Sugar kidnapping

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During the Kronzucker kidnapping in 1980, the daughters of the television journalist Dieter Kronzucker , Sabine and Susanne Kronzucker , and his nephew Martin Wächtler were kidnapped in Tuscany and held captive for over two months.

Course of the hostage situation

kidnapping

On July 25, 1980, 15-year-old Susanne Kronzucker with her 13-year-old sister Sabine Kronzucker and her 15-year-old cousin Martin Wächtler fell into the hands of kidnappers in a villa in Barberino Val d'Elsa in Tuscany. Three masked and armed bandits first overpowered the adults before they abducted the three children. Martin was kept in one tent, the two sisters Susanne and Sabine in another tent.

A large manhunt was immediately initiated, which was supported by all sides. The German ambassador to Italy, Hans Arnold , the Italian interior minister Virginio Rognoni and the Italian foreign minister Emilio Colombo intervened. In this case, the journalist Franz Tartarotti successfully mediated the investigation, as he did later in 1982 with the kidnapping of Nina von Gallwitz .

The mother of Sabine and Susanne, Renate Kronzucker, turned to the kidnappers on the Italian television Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI): "I'll give you my last shirt, but bring my children back to me." Even Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Giovanni Benelli appealed to the kidnappers' common sense on television.

release

After 68 days, on October 1, 1980, Sabine, Susanne and Martin were released after their parents had paid 4.3 million German marks to the kidnappers. They smuggled the money into Italy because ransom payments were forbidden. As a result, legal action was taken against the Kronzucker couple.

The main suspect is a Sardinian separatist who was arrested in May 1977 for kidnapping, extortion and willful killing of Count Alfonso de Sayons, who then escaped . Other people were convicted of hostage-takers in Florence in 1985 .

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