A criminal who helped inspire Stockholm syndrome term dying at the age of 78

One of the two charismatic criminals who participated in the abduction that gave the world the term “Stockholm syndrome”, died at the age of 78, his family said.

Clark Olofson – who rose to global glory in 1973 after the abduction and robbery of banks in the Swedish capital – died after a long illness, his family told the Internet media outdo of Dagens, etc.

During the six -day siege, Alofson’s hostages began to sympathize with him and his accomplice, defending his actions while treated by the police on the street.

The incident gives its name the theoretical psychological state, causing the victims of the abduction to develop commitment to their invaders.

The notorious siege of the bank was incited by another person, Jan-Eric Olson. Having taken away three women and a man in hostages, he demanded Olofson, whom he had previously made friends in prison – was brought to a bank from prison.

The Swedish authorities agreed to his demand, and Olofson entered the bank surrounding the police.

In years, in an interview with Aftonbladet, he claimed he was asked to work as an internal person to keep captives in exchange for a reduced term, but accused officials of not honoring the agreement.

Olofson persuaded one of the hostages, Kristin Enmar, to talk to the Swedish Prime Minister by phone on behalf of the robbers.

She asked to leave the bank in a vacation car with the kidnappers, saying to him: “I fully trust Clark and the robber … They did nothing for us.”

She continued: “On the contrary, they were very pleasant … Believe it or not, but we had a very good time here.”

Within several telephone calls, Enmar has stated that she was afraid that her invaders had damaged the police and repeatedly defended her actions.

In the memoir, she said about Olofson, “He promised that nothing had happened to me, and I decided to believe him. I was 23 years old and feared for my life.”

The hostage situation ended six days later when the police broke through the roof and used tear gas to subordinate a couple.

Initially, the hostages refused to leave their captives out of fear that they were shot by police. The hostage also later refused to testify against Olofson and Olson.

Since then, experts have been discussing whether the Stockholm syndrome is an actual psychiatric condition, and some claim that this is a mechanism of defense that copes with traumatic situations.

This term was invented after the siege of Swedish criminals and psychiatrist Nils Beirot to explain the seemingly irrational commitment that some captives felt for their hostages.

Next year the theory reached a broader audience when the heirs of the California newspaper Patti Herst was abducted by revolutionary militants.

If you say on BBC Sideways Podcast in 2021Enmark rubbed the concept of Stockholm syndrome, saying: “This is a way to blame the victim. I did everything I could survive.”

Olofson was a repeat offender and spent most of his life in prison. It was released for the last time in 2018 after serving a drug crime in Belgium.

In 2022, actor Bill Skarsgard displayed him in the Drama TV series Netflix Clark.