The kidnapping of Natascha Kampusch

In 1998, the Austrian girl Natascha Kampusch was kidnapped by Wolfgang Priklopil. It took eight years before she finally managed to escape from her prison. After her escape Natascha Kampusch wrote a book about her kidnapping.

The kidnapping

On 2 March 1998, ten-year-old Natascha Kampusch was kidnapped. On her way to school she was dragged into a white minibus and taken to her kidnapper's house in Strasshof an der Nordbahn in Austria. A large-scale search was started, but they didn't find Natascha.

Wolfgang Priklopil, Natascha's kidnapper, brought her to a little cellar underneath the house. This cellar was heavily protected, soundproof and measured 10 by 13 feet (3 by 4 metres) only. Natascha spent there the remaining eight years of her youth. Eventually, she managed to escape when she was eighteen years old.

At the beginning Wolfgang Priklopil took good care of Natascha. He made sure there were more than enough food for her to eat and things to spend her time with. He visited her regularly. As time passed by, he thought she had become too fat, so he decided to put her on very meagre rations. As a result, Natascha almost starved to death. He also started beating her and she had to do very heavy physical work. Fortunately, after two years of confinement she was allowed to go outside for the first time.  Around the time of her eighteenth birthday, Priklopil became more and more careless with her, even taking Natascha on a skiing trip.

The escape

During the eight years Natascha Kampusch was held captive, there were several chances to escape. But due to the fact that she had been in captivity for such a long time, she failed to get away, because of her physical and mental condition. When she was eighteen, Natascha decided that at last the time had come to escape, since she had come of age by then. On 23 August 2006, Natascha was ordered to vacuum Priklopil's car. He received a phonecall and left Natascha alone for a moment. She seized the opportunity and ran away. She spoke to someone in the street, but he would not help her. Priklopil's neighbour would not let her in either, but she had the presence of mind to call the police.

The police arrived a few minutes later. They took her with them and started a search for Wolfgang Priklopil, but a few hours after Natascha's escape her kidnapper committed suicide.

Stockholm syndrome

The Stockholm syndrome is found occasionally in people who were taken hostage or kidnapped. This syndrome is a psychological phenomenon in which hostages become sympathetic to their captors. The name derives from a hostage incident in Stockholm in 1973. A few days later the victims declared they understood their captors' motives and felt compassion on them.

Signs of the Stockholm syndrome were found in Natascha Kampusch as well. Over the years she started to identify with her kidnapper and had positive feelings towards him. When it was over, she wasn't angry with Priklopil and she even regretted he had committed suicide. Nevertheless, Natascha didn't feel she could be labeled with the Stockholm syndrome just like that.

3,096 Days

After Natascha's escape the media paid much attention to her kidnapping. Because of this, many stories were made up, which turned out to be completely untrue. For that reason, Natascha decided to write a book about it. The book describing in great detail the period of eight years she was held captive was published in 2010. In 3,096 Days she sketches a picture of what eight years of captivity looked like. The book shows us the complexity of the relationship between Natascha and her kidnapper. On the one hand she hated the man who kidnapped and beat her, on the other hand he was the only person that took care of Natascha.

Now that the story about her kidnapping is an open book to everyone, Natascha Kampusch hopes she can live a normal and quiet life again. In the meantime she purchased her kidnapper's house. She did not want it to be destroyed or visited by many people. She is also very busy with her training, eager to learn as much as possible. Yet, she still doesn't feel completely free, since she is being observed by so many people. 

Sources: www.todio.nl