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Natascha Kampusch
Born	17 February 1988 (1988-02-17) (age 21) Vienna, Austria
Nationality	Austria

Natascha Kampusch (born 17 February 1988 in Vienna) is an Austrian television host mostly known for her abduction at the age of 10 on 2 March 1998. Natascha was held in a secret cellar by her kidnapper Wolfgang Priklopil for more than eight years, until she escaped on 23 August 2006. The media attention later led to her signing a contract with Austrian channel PULS 4 for her own talkshow. The show had its premiere on 1 June 2008.

Contents 1 Early years and family 2 Kidnapping 2.1 Captivity 2.2 Escape 3 After escape 3.1 Interviews 3.2 Books 3.3 Media endeavors 3.4 The house 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Early years and family

Kampusch was raised by her mother Brigitta Sirny (née Kampusch) and her father Ludwig Koch, in Vienna, Austria. Her family included two adult sisters, and five nieces and nephews. Sirny and Koch separated while Kampusch was still a child. Kampusch spent time with both of them, and had returned to her mother's home from a holiday with Koch the day before her kidnapping.^[1][2]

[edit] Kidnapping

The 10-year-old Kampusch left her family's residence in Vienna's Donaustadt district on 2 March 1998 for school, but failed to arrive at school or come home. A 12-year-old witness reported having seen her being dragged into a white minibus by two men^[3][4], although Kampusch did not report a second man being present.^[5] A massive police effort followed, and 776 minivans were examined,^[6][7] including that of Priklopil, who lived about half an hour from Vienna by car in the Lower Austrian town of Strasshof an der Nordbahn, near Gänserndorf. Although he stated that on the morning of the kidnapping he was alone at home, the police were satisfied with his explanation that he was using the minibus to transport rubble from the construction of his home.^[8]

Speculations of child pornography rings or organ theft were offered,^[9] and officials also investigated possible links to the crimes of the French serial killer Michel Fourniret.^[10] Kampusch had carried her passport with her when she left (she had been on a family trip to Hungary a few days before) and the police extended the search abroad. Accusations against Kampusch's family complicated the issue even more;^[11] there have even been (unsubstantiated) allegations that Natascha's mother was somehow involved in the abduction or its cover-up.^[12]

[edit] Captivity

During the eight years of her captivity, Kampusch was held in a small cellar underneath Priklopil's garage. The entrance was concealed behind a cupboard. The cellar only had 5 m² of space (approximately 54 ft²). It had a door made of steel, had no windows, and was soundproof.^[13] For the first six months of her captivity, Kampusch was not allowed to leave the chamber at any time, and for several years after her kidnapping she was not allowed to leave the tiny space at night. Afterwards, she spent increasing amounts of time upstairs in the rest of the house, but each night was sent back to the chamber to sleep, and while Priklopil was at work. However, in later years, she was seen outside in the garden alone,^[14] and one of Priklopil's business partners also said that he met Kampusch nearby his home when her kidnapper, Wolfgang Priklopil, called and came to his home to borrow a trailer.^[15][16] After her eighteenth birthday, she was allowed to leave the house with Priklopil, but her kidnapper threatened to kill her if she made a noise.^[17] He later took her on a skiing trip to a resort near Vienna for a few hours. She initially denied that they had made the trip, but eventually admitted that it was true, although she said she had no chance to escape during that time.^[18]

According to Kampusch's official statement after her escape, she and Priklopil would get up early each morning to have breakfast together. Priklopil gave her books, so she educated herself, and according to a colleague of his, she appeared happy. Later, when explaining that in general she did not feel she had missed anything during her imprisonment, she noted, "I spared myself many things, I did not start smoking or drinking and I did not hang out in bad company". But she also said: "I always had the thought: surely I didn't come into the world so I could be locked up and my life completely ruined. I give up in despair about this unfairness. I always felt like a poor chicken in a hen house. You saw my dungeon on television and in the media. Thus you know how small it was. It was a place to despair." Dietmar Ecker, Kampusch's media advisor, said Kampusch told him Priklopil "would beat her so badly she could hardly walk. When she was beaten black and blue, he tried to smarten her up. Then he would take his camera and photograph her".^[19]

Priklopil had warned Natascha that the doors and windows of the house were booby-trapped with high explosives. He also claimed to be carrying a gun, and that he would kill her and the neighbours if she attempted to escape.^[20] Nevertheless, Kampusch on one occasion fantasized about chopping his head off with an axe, although she quickly dismissed the idea.^[21] She also attempted to make noise during her early years of captivity by throwing bottles of water against the walls.^[21] She said that on trips out with Priklopil she had attempted in vain to attract attention.^[21]

[edit] Escape

The 18-year old Kampusch reappeared on 23 August 2006. She was cleaning and vacuuming her kidnapper's BMW 850i in the garden. At 12:53pm, someone called Priklopil on his mobile phone, and he walked away to take the call because of the vacuuming noise. Kampusch left the vacuum cleaner running and ran away, unseen by Priklopil, who, according to the caller, completed the phone call without any sign of being disturbed or distracted. Kampusch ran for some 200 metres through gardens and a street, jumping fences, and asking passers-by to call the police, but they paid her no attention. After about five minutes, she knocked on the window of a 71-year old neighbour known as Inge T, saying, "I am Natascha Kampusch".^[22] The neighbour called the police, who arrived at 1:04 pm. Later Kampusch was taken to the police station in the town of Deutsch Wagram.

Kampusch was identified by a scar on her body, her passport (which was found in the room where she had been held), and by DNA tests.^[23] The young woman was in good physical health, although she looked pale and shaken and weighed only 48 kg (approximately 106 lb), almost the same weight (45 kg) as eight years earlier when she disappeared. She had grown only 15 centimetres (approximately 6 in).

Sabine Freudenberger, the first police officer to speak to Kampusch after her ordeal, said that she was astonished by her "intelligence, her vocabulary". After two years Priklopil had brought her books, newspapers, and a radio, tuned mainly to Ö1, an ORF station that is known for promoting education and classical music. She also states that she constantly had a feeling that she lacked something: "a deficit. So I wanted to make that better and I tried to educate myself, to teach myself skills. I have learned to knit for an example."^[24] Priklopil, having found that the police were after him, killed himself by jumping in front of a suburban train near the Wien Nord station in Vienna. He had apparently planned to commit suicide rather than be caught, having told Kampusch that "they would not catch him alive".^[25]

[edit] After escape

In her official statement she said "I don't want and will not answer any questions about personal or intimate details".^[26]

Kampusch has sympathized with her captor. She said "I feel more and more sorry for him - he's a poor soul", in spite of having been held captive for eight years by him,^[27] and according to police she "cried inconsolably" when she was told he was dead^[28], and lit a candle for him at the morgue.^[29] She has, however, referred to her captor as a "criminal".^[30]

There is also speculation that Kampusch may have Stockholm syndrome as a result of her ordeal.^[31][32] She said "my youth was very different. But I was also spared a lot of things – I did not start smoking or drinking and I did not hang out in bad company".^[33]

During her first interview Christoph Feurstein asked her if she had been lonely during captivity. Kampusch snapped "what a ridiculous question" and left the room, returning after a brief pause.

[edit] Interviews

After reportedly hundreds of requests for an interview with the teenager, with media outlets offering vast sums of money, Kampusch was interviewed by Austrian public broadcaster ORF. The interview was broadcast on 6 September 2006 after her approval. ORF did not pay for its interview,^[34] but said any proceeds from selling the interview to other channels would be forwarded to Kampusch. The interview was sold to more than 120 countries at a fee of €290 per minute. This money —estimates say some hundred thousand euros— will be donated to women in Africa and Mexico by Kampusch. Likewise she plans projects to help these women. As of 6 September interest has been enormous.^[35]

The newspaper Kronen Zeitung and news magazine NEWS also interviewed Kampusch. The interview was published on 6 September 2006. Both press interviews were given in return for a package including housing support, a long-term job offer, and help with her education.^[36]

New developments^[37][38] challenged the Austrian government in February 2008. Politicians of the conservative Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) threatened to break up the newly formed SPÖ–ÖVP ("red–black") coalition government in April and May 2008.^[39] Kampusch said that she had lost confidence in Austrian justice. Revelation of mistakes in the interior ministry's investigation of her kidnapping came to light likewise corresponding statements of a policeman which were repeatedly ignored in 1998.

On 16 June 2008, the newspaper The Times published an in-depth interview with Kampusch by Bojan Pancevski and Stefanie Marsh.^[40]

[edit] Books

The book Girl in the Cellar: the Natascha Kampusch Story by Allan Hall and Michael Leidig appeared in November 2006, written in English. Kampusch's lawyer described the book as being both speculative and premature and therefore planned to take legal action against it.^[41]

Together with two journalists, Kampusch's mother wrote a book about the ordeal, Verzweifelte Jahre ("Desperate Years"). Kampusch appeared at the initial presentation of the book in August 2007, but did not want to be photographed or interviewed. Her mother writes that she did not have much contact with Kampusch after the escape because Kampusch was shielded from the outside world.^[42]

[edit] Media endeavors

Natascha Kampusch has established her own website containing personal information including pictures of herself on 5 December 2007. She had become the host of her own talkshow at the new Austria TV station PULS 4 starting on 1 June 2008, which has the working title of In Conversation with … Natascha Kampusch.^[43][44]

[edit] The house

Natascha Kampusch now owns the house in which she was imprisoned, saying, "I know it's grotesque — I must now pay for electricity, water and taxes on a house I never wanted to live in". It was reported that she claimed the house from Priklopil's estate because she wanted to protect it from vandals and being torn down; she also noted that she has visited it since her escape.^[45]

[edit] See also

• Fritzl case
• John Jamelske

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikinews has related news: Austrian teenager mourns captor's suicide

• Natascha Kampusch´s Official Homepage
• Kidnapper a poor, lost soul: victim, 21 August 2007
• English translation by International Herald-Tribune of open letter released by Kampusch on 28 August 2006
• Diagram of the hidden room Kampusch lived in by APA
• Diagram and pictures of the hidden room by Federal Criminal Police Office of Austria
• Watson, Jeremy (19 August 2007). "Kidnap victim opens up to Austria". news.scotsman.com. http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Kidnap-victim-opens-up-to.3318602.jp. Retrieved on 2009-04-28. 
• The official BM.I Report, June 2008 (German)