A bank robbery gone wrong in Stockholm, Sweden, turns into a hostage crisis; over the next five days the hostages begin to sympathise with their captors, leading to the term "Stockholm syndrome".
The Norrmalmstorg robbery was a bank robbery and hostage crisis best known as the origin of the term Stockholm syndrome. It occurred at the Norrmalmstorg Square in Stockholm, Sweden, in August 1973 and was the first criminal event in Sweden to be covered by live television. Jan-Erik Olsson was a convicted criminal who had disappeared while on furlough from prison and then held up a bank and took four hostages. During the ensuing negotiations, Swedish Minister of Justice Lennart Geijer allowed Olsson's former cellmate and friend Clark Olofsson to be brought from prison to the bank. Although Olofsson was a long-time career criminal, it is doubtful he was in league with Olsson. Famously, the hostages then bonded with their captors and appeared to protect them. It is noted however that the hostages were in fact simply distrustful of the police and their willingness to risk the hostages' lives. Police finally mounted a tear gas attack five days into the crisis, and the robbers surrendered. Olsson was sentenced to 10 years for the robbery, and Olofsson was ultimately acquitted. The seemingly paradoxical actions of the hostages led to a great deal of academic and public interest in the case, including a 2003 Swedish television film titled Norrmalmstorg, a 2018 Canadian film titled Stockholm and a Swedish Netflix television series Clark premiering in 2022.