"Tatort" in the check Were there hostage-takings by right-wing extremists in Switzerland?

Julian Weinberger

19.1.2025

In "Tatort: Verblendung" with Lannert (Richy Müller) and Bootz (Felix Klare), right-wing terrorists occupy a Stuttgart movie theater to free their comrades. Has it ever happened before - a hostage-taking by right-wing extremists?

No time? blue News summarizes for you

  • Hostage drama instead of a nice evening at the movies: Stuttgart detective Bootz (Felix Klare) becomes the victim of right-wing extremist hostage-takers in the new "Tatort".
  • Meanwhile, his colleague Lannert (Richy Müller) tries everything to solve the dicey situation without escalation.
  • Have there been similar cases of right-wing extremist hostage-taking in Switzerland?

Split screen in the German "Tatort", i.e. a split screen with two simultaneous actions: You rarely see something like that. Perhaps in "Tatort: Verblendung" it was an homage to the 1970s, when thriller cinema liked to use this stylistic device.

The case of a hostage-taking in the Stuttgart cinema was somewhat reminiscent of the genre cinema of those days. In addition, split screen was the only way to show Lannert (Richy Müller) and Bootz (Felix Klare) together.

One inspector was a hostage, the other part of the crisis team outside the movie theater. So this time it wasn't a buddy investigation for the likeably mischievous Stuttgart pair.

The right-wing hostage-takers' demand in the film was interesting: they feared that comrades in prison would be killed by the state. But do German right-wing terrorists even "work" with hostage-taking? Is there a real case as a model? And who played the equally stressful and stressed hostage-taker?

What is it all about?

Lannert (Richy Müller) asked his partner Bootz (Felix Klare) to go to a movie screening for him. The state and the police had invited him to an event.

As soon as the screening with prominent guests had begun, two hostage-takers threatened the moviegoers with their weapons. There was an exchange of gunfire, one security guard died - several people were able to escape from the movie theater.

Bootz caught one of the hostage-takers in the fight: Steffen Lippert (Christoph Franken) was seriously injured. However, he and his accomplice Karin Urbanski (Anna Schimrigk) did not think of giving up. Their demand was that right-wing extremists should be released from the prison in Stuttgart-Stammheim because they were on a secret state death list.

While the situation in the cinema escalated, Lannert, as part of the SOKO, tried to find out outside the cinema whether there was any truth to the right-wing terrorists' accusations - and how they could be tricked.

What is it really about?

The experienced "Tatort" author duo Katharina Adler and Rudi Gaul (also director), who created the powerful episode "Videobeweis" for the Stuttgart police station and were most recently responsible for the AI eco-thriller "Tatort: Borowski und das ewige Meer", tell of two things: firstly, the emotional dynamics of a hostage situation and secondly, the accusation by right-wingers that the state is secretly killing their imprisoned comrades.

The latter a classic conspiracy theory? Lannert, a very sober investigator, pursues it anyway - which is the more interesting part of the plot.

The terrorists' theory follows the current trend of delegitimizing the state: According to it, politicians are criminals and masterminds of an unjust state, police and other authorities their compliant accomplices. A dangerous but popular conspiracy theory that helps to radicalize people.

Have there been hostage-takings by right-wing extremists in Germany?

Hostage-taking is more associated with the left-wing terrorism of the RAF in the 1970s. Back then, there was the hostage-taking at the German embassy in Stockholm (1975) as well as the closely linked kidnapping of Hanns Martin Schleyer and the hijacking of the Lufthansa plane "Landshut" by Arab allies (both in 1977). In each case, the aim of the RAF was to free comrades-in-arms who were in prison.

In fact, terrorism today hardly ever involves hostage-taking. Perhaps because the demands of the perpetrators are rarely met (the state does not want to show itself vulnerable to blackmail). And because it's not about ransoming like-minded people.

The terror of recent decades is one of attacks and murders. In Germany, these were Islamist attacks and the right-wing murders of the NSU. There are hardly any prominent hostage-takings by right-wing extremists in Germany.

Have there been right-wing extremist hostage-takings in Switzerland?

Although Swiss authorities have also published planned acts of right-wing terrorism, mainly by young perpetrators who came together on the internet, there have been no significant attacks or even hostage-takings to date.

In February 2024, a hostage-taking on a regional train near Yverdon attracted a lot of attention: a 32-year-old Iranian asylum seeker took twelve passengers and the train driver hostage. The perpetrator was shot dead, the hostages were unharmed. In general, however, hostage-takings are fortunately extremely rare in Switzerland. Statistically, there are about three cases per year.

Who played the terrorist?

Interestingly, actress Anna Schimrigk, born in 1992, has played a right-wing extremist twice before: In a "SOKO Leipzig" episode from 2017, she embodied a violent opponent of Islam. As this apparently went down well with the producers, Schimrigk was also cast for the episode "Colonia Germania", which aired in February 2021, where she plays the leader of the Leipzig identitarian movement.

To save the blonde Berliner's honor, however, it should be said that she also played numerous other roles. For example, in the series "Big Dating" (2020), she plays the best friend of the main character, an app developer, who is about to become a mother, and in the ARD series "Die Notärztin", which will probably continue in 2025, she plays a firefighter.

What's next for Stuttgart's "Tatort"?

In the fall of 2024, a "Tatort" episode with the working title "Ex-It" was filmed in Stuttgart. It is about the tragic death of a small child and the possible abduction of the sibling. Lannert and Bootz get to know a couple trapped in a special kind of marital hell - a former glamor girl and an influencer manager. Kim Riedle and Hans Löw are the guest stars. Wolfgang Stauch wrote the script and Friederike Jehn directed.

The episode with the working title "Survive at least until tomorrow" (written by Katrin Bühlig, directed by Milena Aboyan), which was shot some time ago, is likely to be shown first. It is about a young woman who has apparently been lying dead in her apartment for weeks. Why did no one miss her?


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