Criminal who helped inspire Stockholm Syndrome term dies aged 78

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

Clark Oloffson – which reached world notoriety in 1973 following an abduction and a bank theft in the Swedish capital – died following a long illness, his family told online dagens media, etc.

During a six -day seat, Oloffson’s hostages began to sympathize with him and his accomplice, defending their actions while becoming more hostile to the police outside.

The incident lends its name to a theorized psychological condition by which victims of abduction develop affections for their captors.

The famous bank’s headquarters was encouraged by another man, Jan-Erik Olsson. After seizing three women and a man hostage, he demanded that Oloffson – to whom he had already friendly in prison – be brought to the prison bank.

The Swedish authorities agreed with his request and Oloffson entered the bank, surrounded by police.

Years later, in an interview with the AFTONBLADET newspaper, he told him that he was asked to work as an inner man to ensure the safety of captives in exchange for a reduced sentence, but accused the officials of not honoring the agreement.

Olofsson persuaded one of the hostages, Kristin enMark, to speak to the Swedish Prime Minister on the phone on behalf of the thieves.

She begged to be authorized to leave the bank in a getaway car with the kidnappers, saying to her: “I fully trust Clark and the thief … They did nothing for us.”

She continued: “On the contrary, they were very nice … believe it or not, but we had a great time here.”

In several phone calls, Enmark said that she feared that her captors were injured by the police and defended their actions several times.

In her memoirs, she said of Oloffson: “He promised that he would make sure that nothing happened to me and I decided to believe it. I was 23 years old and I feared for my life.”

The situation of the hostages ended after six days when police crossed the roof and used tear gas to control the pair.

Initially, the hostages refused to leave their kidnappers to fear that they will be killed by the police. The hostages also later refused to testify against Oloffson and Olsson.

Experts have since debated the question of whether Stockholm syndrome is a real psychiatric condition, some arguing that it is a defense mechanism to deal with traumatic situations.

The term was invented the day after the siege by the Swedish criminologist and psychiatrist Nils Bejerot to explain the apparently irrational affection that certain captives felt for their hostage takers.

The theory reached a wider audience the following year when the heiress of the Californian newspaper Patty Hearst was kidnapped by revolutionary activists.

Speaking on the Podcast laterally BBC in 2021Enmark rubbed the concept of Stockholm syndrome, saying: “It’s a way to blame the victim. I did what I could survive.”

Olofsson was a recurrence and spent much of his life in prison. He was released for the last time in 2018 after serving a sentence for a drug offense in Belgium.

In 2022, actor Bill Skarsgård portrayed him in the dramatic series Netflix Clark.