Sonja N.* was abducted by armed men almost seven years ago in Somalia. At the time, the German nurse was working for the International Red Cross. A video recently emerged showing her and her appeal to the German government and her family to do everything they can to get her released. She said her health was deteriorating rapidly.

Hundreds of German nationals are estimated to have been kidnapped abroad over the past decades. It is hard to establish exactly how many are currently still being held, there are hardly any figures. The most recent figures are from 2019 when the German government announced that 143 Germans were abducted in 37 countries between 2010 and 2019. Most cases were in Nigeria, followed by Afghanistan, Mexico, Syria and Senegal.

In response to a kidnapping, a crisis team is established in the Foreign Ministry to coordinate the various agencies such as embassies, federal intelligence services and intermediaries. Jürgen Chrobog headed such a team for two years, from 2003 to 2005. "The main thing is to first of all pull out all the stops, build trust with intermediaries to find out what has happened and what the demands are," the 85-year-old told DW.

During his active time, he dealt with the kidnapping of several German tourists who had been........

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