Was a German politician best known as the negotiator in the 1977
hijacking of a Lufthansa airliner to Somalia by leftist terrorists. He
mediated the freedom of eight West Germans seized by rebels in
Nicaragua in 1986. In addition to that incident, in 1987, he sought the
release of two West German businessmen kidnapped in Lebanon and also
mediated the 1985 release of the daughter of José Napoleón Duarte, then
president of El Salvador, who was held by rebels for 44 days.