The author is a member of the editor-in-chief of “Zeit-Magazin”.
What is a bank robbery versus starting a bank? Bertolt Brecht once asked that. Well, both have definitely become rare.
Last year there were only around 80 raids on bank branches in Germany. That is very little. As recently as 1993, bank robberies were recorded more than 20 times. On the one hand, this is due to the fact that there are fewer and fewer banks. That makes the journeys for bank robbers longer and longer. Many bank robbers are apparently no longer willing to do this.
Today only those who urgently need money and are not very good at risk assessment become bank robbers. Because bank robberies are very often solved, most of them do not get very far. In addition, the cash holdings in bank branches are pretty low, so there isn’t really much to get.
Organized crime has long since withdrawn from business, and people rely on Internet crime or the blowing up of ATMs. You can do this after the counter closes without any problems, so the working hours are much more flexible. It looks like the bank robber, once one of the most respected criminal professions, will soon be just a lover’s thing.
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Problem for the culture industry
This is primarily a problem for the culture industry. How can a decent thriller be made without someone storming into a counter, waving their hands and shooting in the air. It just looks more like someone slurping Club Mate through a firewall.
How do you actually imagine future chases in the cinema when there are no more patrol cars racing after criminal cars?
In addition, the bank robber was always a class topic. The little man breaks the rules of society and takes money away from the big bank, of which it has more than enough. And he scares all good, conformist citizens.
For cybercrime, on the other hand, you need a degree in computer science. So the bank robber is dying out, but he was so good at it right now. Because the most treacherous thing about bank robbers, the mask that he has to put on before he enters the bank and that he tears off his head again when he starts to flee, has now become an everyday item.
A few weeks ago a bank robber attacked a savings bank in Lörrach. He simply fled on foot with the money he had stolen and could not be caught weeks later. He was wearing a medical mask at the bank. So you are perfectly camouflaged.
It’s a tragic irony of fate. Now, of all times, when we all look like bank robbers, this industry is dying out.
More: Generation Z: In search of meaning.