Ransom

Under ransom is meant an amount of money that is required in return for the release of hostages. The term can be used, inter alia, in connection with the return of illegally confiscated goods or the release of encrypted by ransomware data.

In contrast to the protection money is thus the victim threatened no harm to be averted by making a payment, but the victim was already damaged and it returns to the status before the occurrence of damage is promised; that is, the hostages are released, returned goods or restored.

Ransoms in the history

Even in ancient times it was customary for ransom for prisoners. Thus came the Roman general Julius Caesar in the hands of pirates. After his release by paying twenty talents of silver, he led a fleet against the pirates and took them prisoner himself.

The historically well- highest ransom demanded by the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro in 1533 for the release of the Inca chief Atahualpa, whom he had captured in the Battle of Cajamarca: around 25 tons of gold and silver.

Also known is the captivity of the English King Richard the Lionheart, who after paying a huge ransom released 1194 of 6000 buckets silver.

Until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, West Germany bought 35,000 political prisoners in East Germany. DM 3.5 billion to be flown there. For example, paid the federal government in 1978 for the release of a married couple with child $ 100,000 that had been sentenced to several years in prison for attempted " flight from the republic ".

Ransoms in the presence

Today ransoms are demanded mainly related abductions, they have means of ransomware but now electronic media such as the Internet reaches. In some countries ' pursuit of their ransoms to organized crime belongs.

The country with the currently most common occurrence of kidnapping cases for the purpose of extorting ransom is the South American Columbia.

Spectacular ransom demands in Germany related to:

• Joachim Goehner, the first victim of a kidnapping case in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1958 in Stuttgart- Degerloch ( $ 15,000 )
• Theo Albrecht, one of the founders of Aldi ( DM 7 million, 1971)
• Richard Oetker, the son of industrialist Rudolf- August Oetker ( 21 million DM, 1976)
• Nina von Gallwitz, banker's daughter from Cologne ( 1.5 million DM, 1982)
• Lars and Meike Schlecker, son and daughter of Anton Schlecker from Ehingen (Donau) ( 9.6 million DM, 1987)
• Jan Philipp Reemtsma, writer and patron of the arts ( 30 million DM, 1996)
• Jakob von Metzler, son of a banker from Frankfurt am Main (1 million Euro, 2002)

Ransom in German tax law

Ransom payments can be made ​​as an extraordinary burden according to § 33 of the Income Tax Act for tax purposes. You have to exceed the reasonable limit: This depends on the amount of the total income, number of children and family status.

Ransom kidnapping or insurance

Since 1998, some insurance companies offer special ransom insurance. They report the case of a hostage ransom, but also pay intermediaries, interpreters, as well as psychiatrists and physicians to follow-up. Some insurance companies also contribute to the cost of safety training to their customers.

Quotes

• For even the Son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. ( Mk 10:45; quoted from the King James Bible ( edition 1871). )
• For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all. ( 1 Timothy 2:5-6; quoted in the butcher 's Bible ( 2000 edition ). )