Peter Theo Curtis

Peter Theo Curtis (* 23. October 1968 in Atlanta , Georgia as Peter Theophilus Eaton Padnos ) is an American journalist who through his nearly two-year hostage in the Islamist terrorist group al-Nusra Front in Syria and his eventual release in August 2014 got known.

Previous life and career

Peter Theo Curtis was born in Atlanta, Georgia. His parents are Michael Padnos, a writer now living in Paris , and Nancy Curtis. Curtis received a bachelor's degree from Middlebury College , Vermont, and then a successful PhD in comparative literature from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 2000.

In 1999 and 2000, he taught poetry at the Woodstock Regional Correctional Facility , a Vermont prison. His students were young offenders with long prison terms. In 2004 he published a book entitled My Life Had Stood a Loaded Gun under the name Theo Padnos . Adolescents at the Apocalypse: A Teacher's Notes . He later wrote that one day one of his students brought a newspaper article about the “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh to class. Students and teachers were fascinated by its history. In addressing the issue, Curtis had come to the conclusion that it would make more sense to help young people in precarious situations before they commit a crime, not after they have already committed a crime.

He then decided to visit young people who had converted to Islam and who had become radicalized. To this end, he began to learn Arabic and study the Koran . For this reason, he also went to Yemen in 2005 . He initially worked there for the Yemen Observer in Sanaa before, after studying the Koran intensively, he was able to travel to Dammaj in the north-west of the country, where one of the most important educational centers of Salafism is located. About his experience in Yemen, he wrote the book Undercover Muslim: A Journey Into Yemen , which was published in 2011. The NDR also broadcast a program on February 24, 2010, in which Curtis reported on his impressions. After his time in Yemen, he also lived for a while in Damascus in Syria. He changed his name to Peter Theo Curtis for safer travel in the Middle East. Since he said he had been unsuccessful as a freelance journalist, he decided in 2012 to go to Syria again to report directly on the civil war .

Kidnapping and imprisonment

Curtis was kidnapped near Antakya in Turkey near the Syrian border in October 2012. He considers himself to be partly responsible for having rashly crossed the border into Syria with smugglers he did not know and who then captured him. He later described the situation in the following words:

"It seemed to me that I had been walking calmly through an olive grove with Syrian friends, that a rent in the earth had opened, that I had fallen into the darkness and woken in a netherworld, the kind found in myths or nightmares."

"It was as if I was walking through an olive grove with Syrian friends, as if a crack had opened in the earth, as if I had fallen into the dark and woke up in no man's land, as we know it from myths or nightmares."

He was detained by the al-Nusra Front in various locations in Syria for 22 months. Meanwhile, his family received ransom demands of between $ 3 million and $ 25 million. Curtis says he broke out twice to seek safety with the Free Syrian Army , which both extradited him to the al-Nusra front. He was trapped for six months with the American photo journalist Matt Schrier . In a jointly planned escape attempt, Curtis had to stay behind in the cell alone, while Schrier managed to escape. Curtis was tortured and threatened with execution several times while in detention.

release

Just a week after the beheading of James Foley , who in the hands of IS was Curtis was released. He was handed over to UN peacekeepers on the Golan Heights . The circumstances that led to his release are unclear. Apparently, the government of Qatar was involved in the mediation, which stated that the release was obtained on a humanitarian basis with no cash payments. It may also have played a role that the IS and the al-Nusra front had fallen out and the al-Nusra front tried to differentiate itself from the IS through a gesture of goodwill. This would also be supported by the fact that shortly after Curtis' release the al-Nusra Front demanded that they be removed from an international list of terrorist organizations. For this purpose, the group took blue helmet soldiers hostage in order to blackmail the United Nations .

Curtis returned to Cambridge , Massachusetts a few days after his release . On October 29, 2014, an essay appeared in the New York Times Magazine in which Curtis reported extensively on his time as a prisoner in Syria.

Others

Curtis is a passionate racing cyclist in his spare time. In addition to English, he is also fluent in French, German, Russian and Arabic.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Fieldstadt, Elisha / Welker, Kristen: Peter Theo Curtis Freed After Two Years in Captivity. in: NBC News of August 24, 2014. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/peter-theo-curtis-freed-after-two-years-captivity-n187906. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
2. ↑ Shwayder, Maya: "If you don't do anything, I'll be dead." , in: Die Welt from August 25, 2014. https://www.welt.de/politik/ausland/article131580863/Wenn-ihr-nichts-macht-bin-ich-tot.html Retrieved on December 19, 2014.
3. ↑ Pow, Helen: "We are so relieved but also deeply saddened" Mother rejoices over journalist son's release in Syria at the same time as mourning the death of James Foley as she insists no money changed hands to secure freedom, in: Daily Mail Online dated August 24, 2014. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2733192/US-journalist-Peter-Theo-Curtis-FREED-Syria-two-years-captivity.html Retrieved December 19 2014.
4. ↑ ibid.
5. ↑ http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-7868-6909-1 Retrieved December 19, 2014.
6. ↑ Padnos, Theo: Undercover Muslim: A Journey Into Yemen. The Bodley Head. London 2011. p. 46 ff.
7. ↑ ibid., Pp. 48–51.
8. ↑ ibid., Pp. 54–86.
9. ↑ ibid., Pp. 21–45 and pp. 216–275.
10. ↑ Buchen, Stefan / Mayr, Sonia: Zapp from February 24, 2010. http://www.ndr.de/fernsehen/sendung/zapp/Undercover-Gefaehrliche-Recherche-im-Jemen,jemen146.html Retrieved on December 19 2014.
11. ↑ Padnos, Theo: My Captivity, in: New York Times Magazine, October 29, 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/28/magazine/theo-padnos-american-journalist-on-being- kidnapped-tortured-and-released-in-syria.html. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
12. ↑ Shwayder: If you don't do anything.
13. ↑ Padnos: Captivity.
14. ↑ ibid.
15. ↑ ibid.
16. ↑ Ibid.
17. ↑ Callimachi, Rukmini: US Writer Held by Qaeda Affiliate in Syria Is Freed After Nearly 2 Years, in: New York Times, August 24, 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/25/world/middleeast /peter-theo-curtis-held-by-qaeda-affiliate-in-syria-is-freed-after-2-years.html Retrieved December 19, 2014.
18. ↑ Padnos: Captivity.
19. ↑ Chivers, CJ: American Tells of Odyssey as Prisoner of Syrian Rebels, in: New York Times, August 22, 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/23/world/middleeast/american-tells- of-odyssey-as-prisoner-of-syrian-rebels.html? pagewanted = all Retrieved December 19, 2014.
20. ↑ cf. Padnos: Captivity.
21. ↑ Shwayder: If you don't do anything.
22. ↑ Ackerman, Spencer: US denies paying ransom as Qatar secures release of journalist in Syria, in: The Guardian of August 24, 2014. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/24/us-denies- ransom-qatar-peter-theo-curtis-syria. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
23. ↑ Syrian rebels make demands for the release of UN soldiers, in: Zeit Online from September 2, 2014. http://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2014-09/syrien-rebellen-blauhelme Accessed on December 19 2014.
24. ↑ Crook, Lawrence / Sanchez, Ray: Freed journalist Curtis back in the US, in: CNN of August 27, 2014. http://edition.cnn.com/2014/08/26/world/meast/american-released- syria / Retrieved December 19, 2014.
25. ↑ Padnos: Captivity.
26. ↑ Crook / Sanchez: Freed journalist.