Why did the billionaire's daughter rob a bank and how she became a terrorist: Patricia Hirst

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Sometimes it seems incredible how human destinies develop. Some have nothing, but by chance, and also thanks to talent, they become millionaires. Others, having all the opportunities, suddenly abandon everything and ruin their careers for the sake of one idea. The life of our today's heroine is incredible - she was rich from birth, could have received an excellent education, but fell into the clutches of terrorists and became their accomplice. What prompted her to this and how the further fate of the girl developed - read in our article.

Childhood

Patricia was born into the family of the famous American billionaire William Randolph Hirst. Her grandfather owned the real empire of the Hearst Corporation and was one of the most influential politicians. Even considering that the girl was born after the death of the famous grandfather, her future was more than guaranteed: the media mogul left more than $ 30 billion in modern money as an inheritance to his children and grandchildren. To outside observers, it seemed that the baby's life would go according to a successful scenario. And in the beginning it was like that.

The girl, born the third of five Hearst sisters, lived with her family in a luxurious mansion in Hillsborough, California. Her education was initially taught by the teachers of the elite institution for girls Crystal Springs, and later Santa Catalina in Monterey. Parents, on the other hand, were mostly busy with their "adult" affairs, providing the maturing girl with maximum freedom. No one controlled her hobbies, and minimal attention was paid to the safety of the child. In general, it was these gaps in upbringing that later played a cruel joke.

Abduction

A girl from a respectable American family had to choose a decent female profession. After receiving a school certificate, Patti first enters the prestigious Menlo College, and then becomes a student at the University of California, where he gets acquainted with the history of art. The girl quickly filled the spiritual vacuum created around her - her heart was won by her former mathematics teacher at Crystal Springs School, Stephen Widom. Her parents Randolph and Catherine were unhappy with the peculiar choice of a wealthy daughter - such a union seemed very unequal to them.

However, the wayward and accustomed to solving everything herself, the 19-year-old girl was stubborn. She packed up and moved in with the groom. 1974 began, and Patricia was actively making plans for the upcoming wedding. However, on February 4, the plans of the lovers were grossly violated. The attackers broke into the apartment in Berkeley, where the couple lived. The goal was not values and money - where would they come from in the house of a poor teacher. The kidnappers took Patricia, because surely for the daughter of a billionaire, you could get a great jackpot. The crime was well thought out, so the unexpected appearance of armed men shocked the alleged groom.

There was practically no resistance, which gave rise to the mother of Katherine Hirst to exclaim later: "Where did the real men go?" The kidnapping received widespread publicity and made known the small extremist group of the Symbionist Liberation Army (CLA). Its leader, Donald Defries, of African American descent, considered himself the leader of the anti-racist movement. It used extreme methods, be it violence, assault or robbery. The initial plan of the terrorists was to exchange Patricia for a couple of group members who were in prison at the time.

However, this option did not work. Then the leader of the group began to insist on providing food to all those in need of the state. However, even for a billionaire, such a task turned out to be impossible. Patty's father, after a lengthy bidding process, yielded to the intractable terrorists, allocating about two million dollars for the needs of the poor. But even this step did not return his daughter.

The robber daughter and her trial

Further developments showed that the SLA plans were more ambitious. Remembering that Patricia's grandfather profited from the sensational presentation of information and made propaganda the main instrument of profit, the terrorists decided to recruit a girl from a respectable American clan. Patricia has become a kind of symbol of their political struggle. As it turned out later, Patti was kept tied up in a small dark closet for more than a month, suppressing her will by all kinds of physical and moral actions. And then she was given the freedom of choice - to die or join their ranks. The girl did not have the strength to object. She received the military nickname Tanya in honor of Che Guevara's colleague, Latin American Tamara Bunke.

In early April 1974, Patricia's parents received a tape with an audio recording, where the iron voice of her daughter told them the news. She said she was joining terrorists to fight for peace and human rights. And already in mid-April, the security cameras of one of the banks, which was attacked, captured the girl's face among the robbers. Later, the version of Patricia Hirst's nonviolent participation began to actively promote in court - one of the FBI agents insisted that the video clearly shows that the girl is being directed to a crime by armed members of the SLA.

This continued until the fall. Patricia, along with new acquaintances, participated in other attacks, until she was finally caught. Of course, her father was not stingy with lawyers, who began to promote the version of huge psychological and physical pressure on the client. They argued that Patricia was forced to do bad things. Indeed, the girl lost a lot of weight, she was tormented by nightmares and blackouts. However, the forensic examination did not find strong deviations. Based on a huge amount of evidence and confessions of the girl, on March 20, 1976, the court issued a guilty verdict. She was sentenced to seven years in prison.

This story, as you might expect, has split American society into two camps. The debate has reached the point where the intervention of the president was required. Jimmy Carter has shortened his sentence. Patricia Hirst was released on February 1, 1979. Hell is over.

Further destiny

And then the girl was destined for another sharp turn in fate. Almost immediately after leaving prison, she gets married, and the chosen one becomes none other than her former jailer. Bernard Shaw was a police officer whom the girl met while in custody. They lived together for 34 years, until the death of her husband from cancer separated the spouses. Their children became famous - daughter Lydia made a career as a model and actress, and son Gillian continued the family business and became a secular reporter and editor.

Subsequently, the former hostage published her memoirs. The story of Patricia Hirst excited the hearts so much that several films were made based on it. The image of a revolutionary hostage has become a symbol of the radical movement of the 70s. And modern psychiatrists consider Patricia's case to be a classic example of Stockholm syndrome.