Held Up in Moscow

Theatergoers in Moscow find themselves in a life or death drama

By Colin Allen, published on October 01, 2002

Stunned theatergoers suddenly found themselves in a real life drama when a band of Chechen rebels stormed into a popular Moscow theater and took 700 people hostage. The musical "Nord-Ost" --meaning "North-East"--was preparing to begin its second act on October 23 when rebels stormed the Palace of Culture, taking control of the building for what is now going on two days. Judging by the unprecedented number of hostages, experts worry that it is only a matter of time before things get worse.

Captives' responses to a hostage situation fall along a continuum, according to Herbert Neiburg, Ph.D., a hostage negotiator based out of Four Winds Hospital in Westchester, New York. On the left, he explains, are people "crying, begging and pleading not to be killed." In the middle—the most healthy position to be in—are those who are afraid and yet bide their time to avoid inviting danger. And on the right are "John Wayne characters;" those who confront their aggressors. "The most dangerous are the extreme left and extreme right," says Neiburg. "They are the ones most likely to be killed."

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Another common complication in hostage situations is a human defense mechanism called the Stockholm syndrome, in which hostages come to empathize with the captors and their cause. Inside the Palace of Culture, Neiburg surmises, there is probably a large group of people that has taken sides with the Chechens. "We in the law enforcement field hate [the Stockholm syndrome]. These hostages frequently make a lot of trouble for us," he says. "Usually there is a polarity; the Stockholm people versus the other hostages. "

Of course, no one knows for certain what is happening inside the Russian theater, but with so many hostages, there will likely be some type of group behavior that pushes them to act irrationally. "I suspect that a group of people is going to try to figure out how to take the rebels down," predicts Neiburg.