Bjørn Schouw Nielsen

Bjørn Schouw Nielsen (1914-1974) was a criminal convicted by the Danish Supreme Court for the 1951 hypnosis murders. The Copenhagen hypnosis murders were a series of events in which Palle Hardrup, a former cellmate of Schouw Nielsen, carried out an armed robbery of a bank in Copenhagen.

Hardrup shot two bank employees during the robbery. The Danish Supreme Court ruled that Nielsen had hypnotised Hardrup into committing the crimes, and Nielsen was sentenced to life imprisonment. Hardrup was also suspected of another bank robbery in 1950. However, the loot from that robbery was never found. The investigation into the hypnosis murders was led by forensic investigator Roland Olsen.[1]

Bjørn Schouw Nielsen served several terms in prison, the first time at the age of 16. During the Second World War, Nielsen smuggled Jews from Denmark to Sweden, but after shooting a German soldier, he betrayed the Jews in order to reconcile with the Germans. During the Danish Nazi occupation, Nielsen was also a member of the Nazi volunteer corps, Frikorps Danmark. Later, however, he also betrayed the Germans.[2]

After the war, Bjørn Schouw Nielsen served a long sentence in Horsens State Prison for treason. His cellmate in Horsens was Palle Hardrup, who shared his interest in yoga, oriental philosophy and hypnosis. At the trial of the hypnosis murders, Palle Hardrup testified that Nielsen had hypnotised him to commit the crimes.

Nielsen was released from prison in 1967. After his release, he practiced hypnosis in his practice and wrote a book on hypnosis,[3] although at the Hypnosis Murders Inquiry he denied knowledge of the subject. Bjørn Schouw Nielsen committed suicide by cyanide in 1974.

Murderous Trance (The Guardian Angel) (2018), directed and written by Arto Halonen, is a film about the hypnosis murders. Bjørn Schouw Nielsen is played by the American actor Josh Lucas. Pilou Asbæk plays Anders Olsen, a character based on the detective Roland Olsen, and Cyron Melville plays Palle Hardrup. The cast also includes Rade Serbedzija and Finns Sara Soulié, Pamela Tola and Mikko Nousiainen.[4]