Case 171: The Gladbeck Hostage Crisis

DESCRIPTION
On August 19 1988, two armed offenders entered a branch of the Deutsche Bank in Gladbeck, West Germany with the intention of holding it up...
CREDITS
Narration - Anonymous Host
Research - Milly Raso and Erin Munro
Writing - Erin Munro
Special thanks to Stef for her assistance in the creation of this episode
Creative direction - Milly Raso
Production and music - Mike Migas
Music - Andrew D.B. Joslyn
SOCIAL LINKS
Website
www.casefilepo...
Facebook
/ casefile
Twitter
/ case_file
Instagram
/ casefilepodcast
Patreon
/ casefile
Casefile Presents
casefilepresen...
RESOURCES
For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcas...

[@wiebkescantick947]

My God, this story evoked every possible emotion!!! The paparazzi in this case was absolutely despicable.

[@judyjudy51]

Emmanuella being held up by journalists for a photo shoot. No words.

[@MegamixCentral]

The part about Emmanuella getting killed in front of his sister actually made me tear up in both anger and sadness. Poor innocent kids.

[@geediddi6007]

Media: Should we call an ambulance and perhaps do CPR for the dying man shot in the head? Nah, hold his head up. I want a good photo Vultures

[@Emfromaus]

And very little has changed

[@Whippenburg]

Wow what utter incompetence by the police force, fascinating podcast , thank you

[@rmooreg]

The police mishandled this situation from the moment they arrived at the bank. They should have set up a perimeter a short distance away from the building, staying out of sight. The robbers would have left the bank without any hostages thinking that police had not been alerted yet. Incompetent strategies and boneheaded decisions in the field, the police made themselves look like bumbling nitwits. I mean really? install a remote operated kill switch on the getaway car, then leave the remote control behind whey they begin pursuit? Astonishing!

[@margaretbanks8969]

Why didn't they use unmarked police ca?

[@madhukarjonathanminj2772]

they had a kill switch but they forgot to take it with them in the final encounter, total incompetence.

[@margiecoesens4198]

the family should have sued the journalists. They had no right to put others in danger. Also, they were interfering with a police matter.

[@amypoff8589]

This is one of the worst cases of a police force not doing their job and journalists refusing to help ppl for a story. They had so many opportunities to stop this before it escalated. All of them should be in prison for failure to act and the media should all be fired and prosecuted. So horrible that ppl reacted this way

[@hostileocelot]

Absolutely. I don't comment much on YT but this story just made my blood boil!

[@ulalaFrugilega]

And to think that it need not even have become a hostage situation at all! I think too, that many more people should have gone to prison for the deaths of those two victims, and probably the death of the police man, too.

[@hostileocelot]

@@ulalaFrugilega The negligence of the cops and the sheer greed of the press was just inhumane.

[@ulalaFrugilega]

@@hostileocelot But, sadly, all too human...

[@jerrymarbury9365]

Go join a police force or shut ur ass.stupid

[@feurigerStern]

This is absolutely surreal. Dieter Degowski got only 30 years. He should have gotten life.

[@ilkkarautio2449]

10 years would have been enough. As a criminal im always on the side of the offender. ALWAYS. The police and the media are to be blamed.

[@ulalaFrugilega]

Actually, he seemed to mostly react. Yeah, he wanted to rob a bank, but certainly did not start out to hurt people. I mean, that was not his goal, nor intention. And for a criminal of his experience, background and, not to forget, level of intoxication, it took him incredibly long until the first kill. And that was in a shuffle situation, not cold blooded. Yeah, he pulled the trigger, but to me, those law enforcement idiots around him where more to blame than him for maneuvering all the participants into that situation.

[@samih5916]

@@ilkkarautio2449 shut up, 10 years is not enough, life in prison is enough and stop defending the offender because you're just as bad as him as well as being a POS and you don't even care about the victims who were murdered.

[@hazeldubb]

@@ulalaFrugilega in court document he was found to lack no remorse for killing "a foreigner" and scorned Rosner for being unwilling to shoot kids. Wdym?

[@ulalaFrugilega]

@@hazeldubb ah, that's bad. Such a man should never be let out again, he's a menace to ppl.

[@bwhite9542]

You have no idea how much I love these podcasts

[@DEATH-THE-GOAT]

Rest in Peace beautiful Silka 😢 And brave young Emanuella

[@Jimmytheman1]

My favourite podcast...Gets better every upload...

[@heartolion89]

Yep!!

[@crowncreative9139]

COULD HAVE ARRESTED THEM AT THE DINER WHEN THEY WAS EATING BEFORE ALL OF THIS. That was before the media even began following them or they got the bus smh. They had only 2 hostages at the bank and it should have never left the bank. The most that would have died was 2, allowing them to leave the bank increased the number of people that died. I counted 5 people that died. The two in the car accident and then the brother and skilla and the other 1

[@ulalaFrugilega]

They could have arrested them after they left the bank, no hostages whatsoever, had those Keystone Cops not parked a police-car in view of the bank's exit…

[@shawnaweesner3759]

@@ulalaFrugilega. Exactly!

[@danrobinson572]

Two weeks is to long to wait for a video. Now my Saturday morning is great 👍

[@danrobinson572]

R.I.P. to the 3 that died.

[@BillKing8888]

It there ever was a case for the death penalty, this is it. (Distribute the 24 years among the journalists.)

[@theheroine177]

Those sentences were way to light

[@danrobinson572]

Here in America 🇺🇸 they would of gotten the death penalty or life without parole.

[@DavidCurryFilms]

A gripping episode. 👍

[@saydvoncripps]

I lived in germany for 4 years in the 1980s. This is not the german police I remember! I wonder what happened to make this go so wrong.

[@ulalaFrugilega]

Me too! It seemed such incredible amount of stupidity, like Slapstick gone real.

[@brandyjean7015]

​@@ulalaFrugilega my thought was this could have been one of the Keystone Cops flicks, from the silent film era.

[@zenscout]

Thanks CF....Great work👊🌹

[@PS-en7wn]

That was excellent. Thanks.

[@ajmartinez33]

Unfortunately,as the podcast has gotten more popular, the ads have gotten longer. 6 minute ad break?!

[@18uprhea]

Always look forward to these.

[@roonilwazlib3089]

Journalists are sick af

[@jerrymarshall2095]

The robbers should've grabbed a van full of the journalist and told the cops if their demands weren't met quickly and precisely that they would start sending the journalist out at 10 min intervals,then promised that once their demands were satisfied they wouldnt release anymore journalist upon them.

[@nancychisholm5399]

Morticia purring on my chest. a bodum of coffee, getting to hang with my grandkids later AND CASE FILE! Great Saturday!

[@amandasiddle6571]

Saturdays are not the same without you casefile missed you last week 😍

[@user-gg8nf4xo4m]

It would be nice if you made a playlist of what countries these are and what the stories are about in the description.

[@zanman8808]

I mean all of the case files are on a playlist and they all have case name titles and you’re already on your phone or some device that connects to the Internet your best bet is Google because doubt they’re going to redo their entire playlist

[@brandonarnold6136]

Holy Hell! I love this channel, but good lord the amount of commercials!

[@shawnaweesner3759]

One big complete police mess up, and press mess up, and German justice system mess up!

[@taramcdonagh9444]

It's nice hearing of a police force who puts hostage lives above money.

[@crowncreative9139]

Exactly. They even said they would release ALL the hostages for money and a cop on the bus and the cops said no, they didnt want to sacrifice a cops life. Well what the fuck is your job. How selfish was the police. I pray they all had hard lives and had the worse bad luck ever after this happened. 20 hostages for 1 cop and they said fuck that keep the hostages. Smh. Beyond pissed.

[@SpicyTexan64]

Which one was that? What police force puts money above hostages? Gotta be in Europe. Those guys were clowns. Then they let them out of prison. Child murderers. How sweet of them.

[@Holktube]

I've been looking forward to this!

[@Whippenburg]

It’s been along fortnight , but I appreciate the work involved , thank you

[@danrobinson572]

One guy is out of prison now.

[@michaelw9638]

Was a great episode this, time to listen to it again 😂😂

[@darksoul479]

In America it would have ended in the restaurant. The two undercover agents would have taken them down then and there. Game over.

[@ulalaFrugilega]

Feels like Slapstick getting horribly real. A lot of police officials as well as those idiots who arrested the girlfriend should have been prosecuted as partly responsible. Not to excuse the criminals, but without the police effing up on every step, this would have been a mere bank robbery with no bloodshed at all. Great podcast, as almost always. Pretty bad pronunciation though.

[@ldg1414]

Despite hearing so many more gruesome cases Emmanuellas death still has to be one of the sadist.

[@cynthiagibson3069]

What a circus

[@lesterine77]

I have never heard of this case and it's so tragic. It's the plot of a really stupid comedy, except it's heartbreakingly true. I've heard some stories of massive police ineptitude, but this on another level.

[@crowncreative9139]

Let the criminals shoot first and let them run out of bullets. THE POLICE KILLED SILKA.

[@markseagraves9893]

The german police handled the Israeli Olympic team hostage situation in the same bumbling manner. Hard to believe a police force can be that inept but there it is.

[@user-mt4ku7jw1y]

Why did it take them so long to take them out???

[@theheroine177]

Where is the narrator from? Love his voice/accent.

[@danrobinson572]

Yeah it’s a mystery!!

[@seebeyoundu]

Australian

[@danrobinson572]

@@seebeyoundu that’s my guess!

[@bausy2196]

It's not a guess he is 100% Australian

[@danrobinson572]

@@bausy2196 👍

[@ItsKrma00]

I'm 10 minutes in and the only thing missing is a dancing bear,

[@kirschrot77]

Hi I like your podcasts, but here just some statistics: Your podcast (this one, Gladbeck) lasted ca 1h25m In that time there were ca 7 ad interruptions 2 of which would last ca 20 mins if not jumped and another 2 lasting ca 45 mins, if not jumped the other ads last ca 2-3 mins if not jumped ironically while you were playing your own ad during the podcast and , it was interrupted by a YT ad. So that adds up to ca 170 minutes of ads, which is 2h and 50 mins of ad time So because of that I have to say by by and dont tell me about ad blocking, does not work

[@Johnconno]

An Audi, women, Australians, beer, uppers... Bloody amateurs mate!

[@seymore1532]

Enough with all the ads!!

[@Jolenesmart1980]

Better help have been called out for fraud???

[@reybrown9203]

Los tres secuestradores terminaron en la cárcel... Ninguno se suicidó, ninguno metió una pistola en su boca.

[@hawk0156]

WAYYYYYYY too many ads screw this!

[@DEATH-THE-GOAT]

They should have used GSG9

[@dingosmith9932]

Comments

[@hevtruthseeker]

Why does this sound like some made up bs.

[@sandygrogg1203]

Leave it to the media to make things worse...I really don’t like how the narrator pronounces anything that ends in an A or an R. It’s very annoying. I thunk it’s am affectation. Otherwise the podcast is well done.

[@HandOfThemis]

He's Australian, cut him some slack mate lol

[@georgia673]

he's Australian. That's how we talk lol. I find it a refreshing change from the usual American accents

[@ulalaFrugilega]

I love his accent, and I am German, so I know how horribly wrong he got most of the names. Still puzzling over why he would make Rheinland Pfalz sound the way he did. But again: his way of talking is one of the many reasons I have listened to every case of this podcast at least once, and many twice. (Just to put a weight to balance against your opinion, which I would fight for you to be able to have and declare ;0)

[@HandOfThemis]

@@ulalaFrugilega it's due to how Aussies often drag out A's and R's in an odd way. This mixed with German names that require crisp annunciation, leads to a whole new language being born lol.