Germany: Film version of Gladbeck hostage drama gets the green light despite murderer's personality rights issues
by Ingo Beckendorf
The planned film version of a real hostage drama, which happened in the German town of Gladbeck in 1988, is legally permissible. The general personality rights (rights over personal publicity) of one of the hostage-takers and condemned murderers do not conflict with the realisation of the film project.
"Dieter Degowski and Hans-Juergen Roesner brutally robbed a branch of the Deutsche Bank in Gladbeck [then West Germany] and took two employees hostage. They demanded 300,000 Marks and a fast getaway car. They were granted both. But it was then that the real drama began to…
