Stockholm Syndrome

Stockholm Syndrome has become a world-renowned phenomenon in which hostages sympathize with or identify with their captors. One summer day in August 1973, four people working at Kreditbanken on Norrmalmstorg—now Nobis Hotel—were taken hostage. The much-discussed bank drama would keep Sweden on the edge of its seat for nearly six days. At 10 a.m. on August 23, the robber Jan Erik Olsson entered the Svenska Kreditbanken branch on Norrmalmstorg. He fired a gun into the ceiling and took three women and one man—all bank employees—hostage. When the police arrived, the robber demanded three million kronor in cash and the release of inmate Clark Olofsson from the Norrköping prison. The government agreed to his demands but refused when the robber demanded safe passage with his hostages. The robber had barricaded himself in the bank’s vault with the bank employees. When negotiations between the robber and the police yielded nothing, the police decided to gas the robber out. When the police drilled a hole in the vault ceiling and released the gas, the robber immediately surrendered. The hostages were rescued, and the drama was over after 130 hours. Today, the drill holes have been filled in but are still visible inside the Nobis Hotel.