How It All Began: The Personal Account of a West German Urban Guerrilla

How It All Began is the personal testimony of Michael "Bommi" Baumann, a man who, in the late 1960s and early ’70s, was a member of the June 2nd Movement, one of the most spectacular urban guerrilla organizations in West Berlin.

Of this book, Baumann said: "Others should understand why people take the road of armed struggle, how they come to it, how the seeds are planted, and what the emotions behind it are, what kind of considerations and psychic preconditions are needed to overcome the fear involved."

But Baumann, ultimately, had to make a choice. He renounced violence when he left the June 2nd Movement in 1972.

Security police seized the original German edition, Wie Alles Anfing, when it appeared in 1975. The resulting trial and publicity raised an international outcry and the book ended up being republished in German and translated into six languages.

In an age when public protests—against corporate greed, against free trade agreements, and for social justice—are becoming more frequent and more violent, How It All Began provides a fascinating glimpse into the thinking behind urban struggle, and the consequences of action.

As Baumann himself said, "Violence is a perfectly adequate means, I never had any hangups about it."

The first English version of How It All Began was published by Arsenal in 1977 and updated in 1981. Long out of print, it has been re-issued, making it available to readers once again.

Bommi Baumann was a leading member of the June 2nd Movement, one of the most active urban guerrilla groups in West Berlin. From a low-income, unstable family background, Baumann left the movement and the urban guerrilla struggle in 1972 and went underground to write this book. He was arrested in London in 1981 and there has been no word from him since.