Natascha Kampusch
polaris
Posts: 3,527
Is anyone else just absolutely amazed by her?? ... I can't imagine having gone through what she has and to be able to handle it with such self-worth and strength ...
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My life in the dungeon
Sep. 7, 2006. 08:46 AM
Ever since Natascha Kampusch escaped from a living hell, the world has waited to read her story. Held captive for eight unimaginable years before bolting to freedom two weeks ago, the 18-year-old Austrian woman's ordeal is told here, in heartbreaking detail, for the first time. The Star has exclusive Canadian rights to the interview she gave to the Austrian weekly newsmagazine NEWS.
In the interview, she talks about her escape, her life in what she called the dungeon and the suicide of her kidnapper, Wolfgang Priklopil.
NEWS: What feelings overcome you when you think back to the past eight years?
Kampusch: I kept asking myself why that had to happen to me. Why me, among the many millions of people? I always think: I certainly didn't come into the world to be imprisoned and to have my life ruined. I am in despair over this injustice. I have always felt like a poor chicken in a hen house. You must have seen my dungeon on television and in the media so you know how small it was. It was enough to drive you to despair.
NEWS: Were you never able to leave this dungeon?
Kampusch: Yes, I was. I was upstairs every day and did something (chores) with him. Some ordinary small matter. But immediately afterwards, I was sent down again. To sleep. To live. If he had to leave during the day. I always had to go down to the dungeon.
NEWS: That must certainly have been worse than a prison.
Kampusch: Certainly. It was particularly bad when a visitor or his mother would come on the weekend.
NEWS: And for the whole weekend you stayed in this small, narrow room?
Kampusch: Yes, but as time goes by, you simply get used to it. I quite like the idea of being alone now. I had the choice of being alone or being in his company. And these alternatives are not very exhilarating. But I don't want to say anything more about that. You shouldn't talk to me very much about Mr. Priklopil, because, after all, he's no longer able to defend himself. So there wouldn't be any point in our going into this any further. Poor Mrs. Priklopil certainly wouldn't want the public to read things about her son in the newspaper, things that are nobody's business — except perhaps the police. I don't find it very nice to complain about someone who's dead, especially because of his mother.
NEWS: Your wish shall be respected. I want to talk to you about something that very much concerns you — and only you: your escape. Was that spontaneous or was it planned?
Kampusch: As early as the age of 12 or thereabouts, I had already dreamt of, at 15 — or at some point, when I was strong enough to do so — to break out of my prison. But I kept trying to work out the right time. But I could not risk anything, least of all an escape attempt. He was very paranoid and was chronically suspicious. A failed attempt would have meant the risk of never being able to come out of my dungeon. I had to gradually gain his trust.
NEWS: You already thought of escaping when you were 12?
Kampusch: I had already promised myself that, starting at that age. My present self promised me that. I promised my future self that I would never give up the thought of escape.
NEWS: You totally believed in yourself?
Kampusch: Yes, certainly. It was also very frustrating for me when I learned that people were looking for me with a dredger in the gravel pits. They were looking for my body. And I despaired when I got the feeling that I, as someone alive, had already been written off. That was hopelessness: I was convinced that nobody else would ever look for me and I would therefore never be found again. In the beginning, though, I was still confident that perhaps the police or somebody else would find me, that perhaps somebody saw the culprit and connected him with my disappearance. Or that some clue would surface or some accomplice would say something.
NEWS: Accomplices? Are there any?
Kampusch: That's not yet known for sure, but I don't think there were any. From what I know at this point, there were simply no accomplices.
NEWS: How did you cope with this loneliness?
Kampusch: I wasn't lonely. I had hope and believed in a future. Sometime. I should now say something concerning my mother. Many reproach her for not being with me now and me not being with her. But she already visited me. That has nothing to do with being heartless — we also understand each other. We don't need to live together to know that we belong together. During all that time, I always thought of my family. For them, the situation was worse than for me. They thought I was dead. But I knew that they were alive and were dying of worry for me. During that time, I was happy to be able to fall back on memories of my childhood spent in freedom. One would do my mother an injustice if one were to insinuate anything bad about her. I love her and she loves me.
NEWS: If one had to spend years in this hole, what thoughts go through your head?
Kampusch: I also had bad thoughts. Sometimes I dreamt of chopping off his head if I had had an axe. Of course, I immediately scrapped that, because I can't stand the sight of blood and I never want to kill a person. But that shows you how the brain torments itself when it seeks a solution. I kept looking then for logistical solutions. First the escape itself and then what should happen thereafter. Should I simply run on the streets of Strasshof, scream, go to the neighbours? It even occurred to me that I would become world famous after my escape and I thought of what I would have to do so that the media would not immediately run after me so that I could instead enjoy the moments of my freedom alone for a while.
NEWS: But this vision has not been fulfilled?
Kampusch: Yes, that's how it's been. For this case, I've even written down how many interviews I will give and how much time I will have to sacrifice for this. So I have allowed myself to think about some things that used to occupy me.
NEWS: And the actual escape — did you have a plan?
Kampusch: No, that was totally spontaneous. I ran out from behind the garden gate and I became dizzy. For the first time, I felt how weak I really was. Nevertheless, it happened: All in all, everything went well for me on the day of the escape. Psychologically, physically — and no heart problems. I ran, because I saw that he was on the phone. In panic, I ran into the allotment garden and talked to people, in vain, because they had no mobile phones with them. They just shrugged their shoulders and carried on. So I went to different allotment gardens by just jumping over the fences — in panic, like in an action movie. You have to imagine it: puff, puff, puff, and then I saw a window open where someone was pottering about in the kitchen and I spoke to this woman and said she should call the police.
NEWS: And they came immediately?
Kampusch: Yes, but I wish the woman had let me use the telephone instead, then I could have reached the right division at the police. It wasn't great to have the police make me look silly before the photographers, with a blanket over my head. However, the police did ask me whether I wanted a blanket. I feared the worst.
NEWS: All this was planned?
Kampusch: No, not planned. But I have already thought about it. There is a difference in planning something or already having a foreboding, so to speak. That's something different from planning something. There are computer programs for simulation. I foresaw the future but I didn't plan it.
NEWS: Going back to the escape. So you were with the police ...
Kampusch: ... and the woman who called them was still there. The officers kept asking me my name — and I wanted this woman to finally go back into the house because I was afraid that if he noticed my escape, he would kill her.
NEWS: Had he (Priklopil) ever threatened you before?
Kampusch: Yes, but I was not afraid of that. I am freedom-loving, and for me, death means the ultimate freedom. The release from him. He always kept saying that first he would kill the neighbours if I asked them for help, then he would kill me, and then he would kill himself.
NEWS: That indeed happened?
Kampusch: Yes, and he indirectly made murderers not just of me and Mr. H., who brought him to the train station, but also the engine driver. Because I knew very well that he would kill himself. I knew of his death in advance. Right at the time of my escape, I just knew that he would kill himself. I told that to the police, but when they found the car, he had already thrown himself in front of the train.
NEWS: When did you learn of this?
Kampusch: The next day at the police station. The officers wanted to keep that from me.
NEWS: Were you sorry that he killed himself?
Kampusch: Certainly. I had also prepared him for my escape for months. And I promised him that he could live, even in prison, because it's not so bad there. Only now have I learned that a maximum of 10 years in prison comes with such a crime. Previously, I thought that would bring 20 years.
NEWS: The minister of justice wants to change that to 20 years.
Kampusch: That's good. I certainly don't like the 10 years. I prophesied 20 years for him at any rate and consoled him with the thought that, these days, even people in their sixties are still in pretty good shape.
NEWS: So for you, his suicide was ...?
Kampusch: ... simply a waste. No one should kill himself. He could have given me, and particularly the police officers, so much more information. Now they will have to reconstruct very complex facts without him. But let's not talk about Mr. Priklopil anymore.
NEWS: Do you get information about the findings of the police?
Kampusch: Yes, of course — when I ask for them. I get everything. Even the autopsy report.
NEWS: May I ask you something about your loneliness?
Kampusch: Yes. Of course, I've already missed the social life. I needed people, animals. I was lonely, because I had neither. But I didn't have the feeling of loneliness because I had more time to occupy myself with myself. I knew how to use my time.
NEWS: With what?
Kampusch: With reading and work. I helped him build his house.
NEWS: You helped build?
Kampusch: Yes.
NEWS: You perceived the dungeon as a prison, nevertheless?
Kampusch: I was imprisoned. I have never understood being imprisoned without having done anything. Normally, after all, only criminals are imprisoned.
NEWS: How did you cope with it? Did you never quarrel with the fate that did all this to you?
Kampusch: No. Not that way! I may have asked myself what I did, and that was immediately after the kidnapping. Whether I had perhaps done something against God. I don't know. I was really in despair — very furious and despairing. I developed claustrophobia from the tiny room, and it was really terrible. I was terribly worried about my family; what they were thinking of and what anxieties they had to get through. And I also didn't know what would happen to me, whether they would kill me, what they would do to me, because at the start I was assuming several perpetrators. At the start, I was also really afraid of death.
NEWS: Are you still afraid?
Kampusch: Maybe it'll come back.
NEWS: Do you believe in God?
Kampusch: Well, that's very ambivalent: yes, a little.
NEWS: Did you also pray?
Kampusch: Yes, I did. Afterwards I no longer prayed. Moreover, the criminal also prayed. So that's just not possible. I thought to myself, even Fidel Castro is praying.
NEWS: You talked about a dog, which you didn't have all these years.
Kampusch: Not a dog — I missed my cats terribly. And my grandparents. I always felt that I would never see them or my beloved cats again. My paternal grandmother and my maternal grandfather have since died. And many other relatives, my great-aunts.
NEWS: How is your relationship with your parents?
Kampusch: Very good. Yes, I love my parents. Someone started a rumour that there was a quarrel. There isn't any. Furthermore, I have so much to do that I wouldn't have any time at all for my parents. We'll have an eternity afterwards.
NEWS: How are you now? Do you still have headaches?
Kampusch: No, no headaches. But I am not very well right now: My eyes hurt, I cough continuously, and that's just unsuitable particularly during an interview. I hope that, when the (people from) TV come, I won't keel over.
NEWS: Thank you for taking the time for this interview nevertheless.
Kampusch: You asked me previously about my plans. I would like to catch up with my education. High school, perhaps university.
NEWS: What course would you like to study?
Kampusch: No idea. Something one can do easily and quickly.
NEWS: These days, nothing goes easily and quickly any more, believe me. University is also getting more difficult.
Kampusch: Actually, everything interests me, and I would have to live forever in order to study everything. Right now, I'm reading the media law. But complementary subjects also interest me — as someone said: the esoteric subjects.
NEWS: That's something that our Finance Minister says. Are you interested in politics?
Kampusch: Yes, that too — but that would never fulfill me.
NEWS: What specific things will you do in the near future?
Kampusch: I told my mother that we should go on a cruise. I don't know where to — but I would like that. I also told her that I would like to take the train to Berlin -- just because it's like teleportation. You take the train here and all of a sudden you come out in Berlin. I am actually only interested in the trip going there.
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My life in the dungeon
Sep. 7, 2006. 08:46 AM
Ever since Natascha Kampusch escaped from a living hell, the world has waited to read her story. Held captive for eight unimaginable years before bolting to freedom two weeks ago, the 18-year-old Austrian woman's ordeal is told here, in heartbreaking detail, for the first time. The Star has exclusive Canadian rights to the interview she gave to the Austrian weekly newsmagazine NEWS.
In the interview, she talks about her escape, her life in what she called the dungeon and the suicide of her kidnapper, Wolfgang Priklopil.
NEWS: What feelings overcome you when you think back to the past eight years?
Kampusch: I kept asking myself why that had to happen to me. Why me, among the many millions of people? I always think: I certainly didn't come into the world to be imprisoned and to have my life ruined. I am in despair over this injustice. I have always felt like a poor chicken in a hen house. You must have seen my dungeon on television and in the media so you know how small it was. It was enough to drive you to despair.
NEWS: Were you never able to leave this dungeon?
Kampusch: Yes, I was. I was upstairs every day and did something (chores) with him. Some ordinary small matter. But immediately afterwards, I was sent down again. To sleep. To live. If he had to leave during the day. I always had to go down to the dungeon.
NEWS: That must certainly have been worse than a prison.
Kampusch: Certainly. It was particularly bad when a visitor or his mother would come on the weekend.
NEWS: And for the whole weekend you stayed in this small, narrow room?
Kampusch: Yes, but as time goes by, you simply get used to it. I quite like the idea of being alone now. I had the choice of being alone or being in his company. And these alternatives are not very exhilarating. But I don't want to say anything more about that. You shouldn't talk to me very much about Mr. Priklopil, because, after all, he's no longer able to defend himself. So there wouldn't be any point in our going into this any further. Poor Mrs. Priklopil certainly wouldn't want the public to read things about her son in the newspaper, things that are nobody's business — except perhaps the police. I don't find it very nice to complain about someone who's dead, especially because of his mother.
NEWS: Your wish shall be respected. I want to talk to you about something that very much concerns you — and only you: your escape. Was that spontaneous or was it planned?
Kampusch: As early as the age of 12 or thereabouts, I had already dreamt of, at 15 — or at some point, when I was strong enough to do so — to break out of my prison. But I kept trying to work out the right time. But I could not risk anything, least of all an escape attempt. He was very paranoid and was chronically suspicious. A failed attempt would have meant the risk of never being able to come out of my dungeon. I had to gradually gain his trust.
NEWS: You already thought of escaping when you were 12?
Kampusch: I had already promised myself that, starting at that age. My present self promised me that. I promised my future self that I would never give up the thought of escape.
NEWS: You totally believed in yourself?
Kampusch: Yes, certainly. It was also very frustrating for me when I learned that people were looking for me with a dredger in the gravel pits. They were looking for my body. And I despaired when I got the feeling that I, as someone alive, had already been written off. That was hopelessness: I was convinced that nobody else would ever look for me and I would therefore never be found again. In the beginning, though, I was still confident that perhaps the police or somebody else would find me, that perhaps somebody saw the culprit and connected him with my disappearance. Or that some clue would surface or some accomplice would say something.
NEWS: Accomplices? Are there any?
Kampusch: That's not yet known for sure, but I don't think there were any. From what I know at this point, there were simply no accomplices.
NEWS: How did you cope with this loneliness?
Kampusch: I wasn't lonely. I had hope and believed in a future. Sometime. I should now say something concerning my mother. Many reproach her for not being with me now and me not being with her. But she already visited me. That has nothing to do with being heartless — we also understand each other. We don't need to live together to know that we belong together. During all that time, I always thought of my family. For them, the situation was worse than for me. They thought I was dead. But I knew that they were alive and were dying of worry for me. During that time, I was happy to be able to fall back on memories of my childhood spent in freedom. One would do my mother an injustice if one were to insinuate anything bad about her. I love her and she loves me.
NEWS: If one had to spend years in this hole, what thoughts go through your head?
Kampusch: I also had bad thoughts. Sometimes I dreamt of chopping off his head if I had had an axe. Of course, I immediately scrapped that, because I can't stand the sight of blood and I never want to kill a person. But that shows you how the brain torments itself when it seeks a solution. I kept looking then for logistical solutions. First the escape itself and then what should happen thereafter. Should I simply run on the streets of Strasshof, scream, go to the neighbours? It even occurred to me that I would become world famous after my escape and I thought of what I would have to do so that the media would not immediately run after me so that I could instead enjoy the moments of my freedom alone for a while.
NEWS: But this vision has not been fulfilled?
Kampusch: Yes, that's how it's been. For this case, I've even written down how many interviews I will give and how much time I will have to sacrifice for this. So I have allowed myself to think about some things that used to occupy me.
NEWS: And the actual escape — did you have a plan?
Kampusch: No, that was totally spontaneous. I ran out from behind the garden gate and I became dizzy. For the first time, I felt how weak I really was. Nevertheless, it happened: All in all, everything went well for me on the day of the escape. Psychologically, physically — and no heart problems. I ran, because I saw that he was on the phone. In panic, I ran into the allotment garden and talked to people, in vain, because they had no mobile phones with them. They just shrugged their shoulders and carried on. So I went to different allotment gardens by just jumping over the fences — in panic, like in an action movie. You have to imagine it: puff, puff, puff, and then I saw a window open where someone was pottering about in the kitchen and I spoke to this woman and said she should call the police.
NEWS: And they came immediately?
Kampusch: Yes, but I wish the woman had let me use the telephone instead, then I could have reached the right division at the police. It wasn't great to have the police make me look silly before the photographers, with a blanket over my head. However, the police did ask me whether I wanted a blanket. I feared the worst.
NEWS: All this was planned?
Kampusch: No, not planned. But I have already thought about it. There is a difference in planning something or already having a foreboding, so to speak. That's something different from planning something. There are computer programs for simulation. I foresaw the future but I didn't plan it.
NEWS: Going back to the escape. So you were with the police ...
Kampusch: ... and the woman who called them was still there. The officers kept asking me my name — and I wanted this woman to finally go back into the house because I was afraid that if he noticed my escape, he would kill her.
NEWS: Had he (Priklopil) ever threatened you before?
Kampusch: Yes, but I was not afraid of that. I am freedom-loving, and for me, death means the ultimate freedom. The release from him. He always kept saying that first he would kill the neighbours if I asked them for help, then he would kill me, and then he would kill himself.
NEWS: That indeed happened?
Kampusch: Yes, and he indirectly made murderers not just of me and Mr. H., who brought him to the train station, but also the engine driver. Because I knew very well that he would kill himself. I knew of his death in advance. Right at the time of my escape, I just knew that he would kill himself. I told that to the police, but when they found the car, he had already thrown himself in front of the train.
NEWS: When did you learn of this?
Kampusch: The next day at the police station. The officers wanted to keep that from me.
NEWS: Were you sorry that he killed himself?
Kampusch: Certainly. I had also prepared him for my escape for months. And I promised him that he could live, even in prison, because it's not so bad there. Only now have I learned that a maximum of 10 years in prison comes with such a crime. Previously, I thought that would bring 20 years.
NEWS: The minister of justice wants to change that to 20 years.
Kampusch: That's good. I certainly don't like the 10 years. I prophesied 20 years for him at any rate and consoled him with the thought that, these days, even people in their sixties are still in pretty good shape.
NEWS: So for you, his suicide was ...?
Kampusch: ... simply a waste. No one should kill himself. He could have given me, and particularly the police officers, so much more information. Now they will have to reconstruct very complex facts without him. But let's not talk about Mr. Priklopil anymore.
NEWS: Do you get information about the findings of the police?
Kampusch: Yes, of course — when I ask for them. I get everything. Even the autopsy report.
NEWS: May I ask you something about your loneliness?
Kampusch: Yes. Of course, I've already missed the social life. I needed people, animals. I was lonely, because I had neither. But I didn't have the feeling of loneliness because I had more time to occupy myself with myself. I knew how to use my time.
NEWS: With what?
Kampusch: With reading and work. I helped him build his house.
NEWS: You helped build?
Kampusch: Yes.
NEWS: You perceived the dungeon as a prison, nevertheless?
Kampusch: I was imprisoned. I have never understood being imprisoned without having done anything. Normally, after all, only criminals are imprisoned.
NEWS: How did you cope with it? Did you never quarrel with the fate that did all this to you?
Kampusch: No. Not that way! I may have asked myself what I did, and that was immediately after the kidnapping. Whether I had perhaps done something against God. I don't know. I was really in despair — very furious and despairing. I developed claustrophobia from the tiny room, and it was really terrible. I was terribly worried about my family; what they were thinking of and what anxieties they had to get through. And I also didn't know what would happen to me, whether they would kill me, what they would do to me, because at the start I was assuming several perpetrators. At the start, I was also really afraid of death.
NEWS: Are you still afraid?
Kampusch: Maybe it'll come back.
NEWS: Do you believe in God?
Kampusch: Well, that's very ambivalent: yes, a little.
NEWS: Did you also pray?
Kampusch: Yes, I did. Afterwards I no longer prayed. Moreover, the criminal also prayed. So that's just not possible. I thought to myself, even Fidel Castro is praying.
NEWS: You talked about a dog, which you didn't have all these years.
Kampusch: Not a dog — I missed my cats terribly. And my grandparents. I always felt that I would never see them or my beloved cats again. My paternal grandmother and my maternal grandfather have since died. And many other relatives, my great-aunts.
NEWS: How is your relationship with your parents?
Kampusch: Very good. Yes, I love my parents. Someone started a rumour that there was a quarrel. There isn't any. Furthermore, I have so much to do that I wouldn't have any time at all for my parents. We'll have an eternity afterwards.
NEWS: How are you now? Do you still have headaches?
Kampusch: No, no headaches. But I am not very well right now: My eyes hurt, I cough continuously, and that's just unsuitable particularly during an interview. I hope that, when the (people from) TV come, I won't keel over.
NEWS: Thank you for taking the time for this interview nevertheless.
Kampusch: You asked me previously about my plans. I would like to catch up with my education. High school, perhaps university.
NEWS: What course would you like to study?
Kampusch: No idea. Something one can do easily and quickly.
NEWS: These days, nothing goes easily and quickly any more, believe me. University is also getting more difficult.
Kampusch: Actually, everything interests me, and I would have to live forever in order to study everything. Right now, I'm reading the media law. But complementary subjects also interest me — as someone said: the esoteric subjects.
NEWS: That's something that our Finance Minister says. Are you interested in politics?
Kampusch: Yes, that too — but that would never fulfill me.
NEWS: What specific things will you do in the near future?
Kampusch: I told my mother that we should go on a cruise. I don't know where to — but I would like that. I also told her that I would like to take the train to Berlin -- just because it's like teleportation. You take the train here and all of a sudden you come out in Berlin. I am actually only interested in the trip going there.
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Kampusch: Yes. But I would also like to see London. Or New York, but these security requirements drive me crazy. But I am aware that big trips are not yet for now. I would catch terrible diseases on these.
NEWS: Can you imagine meeting former friends at some point?
Kampusch: Yes, I do. A friend from my kindergarten days already contacted me, and I will certainly meet her. Yes, I will meet friends or people in general. I look forward to that. I have received so many letters from people who are sympathetic to my fate.
NEWS: Will you answer all these letters and the other mail?
Kampusch: Yes. I have received so many letters that I am thinking of setting up a room for them — shelves for the many letters.
NEWS: And tell us what is particularly important to you personally?
Kampusch: I am planning two projects. One for women in Mexico who were taken from their workplace, kidnapped, tortured in the most brutal manner, and raped. I want to do what I can to make sure that that never happens again. And I want to help people starving in Africa, because I know from my own experience what it is like to be hungry. And how much it degrades people. We suck on fat-free candies and eat diabetic fare — but the people there are starving. The most important thing, however: I would like to help everyone who has gone through what I have gone through.
NEWS: How do you like your new life here at the AKH (Vienna General Hospital)?
Kampusch: Oh, OK, I guess.
NEWS: Would you be willing to say something about your doctors and caregivers?
Kampusch: Yes, of course. (Psychiatrist) Dr. (Max) Friedrich is rather OK. He is very intelligent and always knows just what I mean. My lawyers (Gabriel Lansky, Gerald Ganzger) and my media consultant (Dietmar Ecker) do their utmost to support me. I have already accepted them all and they have probably accepted me, too. They're all pretty cool. At least most of the time.
NEWS: What do you mean by that?
Kampusch: There was a very minor clash between my lawyer, Dr. Lansky, and Professor Friedrich. One wanted me to leave the (hospital) — and this is further to your first question — while the other wanted me to stay there longer. I had to intervene and just try to make sure that this controversy would die down. ... This squabble doesn't help the therapy at all. Dr. Lansky would rather have me outside. Dr. Friedrich would rather have me inside. For now, I am inside — and am happy about the friendship with Professor Friedrich.
NEWS: Who will be taking care of you in the future?
Kampusch: I have a therapist whose name I don't want to mention. She is terrified by any kind of media. With her, I can — and this is the absolute truth — always lie on the couch. A real cliché: the therapist and the patient on the couch.
NEWS: How do you feel about your new freedom?
Kampusch: Well, apart from the fact that I immediately caught a cold and started sniffling, I am living quite normally. I have quickly gotten back into social life. It's amazing how quickly that went. I am now staying and living with other people — and have no problem with this.
NEWS: Here at the hospital you meet young people who are being treated?
Kampusch: I have been able to cope quickly. This was not difficult if only because I can identify with many things that I have experienced and seen here. There are people at risk of suicide and anorexia patients. And I can get along very well with all of them because I can put myself in their shoes.
NEWS: How can you understand anorexics so well?
Kampusch: Because anorexics must always be forced to eat. And during my captivity, I myself at times also weighed very little.
NEWS: Do you want to talk about this "captivity?"
Kampusch: I am very freedom-loving. I am imbued with the idea of freedom. That says it all.
NEWS: Now you have your freedom. Your future is far more than just freedom. There are visions, plans, wishes. What are your plans?
Kampusch: Yes, what indeed are my plans? Probably all sorts of things. Anybody with my past will at any rate plan the most obvious thing: I want to be vaccinated against all sorts of things — first of all, against the flu. As you can see, the sniffles have really gotten to me, which wouldn't have happened if I had been vaccinated against it. So, that is just one example for my future.
NEWS: And work wise?
Kampusch: I am still completely open. I can imagine anything, from psychology to journalism to law. I have also always wanted to be an actress, because I have always been interested in the arts.
NEWS: Would you perhaps consider writing a book?
Kampusch: That too, maybe. But I am not yet sure whether I would ever write a book about it.
NEWS: Now, seeing how bad your cold is, but without wishing to pry too much, the question is: were you actually never sick in the last eight years?
Kampusch: Yes, of course — but I didn't have to give any interviews at that time (laughs). So that wasn't so bad. After all, for a good part of my life I wasn't among people who could have infected me.
NEWS: Do you think that you were infected here at the hospital?
Kampusch: Quite likely. Or at the very least, this terrible air-conditioning is to blame.
NEWS: And otherwise you were never sick?
Kampusch: I was. At one point I developed cardiovascular problems. That wasn't so great.
NEWS: Tell me what symptoms you specifically had then?
Kampusch: All sorts of things: tachycardia, heart flutter, rhythm disorders, in the sense that it would stop and then pump again. I would get dizzy; I couldn't see anything anymore, for example, everything was blurred. That was also probably due to lack of food all the time.
NEWS: And with all these conditions, you never had a doctor?
Kampusch: How was I supposed to have a doctor in my dungeon? I know that this came about because I was given too little to eat. Many people today suffer from heart disease. This is probably simply because these people had too little to eat. And now we are talking about something that deeply concerns me: I would like to establish a foundation that helps people who get very little to eat.
NEWS: Did I understand you correctly: you were never treated for your heart problems?
Kampusch: I never received treatment for it, he continued to make me angry and molest me, and he continued to make me haul buckets of soil.
NEWS: By "he" you mean ...
Kampusch: ... the criminal.
NEWS: In this regard, is there anything you don't want to talk about?
Kampusch: My heart problems hardly bother me now, and I have the feeling that the reader would not be interested in my or anyone else's heart problems.
NEWS: Okay, I just want to know for myself how you deal with such a burden. Do you want to talk about other illnesses? Is there still a heart problem?
Kampusch: I don't know yet. My doctors will first have to run tests. But today, I also had considerable heart palpitations. That's probably because there are many journalists.
http://www.myspace.com/thespork
http://www.myspace.com/drstevesatan
http://www.last.fm/user/evolutionbaby/
..but well.
yeah, I saw some shortcuts of the interview last night live (Austria is so close where I live), anyway, I also was amazed by her,
all this beauty, the sort of piece within her, the smartness...
she impressed me big times, too.
here nearly all news are full about it, analysing every inch of the story,
so also her appearance in television.
is it a good thing, a bad thing to go so extremely public?
who knows, but she is beautiful and strong, that is for sure and she touched many people out there.
I just wish her all the best.
p.s. hardly ever have heart about such a horror story, but one that became real, indeed.
:(
...the world is come undone, I like to change it everyday but change don't come at once, it's a wave, building before it breaks.
That's true, but still it feels very ... wrong. You come out of such a major traumatic experience and what happens? A fucking pr-agency - for real - is there to represent you and to 'guide' you. To 'serve your well-being'. That's ...sick.
A girl like that shouldn't have celebrity status in the exact meaning of the word. She should be left alone to get used to life again. She shouldn't be doing interviews on television.
She seems like a very strong and intelligent woman. But if you ask me, the real breakdown is still to come.
Yes, she has a long hard road ahead. She'll have all the professional help she can ask for.... What a nightmare..
...the world is come undone, I like to change it everyday but change don't come at once, it's a wave, building before it breaks.
I work in the media myself and my g/f is a psychologist. Trust me, this is exploitation if I've ever seen it. Sure, we can all learn a lot from here. But she's been free for how long? Two weeks? Way to soon - and every psychologist will tell you that. The whole impact of what has happened to her probably hasn't even had time to sink in for herself.
No re-writing or assuming is possible? When you have a pr-agence 'guiding' you everything becomes assumption. And interviews can always be edited, especially print interviews. But that's not even the point here.
And no, she doens't need to be left alone, she needs to be surrounded by people who have her best interests at heart: family, friends, doctors... People who will slowly help her adjust to the real world and real life. but not a pr-agency, for christs sake.
Let her tell her story, sure, but maybe when she's recovered a bit from it? Sure, she was very mature, but on television you could also tell she was very tensed, like when the interviewer asked her about her dreams and future. Give the girl a break already: she just spent 8 years in a hole.
Besides: every psychologist or psychiatrist will tell you: someone who shows so little emotion as she does (the maturity we all praise), is either not fully aware of what has happened, or is on the edge of being a psychopath, just like her abductor. Cause this messes with your mind, in a way that media will never even consider when it comes to getting scoops.
What I primarily am saying is: there is plenty of time for her to tell her story. It doesn't have to be told already. This is eploitation.
good points you made, thanks and I mean it.
I already re- think my statement
I am really not a psychologist and could not tell what is best for her.
To me, she just seemed to have sorted things out already when she was in this hole... she had 8 years time for it (and during teenage years 8 years take an eternaty!)
So she seems to me so strong and at the same time in piece with herself.
aka Life can come now as the past is already left behind.
I dunno, but it is already very hard to imagine the situation she was in,
so it is even harder to know things about such a situation.
But maybe by spending those important years (teenage ones) alone or with just one person you might develop stronger then any of us could imagine.
...and that impression she gave me.
And I for myself do fear the press in some ways. When I see the news I always wish that I never will be put in attention so media people would indeed hunt me.
So I assumed she might think that way too, but also being aware that she needs to tell the story as the whole world wants to know more.
...which choices do you have in such a situation?
I just can say that to me it makes sense that she chose the way of an direct interview as fast as possible.
if this way makes her happy in the future
that is written on another page...
I hope for the best, really, cause she has a life that started very bad and I feel so sorry for her and our world.
...the world is come undone, I like to change it everyday but change don't come at once, it's a wave, building before it breaks.
That is a very good point you are making. Maybe I overreacted somewhat when I judged that pr-agency. Without that, she would definitely be hunted down by the press.
I guess I am just appalled by the fact that it has come this far. That it has actually become 'necessary' for her to be protected from the media by a pr-agency.
Personally, I still think the interview came way to soon. But who knows, maybe it will help her deal with what has happened to her.
yes, now I do agree again:
it is confusing that she gets protected from the media by a pr agency...
...a weird world.
But nevertheless, your point made me think as well, big times.
and I surely overreacted, too, in my first response to you.
but you can't imagine how big it is on the news here (around the German speaking countries).
so big, it is kind of scary...
...so, but today, after the interview the stories around her have changed and people are touched and somehow more respectful towards her.
.... I really hope for the best for her. but you might be right: maybe it was too early considering the psychological aspect.
...the world is come undone, I like to change it everyday but change don't come at once, it's a wave, building before it breaks.
Actually I can. I live in Dutroux-country (aka Belgium).
it is a fascinating and tragic story that many people want to know for better or for worse ... it doesn't make it right but imagine the circus and pressures she would face in the time before an interview ... now, maybe there is a bit of closure for the public and we can leave her alone??
in any case - her maturity and strength is still something to admire in my eyes ...
and p.s.
hey hey, cause I have so seldom an opportunity to say so:
I really love Belgium (besides of Holland and Italy - my fave European country)!
Belgium treated me always so great! - sorry, needed to let out this thanks to your folks
...the world is come undone, I like to change it everyday but change don't come at once, it's a wave, building before it breaks.
very nice said.
...the world is come undone, I like to change it everyday but change don't come at once, it's a wave, building before it breaks.
http://forums.pearljam.com/showthread.php?t=272825
beatings are bad.. but there is noting worse than losing all those years of your live - of time with people that care about you.
It really could not have been worse.