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NOTORIOUS CRIMES

CRIME

The real-life crime played out across 3 days of TV

One of the most notorious criminals in Germany post-war history felt his first taste of freedom last week after 27 years in jail. During a wild three-day crime spree in 1988 his infamy spread across the nation.

The real-life crime played out across 3 days of TV
Hans-Jürgen Rösner shows journalists how far he is prepared to go. Photo: DPA

In the centre of a small town near the Dutch border last week, a man in his late fifties sat down for a coffee before browsing though CDs in a music shop, the Kölner Stadt Anzeiger reports.

Under his clothes his hands and feet were chained, but nevertheless the discreet outing barely raised an eyebrow.

The contrast with his last public appearance could hardly be starker.

Twenty seven years and two months ago Hans-Jürgen Rösner was received by crowds of journalists from Cologne to Bremen like a rock star – despite the fact that he had a gun in his hand and he was holding dozens of people hostage.

Rösner was perhaps the wildest and most reckless criminal of his generation. With arms covered in tattoos, a shaggy beard and greased hair, he looked like someone who would stop at nothing – and he was.

In an age when round-the-clock media coverage was in its infancy, he became instant TV gold.

Journalists ask Hans-Jürgen Rösner what he wants from police. 

Bungled bank robbery

On the morning of August 16th 1988 Rösner and accomplice Dieter Degowski entered a Deutsche Bank branch in Gladbeck, a town near Holland, through an emergency ladder at the back of the building.

Rösner was already on the run. Two years earlier he had escaped from prison after 11 years behind bars. In the intervening period he had been involved in dozens of robberies.

But this time they made a mistake. A doctor had seen their entrance and alerted the police. As they left the bank with 120,000 Deutsch Marks (€100,000 in today's money) in loot a police car was waiting for them. 

The pair turned on their heels, rushed back inside and took two clerks hostage.

It was at this point that the media first got involved.

A local radio station received a telephone call. It was one of the hostages relaying the criminals' demands. In a fashion which was to repeat itself over the next few days, the pair had gone all in. Not only were they demanding a route out, they wanted more money – 300,000 DM to be precise.

Other news outlets sensed a story and began to call the bank up in a hunt for exclusives. Rösner's growling voice, which he willingly gave to TV and radio journalists, was just the ingredient to send a shiver of engrossed terror down the German public's spine.

After several hours the police buckled and brought the demanded car and money to the bank.

With their hostages in tow the bank robbers drove off.

But instead of trying to leave town immediately, they went shopping for liquor, food and sleeping pills. Strangely, despite the fact that they had their weapons drawn, the men paid on each occasion. A last stop saw them pick up Rösner's girlfriend Marion Löblich. Then they headed north.

First death

Hans-Jürgen Rösner being interviewed in Bremen. Photo: DPA

On the next day they were in Bremen, 240 kilometres to the north.

“The spectacular hostage drama from Gladbeck is far from over, especially not for us. Quite the opposite – the gangsters arrived in Bremen today” announced a newsreader on local radio in a tone one commentator compared to reporting the arrival of the Beatles.

Despite switching cars several times and changing their outfits the fugitives had failed to shake off police. So again they upped the stakes – this time taking a bus full of commuters hostage.

An emboldened press approached the bus and Rösner and Degowski gave interviews to TV cameras – even allowed their hostages to answer questions, while they pointed guns at their heads.

They then took the bus out of Bremen with 27 hostages including several children on board.

Up until this point police had remained at a distance, scared to do anything that would put people's lives at risk.

But as the bus stopped at a roadside restaurant their first intervention ended in a death. Apparently acting without the knowledge of their superiors, two officers managed to seize Löblich as she went to the toilet.

Rösen and Degowski threatening to start killing hostages if she wasn't handed back.

But in the confusion officers had driven off with her, and before she could be returned Degowski shot a 15-year-old Italian tourist  Emanuele De Giorgi in the head, killing him as he tried to protect his nine-year-old sister.

When the trio were reunited they set off again, this time for Holland.

During the chase a policeman died and another was seriously injured when their car collided with a truck.

Sight seeing

Dieter Degowski with hostage Silke Bischoff. Photo: DPA

In Holland, Dutch police negotiated the release of the remaining children in captivity. There was a brief shootout in which Löblich was injured.

Eventually police provided the criminals with a BMW and along with two hostages, one of them 18-year-old Silke Bischoff, they headed back to Germany.  

Next stop Cologne. Rösner wanted to see the town's famous cathedral.

A pack of journalists were waiting for them. They surrounded the car and started conducting live interviews. Some show the criminals photos of police officers who might be smuggled in in a possible hostage exchange.

Udo Röbel, the future editor-in-chief of Bild, Germany's most popular newspaper, agreed to accompany them in their car to show them the way out of the city. Others drove behind, competing for the best pictures.

At about midday on the third day of the chase the fugitives were driving south in the direction of Frankfurt.

As the BMW approached the state border, the police finally struck.

An armoured car smashed into the fugitives' vehicle, knocking it off the road. Special commandos started shooting. A total of 62 bullets were later found to have been fired from the police's side.

Tragically, the only death is that of the young hostage Bischoff – apparently killed by a bullet from Rösner's gun.

Tough verdicts

At the end of their trial, three years later, both Rösner and Degowski were handed life sentences. Rösner's will only come up for review next year, although he can now leave the jail for short periods under police surveillance.

Tougher questions also lay at the feet of the journalists who reported the story.

Speaking years later Röbel, the journalist who showed them the way out of Cologne, said “journalistically, we totally messed up.”

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BUSINESS

Elon Musk visits Tesla’s sabotage-hit German factory

Elon Musk travelled Wednesday to Tesla's factory near Berlin to lend his workers "support" after the plant was forced to halt production by a suspected arson attack on nearby power lines.

Elon Musk visits Tesla's sabotage-hit German factory

The Tesla CEO addressed thousands of employees on arrival at the site, accusing “eco-terrorists” of the sabotage as he defended his company’s green credentials.

With his son X AE A-XII in his arms, Musk said: “I am here to support you.”

The billionaire’s visit came a week after power lines supplying the electric carmaker’s only European plant were set on fire in an act of sabotage claimed by a far-left group called the Vulkangruppe (Volcano Group).

READ ALSO: Far-left group claims ‘sabotage’ on Tesla’s German factory

Musk had said then that the attack was “extremely dumb”, while the company said it would cost it several hundred million euros.

A week on, the lights have come back on at the site, but Andre Thierig, who heads the site, said on LinkedIn that it would “take a bit of time” before production is back to full speed.

Industry experts have warned that the reputational impact caused by the sabotage on the region could be more severe than the losses suffered by Tesla.

Tesla’s German plant started production in 2022 following an arduous two-year approval and construction process dogged by administrative and legal obstacles.

Tesla wants to expand the site by 170 hectares and boost production up to one million vehicles annually to feed Europe’s growing demand for electric cars and take on rivals who are shifting away from combustion engine vehicles.

But the plans have annoyed local residents, who voted against the project in a non-binding ballot last month.

After the vote, Tesla said it might have to rethink the plans. Environmental activists opposed to the expansion of the factory have recently also set up a camp in a wooded area near the plant.

READ ALSO: Why is Tesla’s expansion near Berlin so controversial?

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