Raised in Ulm, in South West Germany, Kopp left to study photography in Berlin to escape an unrepentant Nazi father.
Caught up in the student movement of the extreme left, she became the companion of Johannes Weinrich, at that time the manager of a bookstore that served as a cover for the RZ (Revolutionarishe Zellen). In London in 1977, Weinrich introduced Kopp to Carlos; she would later become The Jackal’s companion, then wife. She followed Carlos to Budapest, East Berlin and Paris. Ordered by him to commit terrorist acts, she was arrested along with Bruno Bréguet, in a car full of explosives in February 1982, in a Champs-Elysées parking lot. On the recommendation of Francois Genoud, she hired Vergès to represent her. At the same time, Carlos was furiously applying pressure on the French government: several attacks exploded throughout the territory. Sentenced to five years in prison, Kopp was released on May 4, 1985 and rejoined Carlos in Damascus. There she gave birth to her second child, Rosa Elbita, born on August 17, 1986. Expelled from Damascus, she relocated to Venezuela with her daughter.
Today, Magdalena Kopp lives in her city of birth with her daughter and is thinking about writing her memoirs. During Weinrich’s trial, she testified against him.
Additional information:
— Extracted the book (pdf) : «
Dans l'ombre du Chacal » (Im Schatten des Schakals), Oliver Schröm.
EXCERPTS FROM « LA BEAUTÉ DU CRIME » (“THE BEAUTY OF CRIME”), a diary Vergès kept from December 1984 to May 1985.
- “ March 16th 1985 : Magdalena…is sharing her cell with a prostitute who never bathes and exudes a putrid fish stench. Thankfully, I brought her a Gabonese flower so that she may smell it until I leave. She offered me a sweater that she knit me for my birthday. ”
- “ March 23rd 1985 : I visited Magdalena tonight. I brought her the ten coils of wool she had asked for from her mother. She asked for a pair of black pants to go with the shirt I had bought her for Christmas. We talk mostly about her upcoming release. She insists that I be there during the formalities, she has little confidence in our rule of law. She asks me if I can go with her to Athens. I tell her yes. The public effect will be deplorable but, if it were the opposite, would I have felt so good about answering yes ? “
- “ April 2nd 1985 : Today is Magdalena’s birthday. I have just enough time to get her a present. Will it be a ring made of gold and steel symbolic to what she represents to her friends (as precious as gold) and to her ennemies (hard as steel) ? Or, the little gold cigarette case from the crazy years of the 20’s ? I choose crazy. “
- “ May 1985: We have to notify Border Services at the Essonne that, according the law, Magdalena has chosen to leave France across the border of her choosing, to come with me to Athens. “
- “ May 5th 1985: I take the plane to Strasbourg… When I get to the hotel, Magdalena is not there. The concierge says she will be back soon. I have the time to ask him for the key to her room and to spread the gifts I have brought her (mine and others) out on her bed.“
- “ May 9th 1985: I called Magdalena this morning to tell her about my conversation with Theo Laclé (ie the infamous Ministry of Interior of Eyadema ,the bloddy dictator of Togo). I asked him
- Would you be ready to accept her in Togo ?
- Why not, if it pleases you.
- Without papers?
- Why not, if you come with her.
Magdalena is very interested. She hasn’t been much in Africa and she was always swept away by the stories I told her from my travels.“
- “ Federal Germany, May 11th 1985: In a restaurant hidden away amidst the trees, now alone, we were finally able to have the simple meal that I had promised Magdalena for her release : smoked fish, flank steak and champagne.“