Sensible Swedes

   Welcome to Friday with Chairman Joe

   On this day in 1973 a Swedish man named Jan-Eric Olsson walked into a large bank in downtown Stockholm, puled out a gun, and demanded money. He was on leave from prison and apparently did not intend to return. The police were immediately called in. Olsson shot one of the police in the hand and ordered the other one to sit down and sing. The officer started singing Lonesome Cowboy. 
   Olsson sent the police on their way and took four bank employees, three women and a man, into the main vault as hostages. He then demanded that a friend, Clark Olofsson, also a prison inmate, be brought to the bank along with three million Swedish kroner, two guns, bulletproof vests, helmets and a fast car. The government allowed the friend to come to the bank as a communication link, but held back on the other demands.
   As negotiations went on, the government said the robbers could have the car but couldn't take the hostages with them. Even the prime minister got involved. Olsson threatened to kill the hostages if he didn't get what he wanted. One of the hostages said she would go with the robbers. She was afraid she'd be killed if the police stormed the bank. After five days, the police attacked with teargas. The robbers surrendered and none of the hostages were injured.
   This standoff was the first such event covered by Swedish television. Sweden and the world were shocked when the hostages refused to testify against their captors. The psychologists were called in which led to the term "Stockholm Syndrome," indicating the creation of an irrational bond between captor and hostage.
   Both Olsson and his friend Olofsson were convicted and given long sentences. Olofsson appealed, saying he was only trying to diffuse the situation and his charges were dismissed. When Olsson got out of prison he is alleged to have committed financial crimes. After ten years on the run, he turned himself in, only to learn that the charges against him had been dropped. In 1996 he moved to Thailand with his Thai wife and son. By 2013 he was back in Sweden. He wrote a book about his experiences in which he blamed the hostages for letting things go on so long. "Why didn't any of them attack me?" he wondered.

And you thought the sign over Hollywood was big.