The hostage crisis that occurred in the Gladbeck district of West Germany in 1988 is presented in an original way in the German documentary Gladbeck: The Hostage Crisis on Netflix. What distinguishes this movie from the majority of other Netflix or true-crime documentaries is stated in writing right at the start of the movie; the full 90 minutes of the movie is made up of chronologically ordered actual media video from the time. Gladbeck: The Hostage Crisis, in contrast to other movies of similar kind, doesn’t include any later interviews with survivors or witnesses, yet it nonetheless does a good job of conveying the stress and confusion of the circumstance through its deft handling.
What The Netflix Documentary Gladbeck: The Hostage Crisis Is About?
Two hours into a serious scenario at a Deutsche Bank branch in the West German region of Gladbeck, two armed men had entered the building and were holding two employees hostage. Police and the media kept showing up while the hostages and the culprits remained inside for so long. As soon as the police got in touch with the thieves, they made it clear what they wanted: a BMW 735i as a getaway car, 300,000 marks in ransom, and the key to the bank’s safe. The criminal threatened to shoot the hostages frequently, and a few shots were actually fired inside the bank, so the police had no choice but to wait and get ready to comply with the demands. More armed cops started showing up on the scene seven hours later, and one of them placed the ransom money in front of the bank’s door. A bank teller hostage is seen taking it inside while wearing a rope around his waist or chest. During this period, a few radio stations and television news networks made contact with the offenders, probably via the bank’s communication systems. They want to take the hostages with them and plan to hold them for longer, the man fielding the calls tells them agitatedly. The German police finally send a getaway car, but it’s a white Audi rather than the requested BMW, four more hours later, after nightfall. The action is being broadcast live on all TV news networks as the captives are still inside the car as it slowly leaves the scene and one of the attackers is aiming a gun directly at the windscreen. The government also gets involved; the district attorney shows up and pledges a prompt and thorough inquiry, and a lengthy convoy of police and press cars follows the hostage-takers from a distance. However, it is still inconceivable that the chase is merely the start of a much larger crisis that would last for more than forty hours.
Who Are The Perpetrators, And What Do They Do Next? How Do The Police Respond?
The police had suspended the manhunt but were secretly monitoring their activities to make sure the hostages were secure from the threatening criminals. They were able to identify the culprits as two males who were frequently in legal difficulties and one of whom had previously escaped from prison. Following an overnight disappearance, their whereabouts are found the following day when they are spotted in front of a store in Bremen. A third unidentified woman had joined the gang by this point, and they were now approaching a bus stop on foot. The criminals had also altered their getaway vehicle. Soon after, the two men kidnapped a bus full of 32 people, raising the stakes of the entire incident. The new woman had joined them, holding a gun to the heads of the other passengers. They were both armed. The offenders, especially one of the men who had been speaking to everyone up until this point, seemed extremely at ease with the people all around them despite the heinous nature of the entire event. The kidnapper did not seem to object at all when a photographer by the name of Peter Mayer snapped multiple shots of him while plainly getting pretty close to him. Instead, the man strolled over to the group of reporters by the side of the road with a loaded gun still in his hand and his finger on its trigger when Peter casually asked him if he would agree to an interview. Hans-Jörgen Rosner and Dieter Degowski, both of whom had a history of arrests dating back to their youth, are the men’s self-identifiers. Marion Loblich, Rosner’s girlfriend, was the third offender. When asked why they had taken innocent bystanders as hostages, Rosner states unequivocally that they did not intend to harm the hostages as long as the police complied with their demands and requests; however, he asserts that all three of them no longer have any hope or aspirations in their lives and so would not mind dying right away, but he promises that if they are attacked right away, they would definitely kill all the hostages and more people. Rosner describes how he had lost all sense of morality and had become a hardened criminal from a young age and had frequently considered joining terrorist organisations as he casually smokes around with the reporters and their crews, who are now flocking around the armed man. But now that he and his accomplices have kidnapped a busload of passengers, they want to switch hostages by releasing one of the bank employees in exchange for a police officer, who should carry his ID and just be wearing his underwear, as well as a new getaway vehicle. A few hostages are eventually released off the bus, largely elderly people who claimed to have heart illness, but the tension only increases from this point on. The culprits leave on the bus with all of the remaining passengers still aboard as the police are unable to reach Rosner or comply with his requests in a timely manner.
The trail of police and media vehicles that had previously trailed the bus is now significantly larger due to the abductors’ extensive press availability. The reporters once more swarm the bus when it eventually stops at a rest stop on the German Autobahn in Grundbergsee. Degowski even exits the bus while holding a young woman captive and responds to the reporters’ queries while maintaining constant pressure on her throat. Marion Loblich had also down to use the restroom during this time, carrying her revolver with her, and the police had now taken her into custody. The two men on the bus become agitated and threaten to kill one of the passengers if their colleague does not return soon, so this plot quickly backfires severely. The two bank employees they had taken hostage from the bus are eventually freed by Rosner and Degowski, who are then permitted to leave, but their impatience only grows since Loblich still hasn’t shown up. In the end, Degowski shoots a 14-year-old child in the head before the police let Loblich free so he may get back on the bus. When Loblich arrives, the young kid is promptly released from the bus while still alive, but he passes away in the hospital from the wound two hours later. Once more, there is little the police can do but watch as the criminals flee the scene, and the bus now travels toward the Dutch-German border. The cops delivered the requested getaway car, a BMW 735i, early the following morning on Dutch soil. With the exception of two young women, who they continued to hold hostage as they fled in the BMW, the three kidnappers quickly fled the bus. They then make their way back to Germany and stop for a break in Koln’s pedestrian zone, where they once more encounter a throng of reporters, journalists, and even regular people who have gathered to see the drama unfold live.
By this time, Rosner had developed relationships with the majority of news organisations and journalists in the nation, and they were interviewing him whenever they could. Reporters continued to maintain a casual attitude about the entire ordeal as they brought coffee to the perpetrators and also inquired about how it was, despite the situation becoming more tense and serious, with one of the hostages feeling quite ill and uneasy and Degowski appearing to be reaching a point of utter desperation. Rosner’s patience would soon run out, however, as he now threatened to shoot as many people as he could unless the crowd dispersed and allowed them to go. After a while, the throng dispersed, and Udo Robel, the editor-in-chief of a local publication, voluntarily climbed inside the vehicle to give the criminals directions out of Koln. Despite Robel’s decision seems odd and pointless, the German government ultimately recognised it as a gallant act that prevented a potentially deadly carnage that Rosner and his friends might have committed if they had been trapped within Koln. The German police and administration begin to come under more direct (and harsh) criticism from the public as the BMW travels along the Autobahn. The public criticises the police for merely caving in to the criminals’ wishes and the surrounding media circus.
Gladbeck: The Hostage Crisis Ending Explained: What Finally Happens To The Abductors And The Hostages?
In the afternoon, 53 hours after the hostage situation had started, police officers abruptly stopped media automobiles on a motorway close to Siegburg. Over time, it becomes clear that the criminals had pulled over at a gas station and were now letting Udo Robel out. However, the German police had planned their apprehension a few kilometres in advance, and one of their cars crashed with the kidnappers’ BMW. An instant gunfire ensued, which resulted in the death of one of the young female captives at the hands of a panicked Degowski and the subsequent capture of the three kidnappers. The other captive, who had also been seriously hurt, made it out alive. Pictures of the scene, which is covered in blood from the gunfire and broken glass from the cars, are quickly made public when the media tries to get there.
A review of the police’s actions is underway as the hostage crisis drama finally comes to a conclusion 54 hours after it started, and those who sacrificed their lives are mourned. After the incident, the interior senator for the region resigned from his position, accepting responsibility for the case’s poor handling, but the interior minister was still in charge. Three individuals died as a result of the entire incident, including a police officer who was killed in a subsequent vehicle accident as the bus was being taken toward the Netherlands. Emanuele De Giorgi, 14, lost his life while guarding his little sister when Degowski shot him at the Grundbergsee rest area. Silke Bischoff, age 18, who was held prisoner by the crooks right up until the end, was killed by Degowski when the police eventually caught up with them. From an analytical standpoint, it is difficult to assess exactly what this case (and the ensuing documentary film) tries to teach, but what became more blatantly clear than the rest was the police’s ineptitude and the press’s peculiar attention-seeking actions. One could argue that if the cops had planned things out properly, both deaths could have been easily prevented. Following this incident, the German government forbade both independent attempts to mediate the crime and the practise of journalists questioning criminals while they are still committing the crime. Rosner and Degowski received life terms for the kidnapping, while Marion Loblich received a nine-year sentence. Due to his good behaviour, Loblich was freed from prison six years later. Dieter Degowski is currently living in some unidentified location with a new identity after being freed from prison after thirty years. Hans-Jürgen Rosner is still being held behind bars as a preventative measure.
Volker Heise is the director of the 2022 crime documentary Gladbeck: The Hostage Crisis.
