Telegraaf photographer made historical image of Wijster train hijacking: ‘Then it was terrible!’

The train hijacking near Wijster is half a century behind us. Many Dutch people no longer know about it. And they are certainly not aware of the suffering that Wijster and the hostage takings have caused. Suffering that continues to this day and deserves no nuance. After the hostage-taking in the official residence of the Indonesian ambassador (1970), Wijster was the second Moluccan terrorist action that resulted in deaths in the 1970s. The hijackers shot the train driver as he fled and executed two passengers in cold blood to further their demands. The photo of the murder of Bert Bierling was printed large on page three of De Telegraaf. With presenter Wilson Boldewijn, maker of the historical image, Jan Stappenbeld, looks back on the hijacking in 1975.

ttn-2