The term ”Stockholm syndrome”, used to describe a bond between kidnapping victims and their captors, earned its name from a failed bank robbery in Sweden that ended on August 28, 1973.
The failed heist began five days earlier when convicted thief Jan-Erik Olsson, 32, tried to rob a bank in Stockholm. Police responded quickly, and a standoff ensued.
At one point, a hostage told authorities over the phone that she was afraid of the police, not of the two criminals.
She appealed to authorities to meet their demands. She later said she had developed a bond with Olofsson, whom she saw as the guarantor of her safety.
