I bet you've heard of Stockholm Syndrome, and I bet you even know what it is. But where did it come from? Stockholm? For those of you that don't know, we'll explore it.
The name 'Stockholm Syndrome' comes from an event in Stockholm, Sweden, specifically at a bank at Norrmalmstorg Square. On August 23, 1973, Jan-Erik Olsson (who had a prior criminal record) walked into the bank and attempted to rob it. The police were summoned immediately, and four people were taken hostage. Jan-Erik had some demands: his friend Clark Olofsson (who had a criminal record himself) to be brought to the bank, 3 million Kronor ($730,000 US dollars at the time), two guns, helmets, bullet-proof vests, and a fast car. The police brought Clark and allowed him to enter. The police agreed to let them have a fast car, but refused to let them take the hostages out of the bank.
It was during this hostage situation that Kristin Enmark (one of the hostages) began to feel safe with Jan-Erik and Clark and had great fear that the police would escalate the situation. Jan-Erik called the Prime Minister (Olof Palme) and said that he would kill the hostages, and when he hung up the phone, a hostage's screams could be heard. The next day, Kristin Enmark called Palme and said that she was not happy with Palme's attitude and that he should let the robbers and the hostages go. On August 26, the cops drilled a hole into the main vault where the hostages were. They were hoping to get a camera set up so they could watch the hostages. Clark fired through the hole a couple times and hit an officer. Jan-Erik shouted at the police that if they used a gas attack, then the hostages would be killed.
On August 28, the cops used gas anyway, and after a half hour of no one getting killed, Jan-Erik and Clark surrendered. At the trial, both were found guilty: Jan-Erik received 10 years in prison, Clark received 6 1/2 years, but at the appeal Clark was found to be helping calm the situation and his charges were dropped.
Kristin Enmark's feelings of safety with the captors and fear of the police wasn't only her own. The other hostages have mentioned they felt the same way. Enmark and Clark met some time later and became friends. Some of the hostages even spoke in defense of Clark at his appeal. Some have thought that the hostages helped Jan-Erik and Clark, but the truth is that they felt the police were reckless and neither of the captors showed them any real violence.
Academics became quite interested in the notion of a hostage siding with their captor, and one in particular named Nils Bejerot named this psychological idea the Stockholm Syndrome Theory. The theory has grown into the idea that a hostage situation isn't necessary for the syndrome to exist since it is described as "strong emotional ties that develop between two persons where one person intermittently harasses, beats, threatens, abuses, or intimidates the other". The FBI has said that 27% of the hostages they encounter show some signs of Stockholm Syndrome. One of the most famous cases is when the Symbionese Liberation Army kidnapped Patty Hearst in 1974, and she ended up assisting them in a robbery two months later. Stockholm Syndrome was used as part of her defense, but she was still found guilty for her participation.
Bet you didn't know that!
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