Clark Olofsson, the notorious Swedish bank robber whose role in a 1973 Stockholm hostage crisis helped inspire the term "Stockholm syndrome," has died at 78, the New York Times reports. Olofsson's death, which occurred on June 24 in a hospital in Arvika, Sweden, was confirmed by his family, who said only that he had suffered from a long illness. His passing was not widely reported at the time. Olofsson spent more than half his life in prison for a string of robberies and other crimes, but his legacy endures in the world of psychology and pop culture.
The incident that defined Olofsson's life began when Jan-Erik Olsson, an ex-convict, stormed a Stockholm bank, took hostages, and demanded that Olofsson, his former cellmate, be brought from prison to join him. Authorities complied. Over six days, the hostages—three women and later a man—apparently developed a surprising rapport with their captors, at times refusing to cooperate with police and even defending the robbers. One hostage, Kristin Enmark, told Sweden's prime minister she trusted her captors and pleaded to leave with them. The standoff ended when police used tear gas to subdue Olsson and Olofsson. At trial, the hostages refused to testify against the men.
Swedish police psychologist Nils Bejerot ultimately coined the term "Stockholm syndrome" to describe the phenomenon of victims identifying with their captors. The concept gained international attention, especially after the 1974 kidnapping of Patty Hearst in the US during which she famously participated in a bank robbery with her captors, but it has never been formally recognized as a mental disorder. Some psychologists say the behavior is a coping mechanism, while critics—including Enmark herself—argue the label is a myth used to blame victims. "I did what I could to survive," she said in 2021, accusing the police who handled the situation of incompetence. As for Olofsson, he once claimed he'd been sent in to secretly keep the hostages safe in exchange for a reduced sentence but that authorities failed to honor the deal, the BBC reports.
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Olofsson's criminal career included prison breaks, drug smuggling, and additional robberies, with his time in and out of jail often covered in the tabloids. His life inspired a Swedish television film and the 2022 Netflix series Clark, starring Bill Skarsgård. Olofsson married and had three sons, and was last released from prison in 2018.
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