GDR automatic firing device (SM-70) with mounting (Source: Berliner Mauer-Archiv Hagen Koch)
Michael Gartenschläger, a political prisoner in the GDR ransomed by the West, fights the GDR by dismantling automatic firing devices (SM-70). After successfully taking apart such devices on 30 March and 24 April 1976, he is shot dead in an ambush by a Stasi special unit during a third attempt.
9 May
1976
The RAF terrorist Ulrike Meinhof is found hanged in her cell in Stammheim Prison in Stuttgart. According to the prison authorities, she has committed suicide. Her death provokes protests and violent demonstration in Germany and abroad because of a rumour that she was murdered.
18-22 May
1976
At the 9th SED Party Conference, the population is told that the "main task" has been successfully implemented: the minimum wages and pensions have been raised and the supplementary pensions improved, full-time working mothers have received a number of concessions ranging from a reduction in working hours and an extension of paid maternity leave to birth premiums.more
28 May
1976
In Moscow, representatives from the USA and USSR sign an agreement on civilian underground atomic tests that also envisages mutual supervision.
