The mental/emotional toll was a matter of more concern to him. He lost weight, rarely had a chance to bathe, and found himself becoming weaker. While Andre’s captors did not torture or physically abuse him, captivity took a physical toll nonetheless. When his captors took his photograph, he believed that he was most likely being held for ransom and worried that the NGO would have to bankrupt itself to save him, something he adamantly did not want them to do. It did not take long for him to realize that he could be held for much longer than he anticipated. He was careful throughout his captivity to keep track of the days and the date. Initially Andre believed that he would be freed within days. Hostage takes the reader through the day-to-day life of a hostage as well his mental state and means of coping. His clothes were taken and he was handcuffed to a radiator in a room in an unknown location.

Andre thought the men were after the money in the safe for the NGO, to which Andre had the keys, but he soon realized that they were unaware of that. After a going away party for a colleague, he went back to his room to sleep when, in the middle of the night, a group of men broke into his room and forced him into a car. In July 1997, Christophe Andre had been working three months for an NGO (Doctors Without Borders is never actually named in the story) in a town called Nazran in Chechnya. Tensions came to a head in 1998, and in 1999 war broke out again with Russia drawn into the fray once more. While condemned by the head of government, it continued for a few years, during which time divisions arose between the Chechen National guard and Islamist militants.

Chechnya was economically devastated by the fighting, and a way to make fast cash was kidnapping foreigners. The events in this story take place after that conflict had ended, and an independent government had taken power in Chechnya. In order to place things in context I had to read up a bit on the Chechen/Russian war of 1994-96. Guy Delisle, a French illustrator and writer, interviewed Andre after his ordeal and turned the taped interviews into a gripping work of graphic biography. Hostage is the true story of Christophe Andre, a Frenchman working for Doctors Without Borders in Chechnya who was kidnapped and held for three months. CBR15Passport books from different countries

Hostage by Guy Delisle