Thomas Niedermayer
Encyclopedia
Thomas Niedermayer was a German industrialist, kidnapped and killed by the Provisional IRA in 1973. He was managing director of the Grundig
Grundig
Grundig AG is a German manufacturer of consumer electronics for home entertainment which transferred to Turkish control in 2004-2007. Established in 1945 in Nuremberg by Max Grundig, the company changed hands several times before becoming part of the Turkish Koç Holding group...

 factory in Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

 and the West German honorary consul for Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

.

Niedermayer was abducted on 27 December 1973 at around 11pm, by two men who lured him outside his house on the pretext that they had crashed into his car. The incident was witnessed by his 15 year old daughter Renate who had answered the door to the kidnappers and by a neighbour who worked at the Grundig factory. Niedermayer was never seen alive again and it would be over six years before a breakthrough in the investigation of his disappearance led to the recovery of his body. The investigation revealed that he had been pistol-whipped and then buried face down in a shallow grave under a rubbish dump at Colin Glen.

Eugene McManus, who in 1973 had been Adjutant of the Belfast Brigade of the Provisionals, and 42-year-old John Bradley, an IRA Training Officer, were charged in connection with the crime. Bradley was originally charged with murder but at his trial in 1981 he pleaded guilty to manslaughter and several ancillary offences. McManus pleaded guilty to withholding information and IRA membership. Lord Justice Jones sentenced them to 20 years' and 5 years' imprisonment respectively.

Niedermayer’s funeral took place at Dunmurry
Dunmurry
Dunmurry is an urban townland, in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Located between Belfast and Lisburn, it was once a rural village, but is now within the Greater Belfast conurbation...

 in March 1980, where he was interred in the churchyard. His wife Ingeborg returned to Ireland ten years after her husbands funeral and booked into a hotel at Bray, County Wicklow. She later went for a walk along an isolated stretch of beach and committed suicide by walking into the sea.

See also

  • John Hely-Hutchinson, 7th Earl of Donoughmore
    John Hely-Hutchinson, 7th Earl of Donoughmore
    John Michael Henry Hely-Hutchinson, 7th Earl of Donoughmore , known until 1848 by his courtesy title Viscount Suirdale, was a British politician who later sat as a hereditary peer in the House of Lords....

    , kidnapped along with his wife in 1974, both released unharmed.
  • Dr Tiede Herrema
    Tiede Herrema
    Dr Tiede Herrema is a Dutch businessman.In the 1970s, Herrema ran a wire factory, Ferenka, in the city of Limerick, Ireland. At the time, he was the city's biggest employer, with approximately 1,400 workers. On 3 October 1975 he was abducted near his home by two members of the Provisional Irish...

    , a Dutch businessman kidnapped in 1975, rescued after a two week long hostage siege.

External links

  • http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/books/he-was-abducted-by-an-ira-gang-pistolwhipped-and-buried-face-down-so-that-he-could-only-dig-himself-in-deeper-14779277.html
  • http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1265553/Former-Belfast-CID-chief-tells-solved-mystery-kidnapped-tycoon-Thomas-Neidermayer.html

Further reading

  • Duplicity and Deception by Alan Simpson (ISBN 0863224164)
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