BBC NEWS | Europe | Kidnappings in Germany

BBC News Online looks back at Germany's history of high-profile kidnappings, some of which ended bloodily:

September 2002 Police confirm the death of Jakob von Metzler, 11, of the Metzler banking dynasty whose abandoned body is found in a lake north of Frankfurt after the payment of a ransom of one million euros (about $1m). A suspect is arrested.
October 1996 Jakub Fiszman, a Frankfurt millionaire businessman, is kidnapped and murdered despite the payment of a ransom of 4 m marks ($2.6 m). A man is later arrested. Mr Fiszman's six-year-old nephew, Peter Fiszman, was kidnapped in 1991 in Cologne along with a schoolmate but both were released two days later after a ransom was paid.
March 1996 Hamburg tobacco heir Jan Philipp Reemtsma is abducted and held for one month before his captors free him in return for 30 m marks ($13 m). A suspect is extradited from Argentina for trial in Germany in 2000.
September 1977 Leftwing terror group the Red Army Faction abducts prominent industrialist Hanns-Martin Schleyer, demanding the release from prison of fellow members including Andreas Baader. The government refuses to concede and Mr Schleyer is murdered after 43 days.
December 1971 Theo Albrecht, co-owner of the Aldi supermarket chain, is released 17 days after being abducted in Dusseldorf for a ransom of about $2.1 m.


	Links to more Europe stories