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How did the escalation of left-wing terrorism by the Red Army Faction (RAF) during the “German Autumn” of 1977 compel the West German state to redefine the balance between civil liberties and internal security, and to what extent did this crisis represent the final maturation of the Federal Republic’s post-war democracy? This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the “German Autumn” (Deutscher Herbst) of 1977, the peak of the conflict between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Red Army Faction (RAF). It traces the ideological evolution of the RAF from the student protests of 1968 to the militant underground,…