Vienna
An 18-year-old Austrian who escaped from the man who had kept her locked up since she was 10 may be suffering from Stockholm syndrome. Natascha Kampusch was a pudgy schoolgirl in 1998, when she was abducted by loner Wolfgang Priklopil, then 36. For the first year, he made her call him “Master.” Later on he began to let her out of the basement to do chores. And eventually she came to call him “Wolfi.” Natascha escaped two weeks ago after finding a door unlocked. Priklopil killed himself by diving in front of a train just hours later. Since then, Natascha has seen her parents only once and declined to return to them. She’s told reporters that her relationship with Priklopil was too complex to be explained, and said living in his captivity was not that awful. Psychologists describe her as “deeply traumatized.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
5 artfully drawn cartoons about Donald Trump's Epstein doodleCartoons Artists take on a mountainous legacy, creepy art, and more
-
Violent videos of Charlie Kirk’s death are renewing debate over online censorshipTalking Points Social media ‘promises unfiltered access, but without guarantees of truth and without protection from harm’
-
What led to Poland invoking NATO’s Article 4 and where could it lead?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION After a Russian drone blitz, Warsaw’s rare move to invoke the important NATO statute has potentially moved Europe closer to continent-wide warfare
