This was part of "Aktion Winterreise", a nationwide raid in fifteen towns and cities, which targeted RAF supporters in the aftermath of the murder of Berlin Court President Günter von Drenkmann by members of the 2 June Movement.
[1][2] Heinrich vehemently protested her innocence and some months later became seriously ill. She was released "for reasons of health" before the prosecuting authorities had completed their work on her case.
In 1978 she published a pamphlet in Italian in Milan in the form of a "diary from the dungeon" in which she presented "Aktion Winterreise" as an act of state persecution of intellectuals in Germany, of which she had been a victim.
[4] By 1980 Brigitte Heinrich had developed a significant media profile, and between 1980 or 1981 and 1984 she worked as a regular journalist for the Berlin-based Tageszeitung (a daily newspaper).
[9] Her funeral took place on 6 January 1988 in the principal chamber of the Frankfurt Main Cemetery and was attended by members and representatives from a range of left-wing groups from many countries.
Following reunification in 1990 researchers gained access to a vast archive of the carefully compiled documentation produced between 1950 and 1989 by the East Germany Ministry for State Security "(Stasi)".
It was only after she died that it became known to authorities in the west that she had received her orders through Klaus Croissant and transmitted her reports to Stasi handlers in East Berlin through him.
[10] As a member of the European parliament Heinrich became important not just to the Stasi's "Hauptabteilung XXII" but also to its National Intelligence Directorate ("Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung" / HVA).
As an influential voice of the left she would be able to influence detailed discussions within the European parliament and its committees in ways that aligned more closely with East German government objectives.