Totally Booked with Zibby

Host: Zibby Owens
Guest: Mimi Nichter (Author of A Memoir of Terrorism, Trauma, and Resilience)
Date: March 2, 2026

Episode Overview

In this powerful episode, Zibby Owens interviews Mimi Nichter, cultural and medical anthropologist and author of A Memoir of Terrorism, Trauma, and Resilience. Mimi recounts her harrowing experience as a hostage during a 1970 airplane hijacking by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), exploring not only the details of the event but also the personal, cultural, and psychological aftermath. The conversation delves into trauma, the evolution of public discourse on mental health, the legacy of silence, and the enduring relevance of her story today.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

The Hijacking: A First-Person Account

[05:28-08:38]

• Mimi sets the scene: in 1970, at 20 years old, she boards a flight home from Israel after a summer on a kibbutz. Mid-flight over Brussels, hijackers armed with a gun and grenade seize the plane.
• The hijackers announce themselves as members of the PFLP and reroute the aircraft to "a friendly country," which turns out to be a makeshift runway in the Jordanian desert—Dawson’s Field.
• The tension onboard: “He [the neighbor] looked down, and he said, ‘There's nothing there...we’re in a desert. There’s no runway here. There’s no terminal. There’s just some cans with torches in it.’” (Mimi Nichter, 07:34)
• The realization of danger grows as passengers see desert fighters with guns awaiting them outside the plane.

Living Through and After the Trauma

[08:38-13:03]

• Mimi admits she didn’t process the trauma or speak of it for decades. The cultural climate of the 1970s did not make space for discussing mental health or trauma, especially for women.
• Her upbringing in a Brooklyn Jewish household, where family secrets such as her brother’s mental illness were kept private, taught her to suppress abnormal or painful experiences:
  • “We learned from a very early age not to talk about those problems... That becomes a way you deal with things that you find abnormal. And certainly, this trauma that I had was out of the ordinary and I didn't have the words for it at home.” (Mimi Nichter, 09:53)
• After returning, she experienced fleeting notoriety but purposely faded from the spotlight, unable and unwilling to process or publicly revisit the ordeal.

The Evolution of Trauma Discourse

[13:03-15:05]

• Society’s understanding of trauma, PTSD, and psychological help has changed. In 1970, therapy was not offered to survivors; events were “swept under the rug.”
• The incident directly led to modern airport security:
  • “We had metal detectors today, because right after that, Nixon put them into place in airports.” (Mimi Nichter, 14:42)

Coping Mechanisms: Laughter and Connection

[15:09-16:59]

• Humor—“gallows humor” especially—was vital for surviving the ordeal.
  • “Laughter was very important...Bonding with people on the plane was something that was so important.” (Mimi Nichter, 15:34)
• Children were kept distracted by makeshift games and songs, creating something like a summer camp amid terror.
• The atmosphere necessitated strength in front of others: tears had to be suppressed to avoid panicking fellow hostages.
  • “I felt I had to stay strong for everybody, because if people saw me crying, well, they might cry, too.” (Mimi Nichter, 21:17)

Community, Compassion, and Humanity

[21:56-23:18]

• Zibby brings up an episode where a woman’s desperate cries for her husband led the captors to reunite them, a glimpse of shared humanity even among violence.

Historical Echoes and Jewish Identity

[23:18-28:40]

• The hijacking echoed the recent (then) horrors of the Holocaust for many survivors on board.
  • “There were people on the plane who had survived the Holocaust. And those people understood what was happening, in a way, the potential of what was happening right away.” (Mimi Nichter, 24:06)
• Mimi reflects on the themes of “othering,” divisiveness, and simplistic narratives imposed by both captors and society at large.
  • “They just saw me in one way...If anything I took away from my experience was that this othering...is so difficult. What side are you on kind of thing. That's not how I wrote about the book.” (Mimi Nichter, 26:25)

Purpose and Hopes for the Book

[28:40-30:20]

• Mimi hopes the book reaches many readers—most of whom will never experience such an extreme trauma—but offers them insight into unspoken trauma, resilience, and the ability to survive and heal.
• “You can be a hostage to your own trauma...We carry these things with us, and I really live with that. So I hope people take away that message, that...we can live. We can carry these things. We can open up at some time, at any time in our life, and it makes a difference.” (Mimi Nichter, 29:07)

Family, Legacy, and Moving Forward

[30:20-31:41]

• Mimi updates on her brother (who had schizophrenia and was cared for lovingly until his passing) and her sister. She discusses coming to terms with the family’s once-hidden struggles and writing about it to de-stigmatize shame around mental illness.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the hijacking's shock:
  “A man and a woman run down the aisle, and he has a gun, she has a grenade...they say, ‘This is a hijacking. We're from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and we're taking you to a friendly country.’ And honestly, I didn't know enough to be afraid.”
  — Mimi Nichter, [05:49]

• On silence and culture:
  “In 1970, we didn’t talk about trauma in the way we talk about both mental health and personal trauma today. They were topics that were kept under wraps culturally, maybe taken to an extent, you know, far extent to my family, but certainly for women not to say too much.”
  — Mimi Nichter, [10:40]

• On the persistence of trauma:
  “We can be a hostage to your own trauma...and we carry these things with us. I hope people take away that message.”
  — Mimi Nichter, [29:07]

• On “othering”:
  “This othering of people...is so difficult and so, you know, what side are you on kind of thing. That's not how I wrote about the book.”
  — Mimi Nichter, [26:25]

Important Timestamps

• The hijacking unfolds: [05:28–08:38]
• Processing trauma and returning home: [08:38–13:03]
• Jewish identity, historical echoes, and survivor experience: [23:18–28:40]
• Hopes for the memoir and lessons about resilience: [28:40–30:20]
• Legacy and family reflections: [30:20–31:41]

Final Thoughts

This episode is a riveting firsthand account of surviving a landmark event in the history of terrorism and air travel, delivered with a nuanced exploration of its long-term psychological impact. Mimi Nichter’s story is not only a valuable piece of living history but a universal reflection on trauma, resilience, and the slow evolution of public conversations around mental health. Both educational and deeply moving, the interview stands as a testament to human endurance and the necessity of storytelling.