The latest picture of a European caregiver who was abducted in Somalia around seven years ago has put the tragedy of abducted Germans in the spotlight.
Sonja N. * was abducted by military men about seven years ago in Somalia. At the time, the European nurse was working for the International Red Cross. A video just emerged showing her and her attractiveness to the European state and her family to do everything they can to get her released. She said her heath was deteriorating fast.
Thousands of German citizens are estimated to have been kidnapped worldwide over the past years. It is hard to identify exactly how many are now nevertheless being held, there are hardly any characters. The most recent statistics are from 2019 when the German authorities announced that 143 Germans were abducted in 37 countries between 2010 and 2019. Most situations were in Nigeria, followed by Afghanistan, Mexico, Syria and Senegal.
Crisis group takes cost
In response to a theft, a crisis group is established in the Foreign Ministry to organize the different companies such as offices, national intelligence service and brokers. Jürgen Chrobog headed for a team for two decades, from 2003 to 2005. ” The main thing is to first of all take out all the stops, create trust with brokers to find out what has happened and what the requirements are”, the 85-year-old told DW.
During his energetic day, he dealt with the abduction of many European visitors who had been abducted in Algeria and Mali while traveling in the Sahara plain in 2003. The discussions were powerful and all but one prisoner, who died of sunstroke, were freed. Chrobog recalls that the close relationship of trust between the Malian leader and the Tuaregs on the ground was the crucial element.
Interestingly, Chrobog himself was kidnapped in Yemen together with his home just a few weeks after his retirement in 2005. He got caught up in a cultural conflict, which happily was immediately resolved and the community was freed.
Wide range of survivors
In most cases, of training, it is not “professionals” like Chrobog who find themselves in the clutches of non-state or even express players. The patients are nurses, priests, support staff, dissidents or just random tourists. In 2000, the German Wallert home was kidnapped together with other vacationers during their Easter holidays in Malaysia. The insurgent group Abu Sayyaf took them to the Spanish island of Jolo. The situation stood out because the militants frequently invited reporters to their forest sanctuary to picture the hostages and meeting the abductors. Following their transfer decades later, the Wallerts had become one of Germany’s best-known people.
Often those who are freed speak out later and review on their knowledge. This is the only means that some abduction cases become known, as the Foreign Ministry observes a comprehensive non-disclosure plan.
One recent case was that of the Roman Catholic priest Hans-Joachim Lohre, who disappeared in Mali in November 2022 on his approach to a celebrate size. It took about a year for him to be released. In an appointment with DW, he recalls the time of his violence:” Somebody grabbed me from behind and dragged me into the back seats of a Mercedes. And then we were on our approach. It didn’t get more than five or ten minute”.
He immediately realized that he had to get a life strategy:” I said to myself: I have to provide meaning to this day of prison, whether it lasts one, two or five years”, he says. He prayed many days a day and even tried to talk to his captors, a group of jihadists, about religion. After one year of negotiations to launch him were powerful — but he doesn’t know exactly how. Nevertheless, he was happy to learn that the President of the High Islamic Council of Mali even prayed for his discharge and feels that this helped to enhance Muslim-Christian conversation.
Some criminals are non-state players — members of ethnic or religious splinter groups, or of tribes that are engaged in some battle. However, there are also cases where governments become perpetrators, as in the case of Iran, which has repeatedly imprisoned German citizens, sometimes with dual citizenship, in Iran. One case is Jamshid Sharmahd, who was abducted from Dubai to Iran, imprisoned there for four years and finally executed in October 2024.
Quiet diplomacy or broad publicity
The imprisonment of German hostage Nahid Taghavi in Iran had a happier outcome, she was released in January.
The human rights organization Hawar acted on Taghavi’s behalf. Mariam Claren works for Hawar — and is also personally affected, Nahid Taghavi is her mother. ” When an authoritarian state arrests/abducts someone, you are initially in the dark. And I recommend from my own experience— and we also recommend this as an NGO — it is very important to go public immediately”, Claren tells DW. Because publicity protects the detainee: Over time, with more public pressure, Nahid Taghavi got better prison conditions and access to medicine.
Mariam Claren worked closely with the Foreign Ministry to get her mother released, and she is grateful for the help she received. At the same time, however, she is also critical of Germany’s principle of quiet diplomacy:” The US has a special envoy for hostages abroad. In France, they talk publicly about hostage-taking”, says Claren. ” To be fair, I have to say it worked. My mother was freed. But I often felt left alone”, she adds.
This is another reason why the video of the kidnapped German nurse in Somalia resonated with her. ” I found the video heartbreaking. If that were my mother, I would mobilize everyone”. Claren says. This, she says, serves to increase the pressure and ensure that the victim is not forgotten.
