scratch and bite.
The children were allowed, after a time, to take her books home with them to keep as totems of the pal they lost. For a long while her seat was left empty in school, a reminder that they never stopped thinking of her. But as the years passed and her pals grew up, it was occupied by other pupils as the memory of her, inevitably, faded.
âWe pray each evening for Natascha,â said her form teacher Susanne Broneder, who added that a planned excursion for the pupils to see Amy and the Wild Geese had to be cancelled because her chums were too upset at her vanishing.
The headmaster back then, Guenter Willner, said the only way to carry on was to believe in a happy ending.He thought that if his pupils believed Natascha had gone for ever, many of them would have been unable to cope.
Numerous children came forward to say they had seen her on the morning she went missing. Bettina Hoffmann, 12, said she saw her ânot more than 100 metres from the school gates. She was heading in the direction of the school.â But Bettina had not seen what happened next.
Twenty-one children, her school classmates, went off to a local church for a special prayer service. Their prayers went unanswered for over eight long years.
Well-wishers left flowers at the door of Nataschaâs flat, while others who had lost children, through illness, accident or murder, wrote letters of condolence to Ludwig and Brigitta. None of them could know she was alive, well, and beginning her slow metamorphosis from victim to victor in a cellar three metres below ground just a few short miles from the old bedroom which her mother visited every day to draw strength from her spirit.
In 2002 Frau Sirny admitted in an interview with the Austrian magazine Woman that she knew, for certain people, she was a suspect. The interview went thus:
The Sonderkommision (SOKO) has recently reopened the Natascha case. That Frau Sirny, Nataschaâs mother, is one of the prime suspects now, does not shock her. That she was informed about these new investigations through Teletext, however, did surprise Frau Sirny, as she tells us in the WOMAN interview:
Woman : How were you informed about the recent renewed investigation by the police into the disappearance of your daughter?
Frau Sirny : I was sitting in my car, when my cell phone rang. My sister-in-law informed me that she had just read the news on Teletext.
Woman : Have the investigators established contact with you yet?
Frau Sirny : No, and that is precisely what makes me so angry. They did not think it was worth the effort to inform me about this. I called at the Bundeskriminalamt several timesâ¦
Woman : What did they tell you?
Frau Sirny : Nothing. Because none of the gentlemen was able to talk to me. I asked them to call me back, but am still waiting!
Woman : What do you feel about this?
Frau Sirny : Itâs not acceptable, that they just leave me standing in the rain, that they have me run after them.
Woman : There are plans to search for your daughter at a lake near Vienna. What do you think about that?
Frau Sirny : If they want to dig, let them dig. If they think they are going to find something thereâ¦
Woman : But shouldnât you be relieved that everything is checked again? Relieved to possibly find out what really happened to Natascha?
Frau Sirny : Yes, actually I should. Maybe they overlooked something back then.
Woman : Before they find the offender, everyone who was close to the victim is under suspicion from theinvestigators. Therefore also you, as Nataschaâs mother. How do you handle this?
Frau Sirny : What am I supposed to do, if they suspect me again? I have to accept that. I will definitely cooperate.
Woman : The owner of the lake is a friend of yours. What does he say about these planned diggings?
Frau Sirny : He said they should just go ahead and digâ¦
Woman : Have you ever had any ideas about what might have happened?
Frau Sirny : No.
The children were allowed, after a time, to take her books home with them to keep as totems of the pal they lost. For a long while her seat was left empty in school, a reminder that they never stopped thinking of her. But as the years passed and her pals grew up, it was occupied by other pupils as the memory of her, inevitably, faded.
âWe pray each evening for Natascha,â said her form teacher Susanne Broneder, who added that a planned excursion for the pupils to see Amy and the Wild Geese had to be cancelled because her chums were too upset at her vanishing.
The headmaster back then, Guenter Willner, said the only way to carry on was to believe in a happy ending.He thought that if his pupils believed Natascha had gone for ever, many of them would have been unable to cope.
Numerous children came forward to say they had seen her on the morning she went missing. Bettina Hoffmann, 12, said she saw her ânot more than 100 metres from the school gates. She was heading in the direction of the school.â But Bettina had not seen what happened next.
Twenty-one children, her school classmates, went off to a local church for a special prayer service. Their prayers went unanswered for over eight long years.
Well-wishers left flowers at the door of Nataschaâs flat, while others who had lost children, through illness, accident or murder, wrote letters of condolence to Ludwig and Brigitta. None of them could know she was alive, well, and beginning her slow metamorphosis from victim to victor in a cellar three metres below ground just a few short miles from the old bedroom which her mother visited every day to draw strength from her spirit.
In 2002 Frau Sirny admitted in an interview with the Austrian magazine Woman that she knew, for certain people, she was a suspect. The interview went thus:
The Sonderkommision (SOKO) has recently reopened the Natascha case. That Frau Sirny, Nataschaâs mother, is one of the prime suspects now, does not shock her. That she was informed about these new investigations through Teletext, however, did surprise Frau Sirny, as she tells us in the WOMAN interview:
Woman : How were you informed about the recent renewed investigation by the police into the disappearance of your daughter?
Frau Sirny : I was sitting in my car, when my cell phone rang. My sister-in-law informed me that she had just read the news on Teletext.
Woman : Have the investigators established contact with you yet?
Frau Sirny : No, and that is precisely what makes me so angry. They did not think it was worth the effort to inform me about this. I called at the Bundeskriminalamt several timesâ¦
Woman : What did they tell you?
Frau Sirny : Nothing. Because none of the gentlemen was able to talk to me. I asked them to call me back, but am still waiting!
Woman : What do you feel about this?
Frau Sirny : Itâs not acceptable, that they just leave me standing in the rain, that they have me run after them.
Woman : There are plans to search for your daughter at a lake near Vienna. What do you think about that?
Frau Sirny : If they want to dig, let them dig. If they think they are going to find something thereâ¦
Woman : But shouldnât you be relieved that everything is checked again? Relieved to possibly find out what really happened to Natascha?
Frau Sirny : Yes, actually I should. Maybe they overlooked something back then.
Woman : Before they find the offender, everyone who was close to the victim is under suspicion from theinvestigators. Therefore also you, as Nataschaâs mother. How do you handle this?
Frau Sirny : What am I supposed to do, if they suspect me again? I have to accept that. I will definitely cooperate.
Woman : The owner of the lake is a friend of yours. What does he say about these planned diggings?
Frau Sirny : He said they should just go ahead and digâ¦
Woman : Have you ever had any ideas about what might have happened?
Frau Sirny : No.
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