Clark Olofsson, the Swedish convict whose role in a 1973 hostage standoff helped coin the term “Stockholm syndrome,” has died at 78, his family confirmed.
Olofsson passed away following a prolonged illness, according to a family statement published by Swedish outlet Dagens ETC. He had spent decades in and out of prison, including for drug and robbery convictions, and was released from prison for the final time in 2018.
Olofsson gained international attention after a six-day bank siege in central Stockholm in August 1973. The standoff began when Jan-Erik Olsson, armed and disguised, entered the Kreditbanken and took four hostages three women and one man. From inside, Olsson demanded that Olofsson, his former cellmate, be brought from prison to join him.
Swedish authorities complied. Once inside the bank, Olofsson appeared to connect with the captives, helping diffuse tension while working with Olsson to keep police at bay.
One of the hostages, 23-year-old Kristin Enmark, was recorded pleading with the prime minister over the phone: “I fully trust Clark and the robber… They haven’t done a thing to us.” She also said, “They’ve been very nice… Believe it or not, but we’ve had a really nice time here.”
She later wrote that Olofsson had convinced her she would not be harmed. “He promised that he would make sure nothing happened to me and I decided to believe him. I was 23 years old and feared for my life,” she said in her memoir.
When the siege ended after police used tear gas to storm the bank through the roof, none of the hostages had been killed. In a moment that puzzled authorities, the captives initially refused to leave their abductors and later declined to testify against them.
The unusual behavior led Swedish psychiatrist Nils Bejerot to describe the captives’ attachment to their kidnappers as a psychological condition, later dubbed “Stockholm syndrome.” The term was quickly adopted in popular culture, especially after a high-profile U.S. case in 1974 involving newspaper heiress Patty Hearst.
Over the years, the term’s validity has been questioned. Speaking in a 2021 media podcast, Enmark rejected the label entirely. “It’s a way of blaming the victim,” she said. “I did what I could to survive.”
Olofsson maintained that his role during the standoff was mischaracterized. In an interview years later, he claimed that officials had asked him to enter the bank to protect the hostages and that they failed to keep their promise of a reduced sentence.
Despite repeated claims of being a reformed man, Olofsson spent much of his adult life behind bars for offenses ranging from armed robbery to drug trafficking. His life was dramatized in the 2022 Netflix series Clark, starring Swedish actor Bill Skarsgård.
Olofsson’s story remains a point of debate in psychological and criminal justice circles, especially around how trauma affects victims and whether Stockholm syndrome should be viewed as a medical diagnosis or survival instinct.
