On This Day in History: August 23

Stockholm Syndrome

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He tried to get away with some of that Swede cash but there was Norway he could Finnish the job. Because of Covid, many suffered stuck-home syndrome, but after a botched bank robbery in Sweden and subsequent hostage crisis, Stockholm Syndrome became a thing.

--On This Day in History, Shit Went Down: August 23, 1973--

Enough dad jokes. Jan-Erik Olsson is a repeat offender, having committed numerous armed robberies. He was on parole when he entered the Kreditbanken in Normalmstorg, Stockholm on August 23, 1973 intending to rob it.

They must have been at the meatball hut around the corner, because the cops got there fast, and Olsson shot one of them in the hand. He made the other cop sit in a chair and said, “Sing something.” The cop sang what was likely a terrified rendition of Elvis’s “Lonesome Cowboy.” Olsson took four bank employees (three women and one man) as hostages and the siege began.

Jan-Erik demanded his friend and fellow criminal Clark Olofsson be allowed to join him. Being that criminals are often stupid, Clark thought that was a good idea. So now there were two bad guys holding the hostages, although the police used the excuse that Clark was their go-between. 

The siege lasted six days. During that time Olsson talked to the Swedish Prime Minister on the phone and said he was going to kill all the hostages if he didn’t get money and a fast car. He had one of the hostages in a stranglehold while on the call and she was heard to scream as he hung up. One of the hostages, Kristin Enmark, called the PM the next day and gave him shit saying he should just let the robbers go.

Afterward, Olsson wondered why none of the hostages attacked him, and said, “There was nothing to do but get to know each other.” The siege ended with tear gas; none of the hostages were seriously hurt. Afterward, no hostage would testify against their captors. Rather, they all helped raise money for the perpetrators’ defense fund. Olsson got 10-years’ incarceration but Olofsson’s conviction was quashed on appeal. Olofsson later became friends with hostage Kristin Enmark, although his crime-committing days were not over. Neither were Olsson’s. After his release he also did more crime.

More recently, the idea of Stockholm Syndrome has been criticized as being a dubious diagnosis with little scientific support. It’s also been criticized as “riddled with misogyny and founded on a lie.”

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