Klar, 56, who took park in a string of RAF murders of Germany’s political and business elite during the 1970s and 1980s, feared the sensationalist reporting that would follow his every move, would damage the work of the Berliner Ensemble theatre, the BE said in a statement.

“The sought-after normal life after 26 years in prison didn’t seem possible under these circumstances,” the statement said. Berliner Ensemble boss Claus Peymann had offered the unpaid stagehand job to Klar as far back as 2004.

Klar’s lawyer Heinz-Juergen Schneider said his client would look for another job which would enable him to live a life without being followed by paparazzi, although what that might remains unclear.

A photo of Klar entering the Berliner Ensemble appeared on the front page of the Berlin tabloid newspaper B.Z. on Thursday. Schneider told news agency Bloomberg that Klar had not consented to the picture, and is taking legal steps against the paper, owned by Axel Springer.

Springer responded to a request for comment by sending a commentary from B.Z.’s editor, Peter Huth, in which he accuses the Berliner Ensemble and Klar of stirring sensationalism.

“On the one hand the newly-freed prisoner was quick to say that he’d like to be left alone in peace and quiet, even as he applied to work at the most important theater right in the middle of the biggest city in the country,” Huth wrote.

Klar took part in an RAF-led wave of attacks whose victims included the German Federal Prosecutor Siegfried Buback and Juergen Ponto, then chief executive of Dresdner Bank AG. Klar carried out violent attacks with RAF members Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof.

The former terrorist was released on December 19 after a court in Stuttgart ruled that he no longer presented a danger to society. Klar had been sentenced to life in prison.