UK State papers - The Niedermayer case

[LadyEloise1]

The British government released papers relating to the kidnapping of Thomas Niedermayer in Northern Ireland in 1973 recently.
Such a terrible tragic case.
Thomas Niedermayer was managing director of Grundig, a German electronics firm, in Belfast and was the German consul for Northern Ireland.
He lived in Belfast with his wife and two daughters.
He was kidnapped in late December 1973 by a faction of the IRA. A ransom was demanded.
Despite German government efforts and efforts by his wife, Ingeborg and Grundig's willingness to pay a ransom, Mr Niedermayer was not released.
In 1980, sadly his body was found not far from his home.
Two men were later convicted of his murder and got sentences of 25 years and 5 years.
In 1990 Ingeborg, Thomas's wife committed suicide by drowning in Wicklow, Ireland ten years to the day of her husband's funeral.
Their two daughters also committed suicide in 1991 and 1994. So too did a son in law in 1999, leaving behind two daughters, the granddaughters of Thomas and Ingeborg.
Such a terrible,terrible tragic story.
I do so hope the grandchildren have found peace.

There is a film documentary being released no about the Thomas Niedermayer kidnapping.
His 2 granddaughters are involved in it.
Such a tragic story

I find it quite odd that you posted about this over a year ago and no one responded. It sounds like an interesting case, that I had never heard of until just now. Thanks for updating.

I found a trailer for the film here if anyone else is interested.

www.theguardian.com/film/2023/aug/10/face-down-review-ira-abduction-documentary-thomas-niedermayer

I was

Some minor corrections to the OP...

No-one was convicted of murder. John Bradley was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 20 years. Eugene McManus was sentenced to 5 years for withholding information and IRA membership.

The kidnapping was ordered by Brian Keenan, who had worked at Grundig where he had been a trade union rep, clashing with Niedermayer on several occasions. It is believed that personal animosity from Keenan may be why Niedermayer was selected.

As I understand it, the IRA wasn't after money. They wanted the Price sisters (IRA members who had been convicted of involvement in bombings in London) moved to a Northern Ireland jail. The British government had tried to negotiate briefly, but the IRA abruptly stopped negotiating, presumably due to Niedermayer's death.

Oops - dh drove over a speed bump and I posted too early.

I too was disappointed that nobody responded.
It was a such a tragic case with ramifications going down through the 3 generations.
The grandchildren losing their mother to suicide too.

I hope it gets more publicity now.

This murder is one of many that shows how inhumane, unjust, undemocratic and morally bankrupt Provisional Sinn Féin and Provisional IRA were in terrorising people in Northern Ireland, England, West Germany and Gibraltar.

Far from uniting Ireland, they drove it further apart.

My thoughts are with the souls and remaining members of the Niedermayer family. May they find peace and justice in the next life.