A neat single-family house in Flumenthal SO. In front of it is a black Dodge Ram. An old patrol vehicle sign hangs over a garage door. Martin Herrmann (65) lives here. “Just walk in,” he says in a friendly manner and takes a look into his good room.
Herrmann is the most famous prisoner transporter in Switzerland. “They always called me the Transporter or Tinu to the Solothurn canton police,” he says. “Named” because the man with the bald head and mustache is now retiring. He would have liked to continue, but part-time is not possible in the job.
A job advertisement brings him to the canton police
It all started 21 years ago. The trained auto parts salesman saw an advertisement for the job as a prisoner van in 2000. “I thought it was still a rough deal,” says Herrmann. He applied and started at Kapo Solothurn in November 2000. His main tools: a VW transporter, handcuffs and ankle cuffs, baton and pepper spray. “I was never properly armed. That also does not work. It would be too dangerous if someone reached for it.
The 15,000 or so criminals he had transported over the years were never dangerous to him. After a judgment, one of them was on his throat, said the ex-hobby boxer to Blick. But he was quickly “grounded”. And once a prisoner ran away at a dentist’s appointment. But even he had to give up the escape after a few hundred meters. It made no difference to him whether he had to transport a triple murderer or a thief.
First the office work, then the transport
Before each transport, there was office work. “Except when I was deported,” says Herrmann. Conversations with the prisoners rarely took place. He was also never afraid, felting them each time before a transport and only told them that everything would go smoothly. He “never” felt sorry for a judgment – Herrmann’s tears didn’t flow either.
An experience is particularly fondly remembered for him. “I had to get rid of a Russian once,” he remembers. So he gave him $ 60 and his address on the plane. In the hope that the deported will send him a Russian hat. “I didn’t even think about it anymore when a package actually came a few months later – with three Russian hats in it!” It touched him that the man did not keep the money for himself.
Switch off with alpacas
Herrmann has been able to switch off well in all these years, as he says. The hobby that he has had for over ten years with his wife Barbara (58) helped him above all: Trekking with animals. The couple owns 17 alpacas, three llamas and five donkeys and regularly leads tours with interested people. The transporter’s verdict: “It’s a really good place to switch off.” He also has three turtles at home that he takes care of.
Herrmann says that despite his special job, he was always able to sleep well. Except once when he was 56 years old. He had an enlightenment there at night – inspired by Taser missions in the USA, which he had previously seen several times. “In the morning I said to my wife: I have to be tasered. Just because.” He then communicated this request to the chief of the special unit. He just replied: “I always said you weren’t an ounce normal.” And asked: “Don’t you want to see a psychologist?”
Get tased voluntarily
But Herrmann stayed with it, got the permit from Kapo Solothurn – and was allowed to be tased under medical supervision and with helpers. “But I didn’t have myself examined beforehand,” he adds. Reason: “A perpetrator who is tased cannot be examined beforehand.”
Said and done. “I was shot in the back with 50,000 volts voluntarily and with my consent. 19 times per second for five seconds. It was abnormal! ”Said Herrmann. “I thought: if it doesn’t stop, I’ll die.” And if he hadn’t been arrested, “I would probably have overturned”. He then went down, but everything turned out well. He hands the evidence video to Blick – and looks forward to the publication. “In the end, my values were almost better than before,” grins Herrmann. And: he went to work normally afterwards.
The family is looking forward to more free time
This is ending now. Herrmann had to hand over his seven things to Kapo Solothurn and take home the many newspaper articles on which he can be seen with his bad boys and which his buddies had immortalized on a poster a few years ago. “I only kept my handcuffs,” he says. What will he miss? “Getting up in the morning and going to work.”
His wife Barbara, who works part-time in an office in the morning and now has her “Tinu” to herself in the afternoon, is very happy. But Martin Herrmann now also has more time for his two sons Kevin (28) and Christoph (31). With a good feeling, because: “I had my dream job – and would choose it again.”