1. MY CRUMBLING WORLD

2. WHAT COULD HAPPEN ANYWAY?

3. HOPING IN VAIN FOR RESCUE

5. FALLING INTO NOTHINGNESS

6. TORMENT AND HUNGER

7. CAUGHT BETWEEN VISIONS OF MADNESS AND A PERFECT WORLD

9. AFRAID OF LIFE

PENGUIN BOOKS

3,096 DAYS

Natascha Kampusch was born on 17 February 1988 in Vienna and became victim, at the age of ten, to what proved to be one of the longest abductions in recent history. She finally gained her freedom in 2006. On the day she escaped, her abductor, Wolfgang Priklopil, committed suicide by throwing himself under a train. 3,096 Days is her own account of her ordeal.

Natascha lives in Vienna.

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3,096 Tage first published in Germany by Ullstein Buchverlage 2010

First published in English by Penguin 2010

Copyright © Natascha Kampusch, 2010

Translation © Jill Kreuer, 2010

All rights reserved

Grateful acknowledgement is made for permission to reproduce the following copyright material: quotation on p. v is from Trauma and Recovery by Judith Herman, copyright © Judith Herman, 1992, reprinted with permission from Basic Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group; the poem here is from Winnetou, by Karl May, copyright © Karl May, 2006, reprinted by permission of The Continuum International Publishing Group

The moral right of the author has been asserted

Photography © Martin Moravek

ISBN: 978-0-670-92000-6

‘Psychological trauma is an affliction of the powerless. At the moment of trauma, the victim is rendered helpless by overwhelming force. When the force is that of nature, we speak of disasters. When the force is that of other human beings, we speak of atrocities. Traumatic events overwhelm the ordinary systems of care that give people a sense of control, connection and meaning.’

Judith Herman, Trauma and Recovery

Contents

  1. My Crumbling World

My Childhood on the Outskirts of Vienna

  2. What Could Happen Anyway?

The Last Day of My Old Life

  3. Hoping in Vain for Rescue

My First Weeks in the Dungeon

  4. Buried Alive

The Nightmare Begins

  5. Falling into Nothingness

How My Identity Was Stolen

  6. Torment and Hunger

The Daily Struggle to Survive

  7. Caught Between Visions of Madness and a Perfect World

The Two Faces of the Kidnapper

  8. Rock Bottom

When Physical Pain Eases the Psychological Torment

  9. Afraid of Life

My Psychological Prison is Complete

10. For One, Only Death Remains

My Escape to Freedom

Epilogue

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