Jochen Schoff (c. 1925 – c. 1971) was a hardline Bosken militant and the founder of the terrorist organization, the Army of Free and Independent Moraviskameja (AFIM). A former field commander within BRC-21, he vehemently rejected the peace process that led to the 1961 Treaty of Brod Moravice. He led a splinter faction of irreconcilable militants who broke away to form AFIM, dedicating it to continuing the armed struggle for the unconditional independence of Moraviskameja.
Early Life and BRC-21 Career
Born in rural Moraviskameja, Jochen Schoff was a product of the second generation of the Kresimir-Bosken conflict. He joined BRC-21 as a teenager in the early 1940s, during the leadership of Neda Orlak. Unlike the political strategists like Nadja Vrasch who were rising through the organization’s political wing, Schoff’s path was purely military.
He proved to be a ruthless and effective guerrilla fighter, rising through the ranks to become a respected field commander by the 1950s. He was known for his tactical aggression and his ideological purity, viewing the conflict not as a political dispute but as a holy war of liberation. He commanded the BRC-21 cells responsible for several successful attacks on Kresimirian military patrols and infrastructure, including the 1947 Brod Moravice Train Sabotage.
The 1961 Schism and Founding of AFIM
Schoff was fundamentally opposed to any form of negotiation with the Kresimirian state. When the BRC-21 leadership, under Orlak and Vrasch, entered into secret talks following the 1960 bombing, he was the most prominent voice of dissent among the military commanders.
He viewed the decision to negotiate as a profound betrayal of the movement’s founder, Lev Ruka, and a surrender of their ultimate goal. The final terms of the Treaty of Brod Moravice - disarmament in exchange for political representation within the Kresimirian state - were, in his eyes, an act of treason. He believed that participating in the Kresimirian Assembly was a tacit recognition of Kresimirian sovereignty over Moraviskameja.
When the treaty was signed in July 1961, Schoff and a small but heavily armed contingent of his most loyal fighters refused to lay down their arms. They broke away from BRC-21 and retreated into the remote border regions of Moraviskameja. From there, Schoff announced the formation of the Army of Free and Independent Moraviskameja (AFIM), a new organization dedicated to continuing the armed struggle. AFIM’s first official act was to declare the leadership of the newly formed Bosken Liberation Front as traitors and legitimate military targets.
Leadership of AFIM
Under Schoff’s command, AFIM operated as a decentralized and highly secretive terrorist cell, far more extreme in its methods than BRC-21 had been in its later years. The group specialized in assassinations, kidnappings of state officials, and bombings. Its primary targets were not just the Kresimirian state, but also prominent members of the BLF, whom Schoff considered collaborators.
AFIM’s slogan, ‘Struggle Means Struggle / We Will Be Free’ (Krech Znacz Krech / Nasi Frei), was a direct and intentional rebuke of the BLF’s motto, ‘Freedom Through Struggle’ (Frei Vran Krech), symbolizing their ideological split.
Disappearance and Presumed Death
For a decade, Jochen Schoff was one of the most wanted men in Kresimiria, hunted by both the Kresimirian Council for Internal Affairs and, covertly, by his former comrades in the BLF who saw him as a dangerous spoiler for the peace process.
He operated from the shadows and was never captured. However, after a series of successful Kresimirian counter-terrorist operations between 1970 and 1972 that dismantled several key AFIM cells, Schoff disappeared. No group ever claimed to have captured or killed him, and no body was ever recovered. The official position of the Kresimirian government is that he was likely killed during one of these raids and either buried in an unmarked grave or his body was removed by his followers.
While his ultimate fate remains unconfirmed, Jochen Schoff is believed to have been killed sometime between May 1970 and September 1972. Following his disappearance, AFIM continued to operate as a decentralized network of cells with no single, publicly known leader.