Gabriele Dillmann worked as a flight attendant for Lufthansa . In 1977 she was serving on Lufthansa Flight 181 when it was hijacked by Palestinian terrorists . During the ensuing protracted captivity , she was a pillar of support and hope for the other hostages , and was lionized by the German press . She was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for her role in the affair . She later married her fiance , Lufthansa pilot Rüdiger von Lutzau , who piloted the plane carrying the commandos of the rescue force . Two German-language films of the hijacking were made : '' Todesspiel '' ( '' Death Game '' , 1997 ) , in which she was played by Susanne Schäfer , and '' Mogadischu '' ( 2008 ) , in which Nadja Uhl plays her . Peter H. Jamin has made a short film '' Der Engel von Mogadischu '' ( The Angel of Mogadishu ) about Lutzau , covering both her role in the hijacking and her later life as an artist
Lufthansa Flight 181
Lufthansa Flight 181
Gabriele von Lutzau