A TV thriller about a hostage crisis that engulfed Germany 30 years ago has sparked debate over the roles played by the police, the media, and a voyeuristic public in the event’s terrible outcome.
Hans-Jürgen Rösner and Dieter Degowski, both already convicted and armed, stole a branch of Deutsche Bank in Gladbeck in the summer of 1988 and took hostages in cars and a hijacked bus. Three persons were killed, including two adolescent captives and a police officer whose vehicle crashed.
The gangsters’ journey lasted from August 16 to August 18, 1988, and included a road chase from the Ruhr through Bremen, then into the Netherlands, until being apprehended by special forces on a highway near Bonn.
Gladbeck, a two-part dramatization broadcast this week by ARD, was an attempt to analyze the dramatic events that continue to traumatize those involved, according to the film’s creators.
The broadcast’s ostensibly fortuitous timing with the release of the mastermind, Degowski, has sparked outrage among hostage survivors and relatives of those who perished.
The TV thriller condenses the tragic events into just three hours, capturing the disruptive state of the police operation, which was ruined by indecision, faulty radio equipment, and a series of mishaps, including the breaking of a key in a female accomplice’s handcuffs, Marion Löblich, Degowski’s girlfriend.
The thriller shows the media, which has been on the trail of the gangsters from the beginning, as being not just closer to the criminals than the police, but also as being obsessed with finding the best photographs and soundbites. The general populace is never far behind, transfixed to their televisions and radios as they watch the events develop, torn between interest and terror.
One of the most harrowing pictures in the movie is when Degowski gives an interview in the back of a car, answering questions into the journalists’ microphones while putting his handgun to the neck of the 18-year-old hostage Silke Bischoff. “What’s it like to have a gun held to your throat?” Bischoff had been asked in the interview. Rösner later assassinated Bischoff.
Former police officers, journalists (some of whom established careers on the back of Gladbeck), survivors, and the bereaved have recalled and dissected the events of 88, and told how it influenced their lives, in an avalanche of chat shows, magazine pieces, and documentaries sparked by the TV drama.
Johnny Bastiampillai, now a doctor, was six years old and had just emigrated from Sri Lanka with his family when he was kidnapped on the bus. He claimed he had never recovered from the shock. Following the presentation of the drama’s first episode on Wednesday evening, he told late-night talk show host Sandra Maischberger, “I believe the police had a tremendous deal of responsibility for allowing it to escalate.” “I’m not going to see the movie because it’s like a tribute to Degowski, who has now been set free.”
He was also taken aback when he learned that the accomplice Rösner was set to be released next year, pending good behavior.
In retaliation for the arrest of Degowski’s girlfriend, Emanuele De Giorgi, the 15-year-old son of Italian immigrants, was shot in the head. His family said they had never fully healed from his assassination and were shocked to learn of the killer’s release. “He is free, while we will suffer for the rest of our lives,” Emanuele’s brother Fabio, 40, added. “I have a lot of dreams about him.” He’s on the bus when the shot goes off, and I wake up.”
Tatiana, who was nine years old at the time and sat on her brother’s lap on the bus, claimed she could never get his words out of her brain as he murmured to her, “Don’t be worried, I’ll protect you.”
Udo Röbel, a writer with the Cologne newspaper Express who went on to edit the tabloid Bild, was hailed and chastised at the time for stepping into the car containing the captives and directing the criminals out of town, while Degowski held the pistol to her. “Journalistically, we really botched up,” Röbel said after the incident.
The hostage-takers appeared to be invigorated by the publicity, as evidenced by their consumption of media coverage on vehicle radio and newspapers purchased at motorway service stations.
At the time, Frank Blasberg, a young broadcast journalist, recalled rushing to the scene of the hostage crisis in Cologne on his Vespa with his recording device, as Degowski and Rösner held a phony press conference in a pedestrian zone and journalists bought the hostage takers cups of coffee while the police looked on.
Rösner was seen on live television, putting his revolver in his mouth and declaring, “To be dead is better than to be without money,” in one of the more unforgettable incidents for those who watched in 1988.
Plasberg, now 60 years old and one of Germany’s most well-known celebrity anchors, spoke with Rösner. It was never broadcast. “Rösner sat in the driver’s seat with his windscreen down, giving interview after interview, as if it were a journalistic drive-in… we were all in some way complicit,” he told Bild.
Where to Watch Gladbeck: The Hostage Crisis (2022)?
Gladbeck: The Hostage Crisis (2022) will be premiering on Netflix on June 8, 2022. We do not recommend illegal streaming and always suggest paying for the content you like to watch.
Is Gladbeck: The Hostage Crisis (2022) available on Amazon Prime?
Amazon prime will not be streaming Gladbeck: The Hostage Crisis (2022). Additionally, several other films are streaming on Prime. Our recommendations are The Voyagers, It’s a Wonderful Life, Notting Hill, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Is Gladbeck: The Hostage Crisis (2022) available on HBO Max?
HBO Max will not be streaming Gladbeck: The Hostage Crisis (2022). However, HBO’s subscribers can enjoy its other popular streams like Euphoria, When Harry Met Sally and Promising Young Woman.
Is Gladbeck: The Hostage Crisis (2022) available on Hulu?
Gladbeck: The Hostage Crisis (2022) is not available on Hulu. The new release line-up additionally includes Pam and Tommy, How I Met Your Father, Abbott Elementary, and Vikings.
Is Gladbeck: The Hostage Crisis (2022) available on Netflix?
Gladbeck: The Hostage Crisis (2022) will not be available to stream on Netflix. However, other brilliant shows like The Power of The Dog, The Social Network, Tick, Tick, Boom, and much more are available.