page_title: 1975 Dutch train hostage crisis
section_title: Developments
hierarchical_section_title: 1975 Dutch train hostage crisis / Developments
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: Collectie / Archief&#160;: Fotocollectie Anefo Reportage / Serie&#160;: [ onbekend ] Beschrijving&#160;: Treingijzeling Wijster (zesde en zevende dag); afzetting met gewapende militairen en pantserwagens Datum&#160;: 7 december 1975 Locatie&#160;: Drenthe, Wijster Trefwoorden&#160;: MILITAIREN, PANTSERWAGENS, Treinen, gijzelingen Fotograaf&#160;: Verhoeff, Bert / Anefo Auteursrechthebbende&#160;: Nationaal Archief Materiaalsoort&#160;: Negatief (zwart/wit) Nummer archiefinventaris&#160;: bekijk toegang 2.24.01.05 Bestanddeelnummer&#160;: 928-3118
context_page_description: On 2 December 1975, seven South Moluccans seized a train with about 50 passengers on board in open countryside near the village of Wijster, halfway between Hoogeveen and Beilen in the northern part of the Netherlands. The hijacking lasted for 12 days and three hostages were killed.
  At the same time, seven other South-Moluccans took hostages in the Indonesian Consulate in Amsterdam.
  The attackers came from Bovensmilde, a village where a few years later another group of South Moluccans seized a primary school. The attackers hid their weapons disguised as presents for the Sinterklaas holiday on 5 December.
context_section_description: Around 07:10 the emergency cord was pulled on the local train Groningen-Zwolle. The traindriver, Hans Braam,  was immediately murdered. When on the third day the Dutch government had not given the hijackers what they wanted, 22-year-old national serviceman Leo Bulter was murdered and both bodies were thrown out of the train on the rails. That night 14 hostages managed to escape from the train.
  The next day young economist Bert Bierling was brought to the doors and shot dead in full view of the police and the military as well as the press. The dead bodies thrown from the train were only allowed to be taken away a couple of days later.
  On 14 December the hijackers surrendered. Among reasons for surrender were reports about retaliation on the Moluccan islands and the sub-zero temperatures in and around the train.
caption: Military roadblock at Wijster
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