Guerrilla fighters and terrorists who have sprung up in recent years, vary in their commitments and causes. Some may be motivated by their violent desire for national liberation blind to all other considerations. Others have only vague goals speaking of anti-imperialist and anti-authoritarian aims. They are mainly the German, Italian, and possibly Japanese terrorists who seek insoluble answers to their own conflicts. They become involved in a hopeless struggle that they cannot win; they can only destroy. Coming from a regionally prominent family known in the arts, he suffered emotional deprivations. An attempt is made to reach an understanding of the interplay between his personal and the sociocultural conflicts of his time that may have led to his terrorist acts. (Author abstract)