Global InformationGladbeck hostage crisis information
| Gladbeck hostage crisis | |
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   From top down, left to right:
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| Location | Various places in North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony and Bremen, West Germany; Oldenzaal, Netherlands |
| Date | 16–18 August 1988 |
Attack type | Bank robbery, hostage-taking |
| Weapons |
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| Deaths | 3 |
| Injured | At least 7 (including the three perpetrators) |
| Perpetrators |
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- 16 August, 07:55 – Bank robbery in Gladbeck-Rentfort.
16 August, 21:37 – Rösner and Degowski leave the bank with two hostages and are later joined by Löblich. - 17 August, 19:11 – Bus hijacking in Bremen.
- 17 August, 23:07 – Degowski shoots Emanuele De Giorgi in the head.
- 18 August, 06:32 – Switch to getaway car with Silke Bischoff and Ines Voitle as hostages.
- 18 August, 10:53 – Stop in the city centre of Cologne.
- 18 August, 13:40 – The police ends the hostage-taking. Silke Bischoff is fatally shot.
- 16 August, 07:55 – Bank robbery in Gladbeck-Rentfort.
The Gladbeck hostage crisis or Gladbeck hostage drama was a bank robbery and hostage-taking that took place in West Germany from 16 to 18 August 1988. Two men with prior criminal records – Hans-Jürgen Rösner and Dieter Degowski – robbed a branch of the Deutsche Bank in Gladbeck, North Rhine-Westphalia, taking two employees as hostages.[2] During their flight, they were joined by Rösner's girlfriend Marion Löblich, with whom they hijacked a public transport bus in Bremen.[2] With twenty-seven hostages aboard, they drove towards the Netherlands, where all but two hostages were released, and the bus was exchanged for a getaway car.[2] The hostage-taking was finally ended when the police rammed the getaway car on the A3 motorway near Bad Honnef, North Rhine-Westphalia.[2]
During the hostage crisis, a 15-year-old boy and an 18-year-old woman were killed.[3] A third victim, a 31-year-old police officer, died in a traffic accident while chasing the hostage-takers.[3] At the time, the unfolding of events was extensively covered by West German media, which quickly spiraled into a media circus.[4][5] In the aftermath of the hostage crisis, journalists were criticised for conducting interviews with the hostage-takers, asking them to pose for photographs, and aiding them by giving them, among other things, coffee and road directions.[5] This resulted in the German Press Council banning any future interviews with hostage-takers during hostage situations.[2]
- ^ Altrogge, Gudrun; Dahlkamp, Jürgen; Kölling, Nadja; Schrep, Bruno (2008). "Mach es weg, mach es weg". Der Spiegel (in German). No. 33. pp. 36–42. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
- ^ a b c d e Mansel, Tim (20 August 2018). "Gladbeck: The deadly hostage drama where the media crossed a line". BBC. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
- ^ a b Scheil, Detlev (30 March 2019). "Bewegende und würdevolle Gedenkstunde". Weser-Kurier (in German). Retrieved 19 June 2022.
- ^ Marek, Michael; Todeskino, Marie (16 August 2018). "German hostage drama: The day the press became the story". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
- ^ a b Connolly, Kate (9 March 2018). "German bank raid and hostage-grab of 80s plays out in TV drama". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 June 2022.