Norrmalmstorg robbery
Encyclopedia
Bank robbery
Bank robbery is the crime of stealing from a bank during opening hours. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reporting Program, robbery is "the taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of...
and hostage crisis
Hostage crisis
A hostage crisis develops when one or more terrorists or criminals hold people against their will and try to hold off the authorities by force, threatening to kill the hostages if provoked or attacked....
best known as the origin of the term Stockholm syndrome
Stockholm syndrome
In psychology, Stockholm Syndrome is an apparently paradoxical psychological phenomenon wherein hostages express empathy and have positive feelings towards their captors, sometimes to the point of defending them...
. It occurred at the Norrmalmstorg
Norrmalmstorg
Norrmalmstorg is a square in central Stockholm. The square connects shopping streets Hamngatan and Biblioteksgatan and is the starting point for tram travellers with the Djurgården line...
square in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
in 1973. It was the first criminal event in Sweden covered by live television
Live television
Live television refers to a television production broadcast in real-time, as events happen, in the present. From the early days of television until about 1958, live television was used heavily, except for filmed shows such as I Love Lucy and Gunsmoke. Video tape did not exist until 1957...
.
Events
Kreditbanken
Kreditbanken is a former bank that was based in Stockholm, Sweden. In 1974 it was merged with the Post Bank to form PK-Banken. In 1980, PK-Banken purchased Nordbanken, after which it changed its name to Nordbanken, which in turn became part of Nordea....
(now part of Nordea
Nordea
Nordea Bank AB is a Stockholm-based financial services group operating in Northern Europe. The bank is the result of the successive mergers and acquisitions of the Swedish, Finnish, Danish and Norwegian banks of Nordbanken, Merita Bank, Unibank and Kreditkassen that took place between 1997 and 2000...
) at Norrmalmstorg
Norrmalmstorg
Norrmalmstorg is a square in central Stockholm. The square connects shopping streets Hamngatan and Biblioteksgatan and is the starting point for tram travellers with the Djurgården line...
, central Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
and attempted to hold up the bank. Swedish police
Swedish Police Service
The Swedish Police Service is a collection of Government agencies concerned with police matters in Sweden. The Swedish Police Service consists of 28,500 employees of which 39 per cent are women. The staff consists of 20,000 police officers of which 25 per cent are women and 8,500 civilian staff of...
were called in immediately, two of them went inside, and Olsson opened fire, injuring one policeman. The other was ordered to sit in a chair and "sing something". He started singing "Lonesome Cowboy". Olsson then took four people as hostage
Hostage
A hostage is a person or entity which is held by a captor. The original definition meant that this was handed over by one of two belligerent parties to the other or seized as security for the carrying out of an agreement, or as a preventive measure against certain acts of war...
s. He demanded his friend Clark Olofsson
Clark Olofsson
Clark Olofsson , new name Daniel Demuynck, is a Swedish criminal best known for his involvement in the Norrmalmstorg robbery, a hostage situation that was the basis of the term Stockholm syndrome.- Early life :...
to be brought there, along with 3 million Swedish Kronor
Swedish krona
The krona has been the currency of Sweden since 1873. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it, but especially in the past, it sometimes preceded the value...
($730,000 US 1973 value), two guns, bullet-proof vests, helmets and a fast car. Olofsson was a repeat offender who had committed several armed robberies and acts of violence, the first committed at the age of 16.
Olofsson was brought in by permission of the government and established a communication link with the police negotiators. One of the hostages, Kristin Enmark, said she felt safe with Olsson and Olofsson but feared the police might escalate the situation by using violent methods. Olsson and Olofsson barricaded the inner main vault in which they kept the hostages. Negotiators agreed that they could have a car to escape, but would not allow them to take hostages with them if they tried to leave.
Olsson called up the Prime Minister Olof Palme
Olof Palme
Sven Olof Joachim Palme was a Swedish politician. A long-time protegé of Prime Minister Tage Erlander, Palme led the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 to his assassination, and was a two-term Prime Minister of Sweden, heading a Privy Council Government from 1969 to 1976 and a cabinet...
and said he would kill the hostages, backing up his threat by grabbing one in a stranglehold; she was heard screaming as he hung up. The next day Olof Palme received another call. This time it was Kristin Enmark who said she was very displeased with his attitude, asking him to let the robbers and the hostages leave.
Olofsson walked around in the vault singing Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly
Killing Me Softly with His Song
"Killing Me Softly with His Song" is a 1971 song composed by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel. It has been covered by numerous artists, most notably by Roberta Flack whose version topped the U.S...
".
The drama went on. On August 26, the police drilled a hole into the main vault from the apartment above. From this hole, a widely circulated picture of the hostages with Olofsson was taken. Olofsson also fired his weapon into this hole on two occasions, and during the latter attempt he wounded a police officer in the hand and face.
Olsson fired his weapon and threatened to kill the hostages if any gas attack was attempted. On August 28 the gas was used anyway, and after half an hour Olsson and Olofsson surrendered. None of the hostages sustained permanent injuries.
After the robbery
Both Olsson and Olofsson were charged, convicted and sentenced to extended prison terms for the robbery. However, Olofsson claimed he did not help Olsson and was only trying to save the hostages by keeping the situation calm. At the court of appeal his convictions were quashed. He later met hostage Kristin Enmark several times, their families becoming friends. He later committed further crimes.Olsson was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He received many admiring letters from women who found him attractive. He later became engaged to one of them. This was not, as some state, one of the former hostages. After his release, he appears to have carried on with unlawful activities. After having been on the run from Swedish authorities for ten years for alleged financial crimes, he turned himself in to police in 2006 — only to be told that the charges were no longer being actively pursued.
The hostages still repeatedly claim they were more frightened of the police than the robbers during their six days of confinement. They clearly sympathized with their captors, which has led to academic interest in the matter. The term "Stockholm syndrome
Stockholm syndrome
In psychology, Stockholm Syndrome is an apparently paradoxical psychological phenomenon wherein hostages express empathy and have positive feelings towards their captors, sometimes to the point of defending them...
" was coined by criminologist
Criminology
Criminology is the scientific study of the nature, extent, causes, and control of criminal behavior in both the individual and in society...
Nils Bejerot
Nils Bejerot
Nils Bejerot was a Swedish psychiatrist and criminologist best known for his work on drug abuse and for coining the phrase, Stockholm syndrome.-Work:...
. The actions of the police and other government officials, along with the lack of any threatening behaviour by Olofsson, casts doubt on the legitimacy of the "Stockholm syndrome" theory. The hostages, although threatened by Olsson never became violent toward the police or each other. They did not identify with or join the cause of their captors. They were merely upset at the reckless attempts by the police to resolve the situation quickly, and some did testify on behalf of Olofsson because they witnessed no evidence of his guilt or complicity in the crime. It has been speculated that the Kreditbanken held the payroll account of the police and that it was payday.
Since 1996 Jan Erik Olsson has lived in northeastern Thailand with his Thai wife and son. Olsson's autobiography Stockholms-syndromet was published in Sweden in 2009.
Myths of the Norrmalmstorg robbery
The most widely publicized mythMythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
about the robbery, or rather about the Stockholm syndrome, was that one or both robbers became engaged to their captives. This is not true, and may stem from a false friend
False friend
False friends are pairs of words or phrases in two languages or dialects that look or sound similar, but differ in meaning....
in the phrase "att engagera sig i någon". In Swedish this means "taking interest in someone". It does not mean "to become engaged to someone" (which would be "att förlova sig med någon").
Influences
- Apart from creating the term "Stockholm syndrome", the robbery has inspired a feature film by Håkan Lindhé named Norrmalmstorg aired on Swedish television on August 29, 2003.
- Songwriter Derek WebbDerek WebbDerek Walsh Webb is an American singer-songwriter who first entered the music industry as a member of the band Caedmon's Call, and later embarked on a successful solo career....
and Swedish rock band Backyard BabiesBackyard BabiesBackyard Babies are a rock band, from Nässjö, Sweden. The band was formed in 1987 and over the years they have released five studio albums and won a Swedish Grammy. The band is now located in Stockholm, Sweden....
have albums called Stockholm SyndromeStockholm Syndrome (Backyard Babies album)Stockholm Syndrome is an album by Backyard Babies, released in 2003.-Track listing:#Everybody Ready?!#Earn the Crown#A Song for the Outcast#Minus Celsius#Pigs for Swine#One Sound#Say When#Year by Year...
.
- British rock band MuseMuse (band)Muse are an English alternative rock band from Teignmouth, Devon, formed in 1994. The band consists of school friends Matthew Bellamy , Christopher Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard...
and American rock band Blink-182Blink-182Blink-182 is an American rock band consisting of vocalist and bass guitarist Mark Hoppus, vocalist and guitarist Tom DeLonge, and drummer Travis Barker. They have sold over 27 million albums worldwide since forming in Poway, California in 1992...
both have songs entitled "Stockholm SyndromeStockholm Syndrome (song)"Stockholm Syndrome" is a song by the English alternative rock band Muse from their third studio album: Absolution. The song was released as the album's lead single and also appears on the Absolution live DVD. It was released alongside its artwork as a download-only single through the...
", the former on the album Absolution and the latter on its self-titled album. The American band Yo La TengoYo La TengoYo La Tengo, sometimes abbreviated as YLT, is an American alternative rock band formed in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1984. Since 1992, the lineup has consisted of Ira Kaplan , Georgia Hubley , and James McNew .Despite achieving limited mainstream success, Yo La Tengo has been called "the quintessential...
also has a song of the same name on its album I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One.
- A short fictionalized story by Joe MenoJoe MenoJoe Meno is a novelist, writer of short fiction, playwright, and music journalist based in Chicago.-Biography:After attending Columbia College Chicago, Meno spent time working as a flower delivery truck driver and art therapy teacher at a juvenile detention center...
, entitled "Stockholm 1973", chronicles these events. It was published in Issue 24 of Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly ConcernTimothy McSweeney's Quarterly ConcernTimothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern is a literary journal, first published in 1998, edited by Dave Eggers. The first issue featured only works rejected by other magazines, but thereafter the journal began to include pieces written with McSweeney's in mind. McSweeney’s has since published works by...
.
External links
- Video of live television coverage of Norrmalmstorg robbery (Swedish language)
- Police photo of hostages and captor of Norrmalmstorg r obbery]
- Nils Bejerot: The six day war in Stockholm, New Scientist, 1974
- 'Inhuman beast' finds his peace, Bangkok Post - Jan-Erik 'Janne' Olsson now living in the northeast of Thailand
- Translated extract from Olsson's autobiography