry of interior of the state of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen) waited for the right moment to detonate the bomb on July 24. But they had to interrupt the action since two lovers coming from the nearby funfair run into the danger area. So the action was deferred.

On July 25, 1978 at 2.54 a.m. the bomb was detonated at the outer prison wall, but caused minor damage only. No inmate was able to escape. The Mercedes was caught later in Salzgitter (80 km away) in a police road block, the driver escaped. The false passports and some ammunition was found in the car.

In Celle, a 1.5 square meter hole, named the Celle hole (Celler Loch), was left in the outer prison wall. A handgun, model Walther PPK 7.65, which was the official pistol of one of the Verfassungsschutz officers, as well as a rubber dinghy, were found. Celle prison is situated close to the bank of river Aller.After the detonation, Mr. Debus' conditions of detention were impaired "for security reasons". Hence, the detainee started a hunger strike as a protest against this. Sigurd Debus died on April 16, 1981 shortly before the date of his discharge from prison.

References

* Christa Ellersiek, Wolfgang Becker: "Das Celler Loch. Die Hintergründe der Aktion Feuerzauber." Verlag am Galgenberg, Hamburg 1987, ISBN 3925387307

http://www.taz.de/index.php?id=archivseite&dig=2007/05/09/a0046

http://www.zeit.de/1987/25/Feuerzauber-mit-dunklen-Figuren