The end of a long hostage detention:In July 2000, terrorists released Renate Wallert from Göttingen, and on August 27th her husband Werner. Son Marc is initially held hostage - 20 years later he remembers.
The Wallert family from Goettingen was taken hostage on April 23, 2000. The Islamist terrorist organization Abu Sayyaf kidnapped a group of tourists on the island of Sipadan in Malaysia and took them to the southern Philippine island of Jolo. Among the hostages are Renate and Werner Wallert and their son Marc.
Son will remain hostage until September
After his wife Renate, Werner Wallert was also released from captivity at the end of August 2000. (archive image)Gradually, the family is separated:In July 2000, Renate is released, and on August 27, father Werner is released as well. Captivity ends for him and four other hostages after Libya pays a ransom of five million dollars. Son Marc Wallert is held hostage until September 9th. NDR Lower Saxony met Marc Wallert in April 2020 on the anniversary of the kidnapping to talk about his time in captivity and his life since then.
"I wouldn't want to do without it again in my life"
Marc Wallert is sitting on a bench in the forest. He opens the tube of mosquito repellent - one of his few "kidnapping souvenirs" - and then takes a long breath. Back then it was the typical scent that he associated with the jungle. And today? "It doesn't smell anymore, not like it did 20 years ago," he says. The smell has gone, but the memories of the dramatic time in hostage have not yet. The 46-year-old appears calm and can now talk calmly about the kidnapping because what happened didn't leave him with any traumatic damage, he says. But the kidnapping changed him and made him stronger. "I really don't wish that on anyone, but I wouldn't want to do without it in my life anymore," says Wallert NDR Lower Saxony.
Terrorists abduct 21 hostages
Easter Sunday in the year 2000. Diving vacationer Marc Wallert enjoys the picturesque sunset on the hotel terrace on the Malaysian island of Sipadan with a cocktail in hand. Suddenly he hears screams and a short time later looks into the muzzle of a bazooka. At first he thinks he's being robbed. "It took a while to realize what really happened and what it was all about," Wallert said. A 20-hour boat odyssey across the open sea follows, then a 10-hour hike through the jungle. The terrorists abduct 21 hostages on Philippine soil.
The kidnapped are worn down by the uncertainty
Completely exhausted, Marc Wallert and the other hostages arrive at the first camp. What they don't know yet:They will change camp six times - mostly without warning. Again and again, the rebels and their hostages flee from the Philippine military. Days, weeks, months go by. The kidnappers keep saying that the hostages will soon be free. The uncertainty wears the abductees down. "I would have preferred to know that I was guaranteed to be released after two years than to hope that there would be a release in two days", reports Marc Wallert in retrospect.
Regular visits from camera crews
The hostages live in abysmal sanitary conditions, with poisonous animals as neighbors and without a shred of privacy - always surrounded by armed rebels. The bizarre thing about it is that the kidnapped people are visited by camera teams almost every day. While the rebels willingly pose for the journalists with their guns, the hostages send out emotional calls for help. The pictures go around the world. Marc Wallert believes that the public attention was certainly useful for the negotiations, but on the other hand the constant presence of the cameras made him feel like he was in a zoo, he says today. The longer the kidnapping lasts, the more privileges the hostages get. Journalists and messengers keep bringing packages into the jungle. Sometimes there are pens and pieces of paper in there, sometimes medication and small snacks. Almost all abductees keep a diary, including Marc Wallert. It helped him to understand and accept the situation, he says. Some days he writes 40 pages in his pad.
After almost three months, the first hostage is released
Marc Wallert pulls out two original rice sacks, unrolls them and shows how they can be converted into backpacks:"They were worth their weight in gold, especially on long hikes." This would have freed the hostages' hands. It was only because of the sturdy rice sacks that his diaries could have gotten out of the jungle unscathed. His sandals from back then, an unopened tin of sardines and a clay shaving mug complete his jungle collection. "Someone from Germany sent me the clay cup so that I could mix shaving cream in the jungle. The practical benefit was zero, the psychological benefit was enormous," says Wallert. It is precisely such gestures that give the Göttinger and the other prisoners strength again and again. It is almost three months before the first hostage is released. While Marc Wallert's parents are already free, the son must continue to worry. After being held hostage for 140 days, he is finally released on September 9th as one of the last hostages.
The Chronicle of the Wallert Kidnapping
Easter Sunday, April 23, 2000:
21 vacationers from seven nations, including the Wallert family of three from Göttingen, are kidnapped from a diving resort on the Malaysian island of Sipadan by the radical Islamic terrorist organization Abu Sayyaf. Heavily armed rebels carry the hostages onto two boats. The journey across the open sea takes 20 hours. The destination:the Philippine jungle on the island of Jolo. After a ten-hour walk, the abductees reach the first camp. There are no toilets or beds. For the first few weeks there is usually only rice to eat.
29. April:
The first camera team visits the camp and reports on the kidnapping. New journalists keep coming to the camp. The kidnappers are publicly calling for an independent Islamic state in the Philippines. The hostage-taking dominated international headlines for months. The camp came under fire from the Philippine military twice. The hostages have to change camp six times in the course of the kidnapping.
17. July:
Renate Wallert from Göttingen is the first German hostage to be released. During the kidnapping, she had to be given medical care again and again, she had collapsed several times. Gradually more hostages are released.
27. August:
Werner Wallert, Renate Wallert's husband, is released and allowed to return to Göttingen. The other hostages are obviously doing better. Packages with aid supplies, such as notepads, shoes and clothing, keep arriving. The Bundeswehr is now also sending food rations such as hamburgers into the jungle. 9. September:
After 140 days in detention, the last hostages are released, including Marc Wallert from Göttingen. Three days later he was welcomed by his parents at Hanover Airport. There is no official information about the amount of the ransom. It is believed that a total of $25 million ransom was paid. The German politicians at the time did not comment on the details, but emphasized that the release was only possible with the help of the former Libyan ruler Muammar al-Gaddaffi. All hostages survived.
Five years later:Burnout
Marc Wallert finally returns confidently to his "second life", as he says today. But five years later he falls into a professional depression - diagnosis:burnout. He survived this crisis too. The 47-year-old now works as a coach and consultant. He trains people and companies in crises and sees many parallels to his kidnapping, especially now in Corona times. "It's an unsafe situation, it's potentially life-threatening and, above all, people still don't know how long the whole thing will last," he says. His recently published book "Strong from Crises" therefore does not read like a chronology of the kidnapping, but rather like a guide for everyone to overcome personal and professional crises. Marc Wallert no longer wants to be seen as a victim, but as a survivor. And so he quickly stows his personal jungle collection back in his bag. And only if he can encourage people with it will he get them out again.