text:
Munich massacre
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This article is about the 1972 massacre. For the 1980 bombing, see Oktoberfest bombing. For the 2016 mass shooting, see 2016 Munich shooting.
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
1972 Munich Massacre
One of the most reproduced photos taken during the siege captured a kidnapper on the balcony attached to Munich Olympic village Building 31, where members of the Israeli Olympic team and delegation were quartered.[1][2]
Munich
Location
Munich, West Germany
Coordinates
48°10′46.9″N 11°32′57.1″E / 48.179694°N 11.549194°E / 48.179694; 11.549194Coordinates: 48°10′46.9″N 11°32′57.1″E / 48.179694°N 11.549194°E / 48.179694; 11.549194
Date
5–6 September 1972
4:31 am – 12:04 am (UTC+1)
Target
Israeli Olympic team
Attack type
Hostage-taking
Mass murder
Massacre
Deaths
17 total (including perpetrators)
6 Israeli coaches
5 Israeli athletes
5 Black September members
1 West German police officer
Perpetrators
Black September
Motive
Israeli–Palestinian conflict
[show]
v
t
e
Palestinian insurgency
in South Lebanon
Engagements
El Al Flight 426 hijacking
El Al Flight 253 attack
retaliation raid
El Al Flight 432 attack
TWA Flight 840 hijacking (1969)
Avivim school bus bombing
Lod Airport massacre
Sabena Flight 571
Kiryat Shmona massacre
Ma'alot massacre
1974 Nahariya attack
Savoy Hotel attack
Kfar Yuval hostage crisis
Coastal Road massacre
1978 South Lebanon conflict
1979 Nahariya attack
Misgav Am hostage crisis
1982 Lebanon War
International incidents
Munich massacre
Operation Wrath of God
1972 raid
1973 raid
Sabena Flight 571 hijacking
Attack on the Saudi Embassy in Khartoum
1973 New York City bomb plot
TWA Flight 841 (1974)
Pan Am Flight 110
Operation Entebbe
The Munich massacre was an attack during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, at which eleven Israeli Olympic team members were taken hostage and eventually killed, along with a German police officer, by the Palestinian terrorist group Black September.[3][4][5][6]
Shortly after the crisis began, they demanded 234 prisoners jailed in Israel and the German-held founders of the Red Army Faction (Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof) be released.[7][8] Black September called the operation "Iqrit and Biram",[9] after two Palestinian Christian villages whose inhabitants were expelled by the IDF in 1948.
The attack was motivated by secular nationalism, with the commander of the terrorist group, Luttif Afif, having been born to Jewish and Christian parents.[10] German neo-Nazis gave the attackers logistical assistance.[11]
Police officers killed five of the eight Black September members during a failed rescue attempt. A German policeman was killed in the crossfire. They captured the three survivors, whom West Germany released the next month following the hijacking of Lufthansa Flight 615. Mossad responded to the release with the 1973 Israeli raid on Lebanon and Operation Wrath of God, tracking down and killing Palestinians suspected of involvement in the massacre.[citation needed]
On 3 August 2016, two days prior to the start of the 2016 Summer Olympics, the International Olympic Committee officially honored the eleven Israelis killed for the first time.[12]
Contents
[hide]
1 Prelude
1.1 Accusation of German foreknowledge of the attack
2 Hostage-taking
3 International reaction
4 Negotiations
5 Failed rescue
5.1 Ambush plan
5.2 Failure
5.3 Massacre
5.4 Outcome
5.5 Criticism
6 Aftermath
6.1 Effect on the Games
6.2 Israeli response
6.3 Alleged German cover-up
7 Surviving Black September members
7.1 Abu Daoud
8 List of fatalities
9 Memorials gallery
10 Media
11 See also
12 References
13 Further reading
14 External links
Prelude
At the time of the hostage-taking, the 1972 Summer Olympics was in their second week. The West German Olympic Organizing Committee had hoped to discard the military image of Germany. The Committee was wary of the image portrayed by the 1936 Summer Olympics, which Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler used for his benefit. Security personnel known as Olys were inconspicuous and only prepared to deal with ticket fraud and drunkenness.[13][14] The documentary film One Day in September claims that security in the athletes' village was unfit for the Games and that athletes could come and go as they pleased. Athletes could sneak past security, and go to other countries' rooms, by going over the fencing that encompassed the village.[14]
The absence of armed personnel had worried Israeli delegation head Shmuel Lalkin even before his team arrived in Munich. In later interviews with journalists Serge Groussard and Aaron Klein, Lalkin said that he had also expressed concern with the relevant authorities about his team's lodgings. The team was housed in a relatively isolated part of the Olympic Village, on the ground floor of a small building close to a gate, which Lalkin felt made his team particularly vulnerable to an outside assault. The West German authorities apparently assured Lalkin that extra security would be provided to look after the Israeli team, but Lalkin doubts that these additional measures were ever taken.[14]
Olympic organizers asked West German forensic psychologist Georg Sieber to create 26 terrorism scenarios to aid the organizers in planning security. His "Situation 21" accurately forecast armed Palestinians invading the Israeli delegation's quarters, killing and taking hostages, and demanding Israel's release of prisoners and a plane to leave West Germany. Organizers balked against preparing for Situation 21 and the other scenarios, since guarding the Games against them would have gone against the goal of "Carefree Games" without heavy security.[14]
Accusation of German foreknowledge of the attack
The German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel wrote in a cover story in 2012 that the West German authorities had a tip-off from a Palestinian informant in Beirut three weeks before the massacre. The informant told West Germany that Palestinians were planning an "incident" at the Olympic Games, and the Foreign Ministry in Bonn viewed the tip-off seriously enough to pass it on to the secret service in Munich and urge that "all possible security measures" be taken.
However, according to Der Spiegel, the authorities failed to act on the tip, and have never acknowledged it in the following 40 years. The magazine further adds that this is only part of a 40-year cover-up by the German authorities of the mishandling its response to the massacre.[15][dubious – discuss]
Hostage-taking
This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
The site where the hostages were taken is almost unchanged today. The window of Apartment 1 is to the left of and below the balcony.
On Monday evening, 4 September, the Israeli athletes enjoyed a night out, watching a performance of Fiddler on the Roof and dining with the play's star, Israeli actor Shmuel Rodensky, before returning to the Olympic Village.[16] On the return trip in the team bus, Lalkin denied his 13-year-old son, who had befriended weightlifter Yossef Romano and wrestler Eliezer Halfin, permission to spend the night in their apartment at Connollystraße 31 — which saved the boy's life.[17]
At 4:30 am local time on 5 September, as the athletes slept, eight tracksuit-clad members of the Black September faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization, carrying duffel bags loaded with AKM assault rifles, Tokarev pistols, and grenades, scaled a 2-metre (6 1⁄2 ft) chain-link fence with the assistance of unsuspecting athletes who were also sneaking into the Olympic Village. The athletes were originally identified as Americans, but were claimed to be Canadians decades later.[18]
Once inside, the Black September members used stolen keys to enter two apartments being used by the Israeli team at Connollystraße 31.[19] Yossef Gutfreund, a wrestling referee, was awakened by a faint scratching noise at the door of Apartment 1, which housed the Israeli coaches and officials. When he investigated, he saw the door begin to open and masked men with guns on the other side. He shouted a warning to his sleeping roommates and threw his 135 kg (300 lbs) weight against the door in a futile attempt to stop the intruders from forcing their way in. Gutfreund's actions gave his roommate, weightlifting coach Tuvia Sokolovsky, enough time to smash a window and escape. Wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg fought the intruders, who shot him through his cheek and then forced him to help them find more hostages.[20]
Leading the intruders past Apartment 2, Weinberg lied by telling them that the residents of the apartment were not Israelis. Instead, Weinberg led them to Apartment 3; there, the gunmen corralled six wrestlers and weightlifters as additional hostages. It is possible that Weinberg had hoped that the stronger men would have a better chance of fighting off the attackers than those in Apartment 2, but they were all surprised in their sleep.[20]
As the athletes from Apartment 3 were marched back to the coaches' apartment, the wounded Weinberg again attacked the gunmen, allowing one of his wrestlers, Gad Tsobari, to escape via the underground parking garage.[21] Weinberg knocked one of the intruders unconscious and slashed at another with a fruit knife but failed to draw blood before being shot to death.[22]
Weightlifter Yossef Romano, a veteran of the Six-Day War, also attacked and wounded one of the intruders before being shot and killed. In its publication of 1 December 2015, the New York Times reported that Romano was castrated after he was shot.[23]
The gunmen were left with nine hostages. They were, in addition to Gutfreund, sharpshooting coach Kehat Shorr, track and field coach Amitzur Shapira, fencing master Andre Spitzer, weightlifting judge Yakov Springer, wrestlers Eliezer Halfin and Mark Slavin, and weightlifters David Berger and Ze'ev Friedman. Berger was an expatriate American with dual citizenship; Slavin, at 18 the youngest of the hostages, had only arrived in Israel from the Soviet Union four months before the Olympic Games began. Gutfreund, physically the largest of the hostages, was bound to a chair (Groussard describes him as being tied up like a mummy); the rest were lined up four apiece on the two beds in Springer and Shapira's room, and bound at the wrists and ankles and then to each other. Romano's bullet-riddled corpse was left at his bound comrades' feet as a warning. Several of the hostages were beaten during the stand-off, with some suffering broken bones as a result.[23]
Of the other members of Israel's team, racewalker Shaul Ladany had been jolted awake in Apartment 2 by Gutfreund's screams. He jumped from the second-story balcony of his room and fled to the American dormitory, awakening U.S. track coach Bill Bowerman and informing him of the attack.[24][25][26]
Ladany, a survivor of the Nazi Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, was the first person to spread the alert as to the attack.[24] The other four residents of Apartment 2 (sharpshooters Henry Hershkowitz and Zelig Shtroch, and fencers Dan Alon and Yehuda Weisenstein), plus chef de mission Shmuel Lalkin and the two team doctors, managed to hide and later fled the besieged building. The two female members of Israel's Olympic team, sprinter and hurdler Esther Shahamorov and swimmer Shlomit Nir, were housed in a separate part of the Olympic Village. Three more members of Israel's Olympic team, two sailors and their manager, were housed in Kiel, 900 kilometres (600 mi) from Munich.[citation needed]
The attackers were subsequently reported to be part of the Palestinian terrorists from refugee camps in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. They were identified as Luttif Afif (using the codename Issa), the leader (three of Issa's brothers were also reportedly members of Black September, two of them in Israeli jails), his deputy Yusuf Nazzal ("Tony"), and junior members Afif Ahmed Hamid ("Paolo"), Khalid Jawad ("Salah"), Ahmed Chic Thaa ("Abu Halla"), Mohammed Safady ("Badran"), Adnan Al-Gashey ("Denawi"), and Al-Gashey's cousin, Jamal Al-Gashey ("Samir").[27]
According to author Simon Reeve, Afif (the son of a Jewish mother and Christian father), Nazzal, and one of their confederates, had all worked in various capacities in the Olympic Village, and had spent a couple of weeks scouting out their potential target. A member of the Uruguayan Olympic delegation, which shared housing with the Israelis, claimed that he found Nazzal actually inside 31 Connollystraße less than 24 hours before the attack, but since he was recognized as a worker in the Village, nothing was thought of it at the time. The other members of the group entered Munich via train and plane in the days before the attack. All of the members of the Uruguay and Hong Kong Olympic teams, which also shared the building with the Israelis, were released unharmed during the crisis.[citation needed]
International reaction
On 5 September, Golda Meir, then Prime Minister of Israel, appealed to other countries to "save our citizens and condemn the unspeakable criminal acts committed." She also stated that "if we [Israel] should give in, then no Israeli anywhere in the world shall feel that his life is safe ... it's blackmail of the worst kind."[citation needed]
King Hussein of Jordan, the only leader of an Arab country to denounce the attack publicly, called it a "savage crime against civilization ... perpetrated by sick minds."[28]
U.S. President Richard Nixon privately discussed a number of possible American responses, such as declaring a national day of mourning (favored by Secretary of State William P. Rogers), or having Nixon fly to the athletes' funerals. Nixon and Henry Kissinger decided instead to press the United Nations to take steps against international terrorism.[29]
Negotiations
The hostage-takers demanded the release of 234 Palestinians and non-Arabs jailed in Israel, along with two German insurgents held by the German penitentiary system, Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof, who were founders of the German Red Army Faction. The hostage-takers threw the body of Weinberg out the front door of the residence to demonstrate their resolve. Israel's response was immediate and absolute: there would be no negotiation. Israel's official policy at the time was to refuse to negotiate with terrorists under any circumstances, as according to the Israeli government such negotiations would give an incentive to future attacks.
It has been claimed[by whom?] that the German authorities, under the leadership of Chancellor Willy Brandt and Minister for the Interior Hans-Dietrich Genscher, rejected Israel's offer to send an Israeli special forces unit to Germany.[30] The Bavarian interior minister Bruno Merk, who headed the crisis centre jointly with Genscher and Munich's police chief Manfred Schreiber, denies that such an Israeli offer ever existed.[31]
According to journalist John K. Cooley, the hostage situation presented an extremely difficult political situation for the Germans because the hostages were Jewish. Cooley reported that the Germans offered the Palestinians an unlimited amount of money for the release of the athletes, as well as the substitution by high-ranking Germans. However, the kidnappers refused both offers.[28]
Munich police chief Manfred Schreiber, and Bruno Merk, interior minister of Bavaria, negotiated directly with the kidnappers, repeating the offer of an unlimited amount of money. According to Cooley, the reply was that "money means nothing to us; our lives mean nothing to us." Magdi Gohary and Mohammad Khadif, both Egyptian advisers to the Arab League, and A.D. Touny, an Egyptian member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) also helped try to win concessions from the kidnappers, but to no avail. However, the negotiators apparently were able to convince the terrorists that their demands were being considered, as "Issa" granted a total of five deadline extensions. Elsewhere in the village, athletes carried on as normal, seemingly oblivious of the events unfolding nearby. The Games continued until mounting pressure on the IOC forced a suspension some 12 hours after the first athlete had been murdered. United States marathon runner Frank Shorter, observing the unfolding events from the balcony of his nearby lodging, was quoted as saying, "Imagine those poor guys over there. Every five minutes a psycho with a machine gun says, 'Let's kill 'em now,' and someone else says, 'No, let's wait a while.' How long could you stand that?"[32]
Israeli hostages Kehat Shorr (left) and Andre Spitzer (right) talk to German officials during the hostage crisis.
At 4:30 pm, a squad of 38 German police was dispatched to the Olympic Village. Dressed in Olympic sweatsuits (some also wearing Stahlhelme and carrying Walther MP sub-machine guns), they were members of the German border-police, although according to former Munich policeman Heinz Hohensinn[33] they were regular Munich police officers, with no experience in combat or hostage rescue. Their plan was to crawl down from the ventilation shafts and kill the terrorists. The police took up positions awaiting the codeword "Sunshine", which upon hearing, they were to begin the assault. In the meantime, camera crews filmed the actions of the officers from the German apartments, and broadcast the images live on television. Thus, the terrorists were able to watch the police prepare to attack. Footage shows one of the kidnappers peering from the balcony door while one of the police officers stood on the roof less than 20 ft (6 m) from him. In the end, after "Issa" threatened to kill two of the hostages, the police retreated from the premises.[34]
At one point during the crisis, the negotiators demanded direct contact with the hostages to satisfy themselves the Israelis were still alive. Fencing coach Andre Spitzer, who spoke fluent German, and shooting coach Kehat Shorr, the senior member of the Israeli delegation, had a brief conversation with German officials while standing at the second-floor window of the besieged building, with two kidnappers holding guns on them. When Spitzer attempted to answer a question, he was clubbed with the butt of an AK-47 in full view of international television cameras and pulled away from the window. A few minutes later, Hans-Dietrich Genscher and Walter Tröger, the mayor of the Olympic Village, were briefly allowed into the apartments to speak with the hostages. Tröger spoke of being very moved by the dignity with which the Israelis held themselves, and that they seemed resigned to their fate.[30]
Tröger noticed that several of the hostages, especially Gutfreund, showed signs of having suffered physical abuse at the hands of the kidnappers, and that David Berger had been shot in his left shoulder. While being debriefed by the crisis team, Genscher and Tröger told them that they had seen "four or five" attackers inside the apartment. Fatefully, these numbers were accepted as definitive. While Genscher and Tröger were talking with the hostages, Kehat Shorr had told the Germans that the Israelis would not object to being flown to an Arab country, provided that strict guarantees for their safety were made by the Germans and whichever nation they landed in. At 6 pm Munich time, the Palestinians issued a new dictate, demanding transportation to Cairo.[citation needed]
Failed rescue
This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Ambush plan
The authorities feigned agreement to the Cairo demand (although Egyptian Prime Minister Aziz Sedki had already told the German authorities that the Egyptians did not wish to become involved in the hostage crisis).[35]
Two Bell UH-1 military helicopters were to transport the terrorists and hostages to nearby Fürstenfeldbruck, a NATO airbase. Initially, the perpetrators' plan was to go to Riem, which was the international airport near Munich at the time, but the negotiators convinced them that Fürstenfeldbruck would be more practical. The authorities, who preceded the Black Septemberists and hostages in a third helicopter, had an ulterior motive: they planned an armed assault at the airport.[citation needed]
Realizing that the Palestinians and Israelis had to walk 200 metres through the underground garages to reach the helicopters, the German police saw another opportunity to ambush the perpetrators, and placed sharpshooters there. But "Issa" insisted on checking the route first. He and some other Palestinians walked pointing their AK-47s at Schreiber, Tröger and Genscher. At that time, the gunmen of the police were lying behind cars in the sidestreets, and when they approached the latter crawled away, making noise in the process. Thus the terrorists were immediately alerted of the dangerous presence, and they decided to use a bus instead of walking. The bus arrived at 10:00 pm and drove the contingent to the helicopters. "Issa" checked them with a flashlight before boarding in groups.[36]
Five German policemen were deployed around the airport in sniper roles—three on the roof of the control tower, one hidden behind a service truck and one behind a small signal tower at ground level. However, none of them had any special sniper training, nor any special weapon (being equipped with the H&K G3, the ordinary assault rifle of the German Armed Forces without optics or night vision devices). The soldiers were selected because they shot competitively on weekends.[14] During a subsequent German investigation, an officer identified as "Sniper No. 2" stated: "I am of the opinion that I am not a sharpshooter."[37]
The members of the crisis team—Schreiber, Genscher, Merk and Schreiber's deputy Georg Wolf—supervised and observed the attempted rescue from the airport control tower. Cooley, Reeve and Groussard all place Mossad chief Zvi Zamir and Victor Cohen, one of Zamir's senior assistants, at the scene as well, but as observers only. Zamir has stated repeatedly in interviews over the years that he was never consulted by the Germans at any time during the rescue attempt and thought that his presence actually made the Germans uncomfortable.[citation needed]
A Boeing 727 jet was positioned on the tarmac with sixteen German police inside dressed as flight crew.[38] It was agreed that "Issa" and "Tony" would inspect the plane. The plan was that the Germans would overpower them as they boarded, giving the snipers a chance to kill the remaining terrorists at the helicopters. These were believed to number no more than two or three, according to what Genscher and Tröger had seen inside 31 Connollystraße. However, during the transfer from the bus to the helicopters, the crisis team discovered that there were actually eight of them.[citation needed]
Failure
At the last minute, as the helicopters were arriving at Fürstenfeldbruck, the German police aboard the airplane voted to abandon their mission, without consulting the central command. This left only the five sharpshooters to try to overpower a larger and more heavily armed group. At that point, Colonel Ulrich Wegener, Genscher's senior aide and later the founder of the elite German counter-terrorist unit GSG 9, said "I'm sure this will blow the whole affair!".[30]
The helicopters landed just after 10:30 pm and the four pilots and six of the kidnappers emerged. While four of the Black September members held the pilots at gunpoint (breaking an earlier promise that they would not take any Germans hostage), Issa and Tony walked over to inspect the jet, only to find it empty. Realizing they had been lured into a trap, they sprinted back toward the helicopters. As they ran past the control tower, Sniper 3 took one last opportunity to eliminate "Issa", which would have left the group leaderless. However, due to the poor lighting, he struggled to see his target and missed, hitting "Tony" in the thigh instead, which could have proved fatal had the femural artery been severed, which did not occur. Meanwhile, the German authorities gave the order for snipers positioned nearby to open fire, which occurred around 11:00 pm.
In the ensuing chaos, Ahmed Chic Thaa and Afif Ahmed Hamid, the two kidnappers holding the helicopter pilots, were killed while the remaining gunmen—some possibly already wounded—scrambled to safety, returning fire from behind and beneath the helicopters, out of the snipers' line of sight, shooting out many of the airport lights. A German policeman in the control tower, Anton Fliegerbauer, was killed by the gunfire. The helicopter pilots fled; the hostages, tied up inside the craft, could not. During the gun battle, the hostages secretly worked on loosening their bonds and teethmarks were found on some of the ropes after the gunfire had ended.[35]
Massacre
The Germans had not arranged for armored personnel carriers ahead of time and only at this point were they called in to break the deadlock. Since the roads to the airport had not been cleared, the carriers became stuck in traffic and finally arrived around midnight. With their appearance, the kidnappers felt the shift in the status quo, and possibly panicked at the thought of the failure of their operation.
At four minutes past midnight of 6 September, one of them (likely Issa) turned on the hostages in the eastern helicopter and fired at them with a Kalashnikov assault rifle from point-blank range. Springer, Halfin and Friedman were killed instantly; Berger, shot twice in the leg, is believed to have survived the initial onslaught (as his autopsy later found that he had died of smoke inhalation). The attacker then pulled the pin on a hand grenade and tossed it into the cockpit; the ensuing explosion destroyed the helicopter and incinerated the bound Israelis inside.
Issa then dashed across the tarmac and began firing at the police, who killed him with return fire. Another, Khalid Jawad, attempted to escape and was gunned down by one of the snipers. What happened to the remaining hostages is still a matter of dispute. A German police investigation indicated that one of their snipers and a few of the hostages may have been shot inadvertently by the police. However, a Time Magazine reconstruction of the long-suppressed Bavarian prosecutor's report indicates that a third kidnapper (Reeve identifies Adnan Al-Gashey) stood at the door of the western helicopter and raked the remaining five hostages with machine gun fire; Gutfreund, Shorr, Slavin, Spitzer and Shapira were shot an average of four times each.[14][35]
Of the four hostages in the eastern helicopter, only Ze'ev Friedman's body was relatively intact; he had been blown clear of the helicopter by the explosion. In some cases, the exact cause of death for the hostages in the eastern helicopter was difficult to establish because the rest of the corpses were burned almost beyond recognition in the explosion and subsequent fire. Three of the remaining men lay on the ground, one of them feigning death, and were captured by police. Jamal Al-Gashey had been shot through his right wrist,[30] and Mohammed Safady had sustained a flesh wound to his leg.[35] Adnan Al-Gashey had escaped injury completely. Tony escaped the scene, but was tracked down with police dogs 40 minutes later in an airbase parking lot. Cornered and bombarded with tear gas, he was shot dead after a brief gunfight. By around 1:30 am on 6 September, the battle was over.
Outcome
Initial news reports, published all over the world, indicated that all the hostages were alive, and that all the attackers had been killed. Only later did a representative for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) suggest that "initial reports were overly optimistic." Jim McKay, who was covering the Olympics that year for the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), had taken on the job of reporting the events as Roone Arledge fed them into his earpiece. At 3:24 am, McKay received the official confirmation:
We just got the final word ... you know, when I was a kid, my father used to say "Our greatest hopes and our worst fears are seldom realized." Our worst fears have been realized tonight. They've now said that there were eleven hostages. Two were killed in their rooms yesterday morning, nine were killed at the airport tonight. They're all gone.[39]
Several sources listed Ladany as having been killed.[40] Ladany recalled later:
The impact did not hit me at the time, when we were in Munich. It was when we arrived back in Israel. At the airport in Lod there was a huge crowd—maybe 20,000, people—and each one of us, the survivors, stood by one of the coffins on the runway. Some friends came up to me and tried to kiss me and hug me as if I was almost a ghost that came back alive. It was then that I really grasped what had happened and the emotion hit me.[40]
Criticism
Author Simon Reeve, among others, writes that the shootout with the well-trained Black September members showed an egregious lack of preparation on the part of the German authorities. They were not prepared to deal with this sort of situation. This costly lesson led directly to the founding, less than two months later, of police counter-terrorism branch GSG 9. German authorities made a number of mistakes. First, because of restrictions in the post-war West German constitution, the army could not participate in the attempted rescue, as the German armed forces are not allowed to operate inside Germany during peacetime. The responsibility was entirely in the hands of the Munich police and the Bavarian authorities.[41][clarification needed]
It was known a half-hour before the hostages and kidnappers had even arrived at Fürstenfeldbruck that the number of the latter was larger than first believed. Despite this new information, Schreiber decided to continue with the rescue operation as originally planned and the new information could not reach the snipers since they had no radios.[42]
It is a basic tenet of sniping operations that there are enough snipers (at least two for each known target, or in this case a minimum of ten) deployed to neutralize as many of the attackers as possible with the first volley of shots.[43] The 2006 National Geographic Channel's Seconds From Disaster profile on the massacre stated that the helicopters were supposed to land sideways and to the west of the control tower, a maneuver which would have allowed the snipers clear shots into them as the kidnappers threw open the helicopter doors. Instead, the helicopters were landed facing the control tower and at the centre of the airstrip. This not only gave them a place to hide after the gunfight began, but put Snipers 1 and 2 in the line of fire of the other three snipers on the control tower. The snipers were denied valuable shooting opportunities as a result of the positioning of the helicopters, stacking the odds against what were effectively three snipers versus eight heavily armed gunmen.[citation needed]
According to the same program, the crisis committee delegated to make decisions on how to deal with the incident consisted of Bruno Merk (the Bavarian interior minister), Hans-Dietrich Genscher (the West German interior minister) and Manfred Schreiber (Munich's Chief of Police); in other words, two politicians and one tactician. The program mentioned that a year before the Games, Schreiber had participated in another hostage crisis (a failed bank robbery) in which he ordered a marksman to shoot one of the perpetrators, managing only to wound the robber. As a result, the robbers shot an innocent woman dead. Schreiber was consequently charged with involuntary manslaughter. An investigation ultimately cleared him of any wrongdoing, but the program suggested that the prior incident affected his judgment in the subsequent Olympic hostage crisis.[citation needed]
As mentioned earlier, the five German snipers at Fürstenfeldbruck did not have radio contact with one another (nor with the German authorities conducting the rescue operation) and therefore were unable to coordinate their fire. The only contact the snipers had with the operational leadership was with Georg Wolf, who was lying next to the three snipers on the control tower giving orders directly to them.[44] The two snipers at ground level had been given vague instructions to shoot when the other snipers began shooting, and were basically left to fend for themselves.[45]
In addition, the snipers did not have the proper equipment for this hostage rescue operation. The Heckler & Koch G3 battle rifles used were considered by several experts to be inadequate for the distance at which the snipers were trying to shoot. The G3, the standard service rifle of the Bundeswehr at that time, had a 18-inch (460 mm) barrel; at the distances the snipers were required to shoot, a 27-inch (690 mm) barrel would have ensured far greater accuracy.[46] None of the rifles were equipped with telescopic or infrared sights.[47] Additionally, none of the snipers were equipped with a steel helmet or bullet-proof vest.[47] No armored vehicles were at the scene at Fürstenfeldbruck, and were only called in after the gunfight was well underway.[48]
There were also numerous tactical errors. As mentioned earlier, "Sniper 2", who was stationed behind the signal tower, wound up directly in the line of fire of his fellow snipers on the control tower, without any protective gear and without any other police being aware of his location.[47] Because of this, "Sniper 2" didn't fire a single shot until late in the gunfight, when hostage-taker Khalid Jawad attempted to escape on foot and ran right at the exposed sniper. "Sniper 2" killed the fleeing perpetrator but was in turn badly wounded by a fellow police officer, who was unaware that he was shooting at one of his own men. One of the helicopter pilots, Gunnar Ebel, was lying near "Sniper 2" and was also wounded by friendly fire. Both Ebel and the sniper recovered from their injuries.[49]
Many of the errors made by the Germans during the rescue attempt were ultimately detailed by Heinz Hohensinn, who had participated in Operation Sunshine earlier that day. He stated in One Day in September that he had been selected to pose as a crew member. He and his fellow policemen understood that it was a suicide mission, so the group unanimously voted to flee the plane. None of them were reprimanded for that desertion.[50]
Aftermath
The bodies of the five Palestinian attackers—Afif, Nazzal, Chic Thaa, Hamid and Jamal—killed during the Fürstenfeldbruck gun battle were delivered to Libya, where they received heroes' funerals and were buried with full military honours. On 8 September, Israeli planes bombed ten PLO bases in Syria and Lebanon in response to the massacre. Up to 200 people were killed.[51]
The three surviving Black September gunmen had been arrested after the Fürstenfeldbruck gunfight, and were being held in a Munich prison for trial. On 29 October, Lufthansa Flight 615 was hijacked and threatened to be blown up if the Munich attackers were not released. Safady and the Al-Gasheys were immediately released by West Germany, receiving a tumultuous welcome when they touched down in Libya and (as seen in One Day in September) giving their own firsthand account of their operation at a press conference broadcast worldwide.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). [52]
Further international investigations into the Lufthansa Flight 615 incident have produced theories of a secret agreement between the German government and Black September- release of the surviving terrorists in exchange for assurances of no further attacks on Germany.[53][54]
Effect on the Games
In the wake of the hostage-taking, competition was eventually suspended for the first time in modern Olympic history, after public criticism of the Olympic Committee's decision to continue the games. On 6 September, a memorial service attended by 80,000 spectators and 3,000 athletes was held in the Olympic Stadium. IOC President Avery Brundage made little reference to the murdered athletes during a speech praising the strength of the Olympic movement and equating the attack on the Israeli sportsmen with the recent arguments about encroaching professionalism and disallowing Rhodesia's participation in the Games, which outraged many listeners.[55] The victims' families were represented by Andre Spitzer's widow Ankie, Moshe Weinberg's mother, and a cousin of Weinberg, Carmel Eliash. During the memorial service, Eliash collapsed and died of a heart attack.[56]
Many of the 80,000 people who filled the Olympic Stadium for West Germany's football match with Hungary carried noisemakers and waved flags, but when several spectators unfurled a banner reading "17 dead, already forgotten?" security officers removed the sign and expelled those responsible from the grounds.[14] During the memorial service, the Olympic Flag was flown at half-staff, along with the flags of most of the other competing nations at the request of Willy Brandt. Ten Arab nations objected to their flags being lowered to honor murdered Israelis; their flags were restored to the tops of their flagpoles almost immediately.[57]
Willi Daume, president of the Munich organizing committee, initially sought to cancel the remainder of the Games, but in the afternoon Brundage and others who wished to continue the Games prevailed, stating that they could not let the incident halt the Games.[14] Brundage stated "The Games must go on, and we must ... and we must continue our efforts to keep them clean, pure and honest."[58] The decision was endorsed by the Israeli government and Israeli Olympic team chef de mission Shmuel Lalkin.[59]
On 6 September, after the memorial service, the remaining members of the Israeli team withdrew from the Games and left Munich. All Jewish sportsmen were placed under guard. Mark Spitz, the American swimming star who had already completed his competitions, left Munich during the hostage crisis (it was feared that as a prominent Jew, Spitz might now be a kidnapping target). The Egyptian team left the Games on 7 September, stating they feared reprisals.[60] The Philippine and Algerian teams also left the Games, as did some members of the Dutch and Norwegian teams. American marathon runner Kenny Moore, who wrote about the incident for Sports Illustrated, quoted Dutch distance runner Jos Hermens as saying "It's quite simple. We were invited to a party, and if someone comes to the party and shoots people, how can you stay?"[61] Many athletes, dazed by the tragedy, similarly felt that their desire to compete had been destroyed, although they stayed at the Games.[citation needed]
Four years later at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, the Israeli team commemorated the massacre: when they entered the stadium at the Opening Ceremony, their national flag was adorned with a black ribbon.
The families of some victims have asked the IOC to establish a permanent memorial to the athletes. The IOC has declined, saying that to introduce a specific reference to the victims could "alienate other members of the Olympic community," according to the BBC.[62] Alex Gilady, an Israeli IOC official, told the BBC: "We must consider what this could do to other members of the delegations that are hostile to Israel."
The IOC rejected an international campaign in support of a minute of silence at the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics in honour of the Israeli victims on the 40th anniversary of the massacre.[63][64] Jacques Rogge, the IOC President, said it would be "inappropriate," although the opening ceremony included a memorium for the victims of the 7 July 2005 London bombings.[65] Speaking of the decision, Olympian Shaul Ladany, who survived the attack, commented: "I do not understand. I do not understand, and I do not accept it."[51]
In 2014 the International Olympic Committee agreed to contribute $250,000 towards a memorial to the murdered Israeli athletes.[66] After 44 years,[67] the IOC commemorated the victims of the Munich massacre for the first time in the Rio 2016 Olympic Village on 4 August 2016.[68]
There is a memorial outside the Olympic stadium in Munich in the form of a stone tablet at the bridge linking the stadium to the former Olympic village. There is a memorial tablet to the slain Israelis outside the front door of their former lodging at 31 Connollystraße. On 15 October 1999 (almost a year before the Sydney 2000 Games), a memorial plaque was unveiled in one of the large light towers (Tower 14) outside the Sydney Olympic Stadium.[69][70]
Israeli response
Main articles: Operation Wrath of God and 1973 Israeli raid on Lebanon
Golda Meir and the Israeli Defense Committee secretly authorized the Mossad to track down and kill those allegedly responsible for the Munich massacre.[71] The accusation that this was motivated by a desire for vengeance was disputed by Zvi Zamir, who described the mission as "putting an end to the type of terror that was perpetrated" (in Europe).[72] To this end the Mossad set up a number of special teams to locate and kill these fedayeen, aided by the agency's stations in Europe.[73]
In a February 2006 interview,[72] former Mossad chief Zvi Zamir answered direct questions:
Was there no element of vengeance in the decision to take action against the terrorists?
"No. We were not engaged in vengeance. We are accused of having been guided by a desire for vengeance. That is nonsense. What we did was to concretely prevent in the future. We acted against those who thought that they would continue to perpetrate acts of terror. I am not saying that those who were involved in Munich were not marked for death. They definitely deserved to die. But we were not dealing with the past; we concentrated on the future."
Did you not receive a directive from Golda Meir along the lines of 'take revenge on those responsible for Munich?
"Golda abhorred the necessity that was imposed on us to carry out the operations. Golda never told me to 'take revenge on those who were responsible for Munich.' No one told me that."[72]
The Israeli mission later became known as Operation Wrath of God or Mivtza Za'am Ha'El.[30] Reeve quotes General Aharon Yariv—who, he writes, was the general overseer of the operation—as stating that after Munich the Israeli government felt it had no alternative but to exact justice.
We had no choice. We had to make them stop, and there was no other way ... we are not very proud about it. But it was a question of sheer necessity. We went back to the old biblical rule of an eye for an eye ... I approach these problems not from a moral point of view, but, hard as it may sound, from a cost-benefit point of view. If I'm very hard-headed, I can say, what is the political benefit in killing this person? Will it bring us nearer to peace? Will it bring us nearer to an understanding with the Palestinians or not? In most cases I don't think it will. But in the case of Black September we had no other choice and it worked. Is it morally acceptable? One can debate that question. Is it politically vital? It was.[30]
Benny Morris writes that a target list was created using information from "turned" PLO personnel and friendly European intelligence services. Once completed, a wave of assassinations of suspected Black September operatives began across Europe. On 9 April 1973, Israel launched Operation "Spring of Youth", a joint Mossad-IDF operation in Beirut. The targets were Mohammad Yusuf al-Najjar (Abu Yusuf), head of Fatah's intelligence arm, which ran Black September, according to Morris; Kamal Adwan, who headed the PLO's so-called Western Sector, which controlled PLO action inside Israel; and Kamal Nassir, the PLO spokesman. A group of Sayeret commandos were taken in nine missile boats and a small fleet of patrol boats to a deserted Lebanese beach, before driving in two cars to downtown Beirut, where they killed Najjar, Adwan and Nassir. Two further detachments of commandos blew up the PFLP's headquarters in Beirut and a Fatah explosives plant. The leader of the commando team that conducted the operations was Ehud Barak.[citation needed]
On 21 July 1973, in the so-called Lillehammer affair, a team of Mossad agents mistakenly killed Ahmed Bouchiki, a Moroccan man unrelated to the Munich attack, in Lillehammer, Norway,[74] after an informant mistakenly said Bouchiki was Ali Hassan Salameh, the head of Force 17 and a Black September operative. Five Mossad agents, including two women, were captured by the Norwegian authorities, while others managed to slip away.[71] The five were convicted of the killing and imprisoned, but were released and returned to Israel in 1975. The Mossad later found Ali Hassan Salameh in Beirut and killed him on 22 January 1979 with a remote-controlled car bomb. The attack killed four passersby and injured 18 others.[75] According to CIA officer Duane "Dewey" Claridge, chief of operations of the CIA Near East Division from 1975 to 1978, in mid-1976, Salameh offered Americans assistance and protection with Arafat's blessings during the American embassy pull-out from Beirut during the down-spiraling chaos of the Lebanese Civil War. There was a general feeling that Americans could be trusted. However, the scene of cooperation came to an end abruptly after the assassination of Salameh. Americans were generally blamed as Israel's principal benefactors.[76]
Simon Reeve writes that the Israeli operations continued for more than twenty years. He details the assassination in Paris in 1992 of Atef Bseiso, the PLO's head of intelligence, and says that an Israeli general confirmed there was a link back to Munich. Reeve also writes that while Israeli officials have stated Operation Wrath of God was intended to exact vengeance for the families of the athletes killed in Munich, "few relatives wanted such a violent reckoning with the Palestinians." Reeve states the families were instead desperate to know the truth of the events surrounding the Munich massacre. Reeve outlines what he sees as a lengthy cover-up by German authorities to hide the truth.[30] After a lengthy court fight, in 2004 the families of the Munich victims reached a settlement of €3 million with the German government.
Alleged German cover-up
An article in 2012 in a front-page story of the German news magazine Der Spiegel reported that much of the information pertaining to the mishandling of the massacre was covered up by the German authorities. For twenty years, Germany refused to release any information about the attack and did not accept responsibility for the results. The magazine reported that the government had been hiding 3,808 files, which contained tens of thousands of documents. Der Spiegel said it obtained secret reports by authorities, embassy cables, and minutes of cabinet meetings that demonstrate the lack of professionalism of the German officials in handling the massacre. The newspaper also wrote that the German authorities were told that Palestinians were planning an "incident" at the Olympics three weeks before the massacre, but failed to take the necessary security measures, and these facts are missing from the official documentation of the German government.[15][77][78][79]
In August 2012, Der Spiegel reported that following the massacre, Germany began secret meetings with Black September, at the behest of the West German government, due to the fear that Black September would carry out other terrorist attacks in Germany. The government proposed a clandestine meeting between German Foreign Minister Walter Scheel and a member of Black September to create a "new basis of trust." In return for an exchange of the political status of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the PLO would stop terrorist attacks on German soil. When French police arrested Abu Daoud, one of the chief organizers of the Munich massacre, and inquired about extraditing him to Germany, Bavaria's justice secretary Alfred Seidl (de) recommended that Germany should not take any action, causing the French to release Abu Daoud and the Assad regime to shelter him until he died at a Damascus hospital in 2010.[80]
Surviving Black September members
Two of the three surviving gunmen, Mohammed Safady and Adnan Al-Gashey, were allegedly killed by Mossad as part of Operation Wrath of God. Al-Gashey was allegedly located after making contact with a cousin in a Gulf State, and Safady was found by remaining in touch with family in Lebanon.[81] This account was challenged in a book by Aaron Klein, who claims that Al-Gashey died of heart failure in the 1970s, and that Safady was killed by Christian Phalangists in Lebanon in the early 1980s. However, in July 2005, PLO veteran Tawfiq Tirawi told Klein that Safady, whom Tirawi claimed as a close friend, was "as alive as you are."[14][82]
The third surviving gunman, Jamal Al-Gashey, was known to be alive as of 1999, hiding in North Africa or in Syria, claiming to still fear retribution from Israel. He is the only one of the surviving terrorists to consent to interviews since 1972, having granted an interview in 1992 to a Palestinian newspaper, and having briefly emerged from hiding in 1999 to participate in an interview for the film One Day in September, during which he was disguised and his face shown only in blurry shadow.[83]
Abu Daoud
Of those believed to have planned the massacre, only Abu Daoud, the man who claims that the attack was his idea, is known to have died of natural causes. Historical documents released to Der Spiegel by the German secret service show that Dortmund police had been aware of collaboration between Abu Daoud and neo-Nazi Willi Pohl (de) (aka E. W. Pless and, since 1979, officially named Willi Voss) seven weeks before the attack.[84] In January 1977, Abu Daoud was intercepted by French police in Paris while traveling from Beirut under an assumed name.[85] Under protest from the PLO, Iraq, and Libya, who claimed that because Abu Daoud was traveling to a PLO comrade's funeral he should receive diplomatic immunity, the French government refused a West German extradition request on grounds that forms had not been filled in properly, and put him on a plane to Algeria before Germany could submit another request.[85] On 27 July 1981, he was shot 5 times from a distance of around two meters in a Warsaw Victoria (now Sofitel) hotel coffee shop, but survived the attack, chasing his would-be assassin down to the coffee shop's front entrance before collapsing.
Abu Daoud was allowed safe passage through Israel in 1996 so he could attend a PLO meeting convened in the Gaza Strip for the purpose of rescinding an article in its charter that called for Israel's eradication.[14] In his autobiography, From Jerusalem to Munich, first published in France in 1999, and later in a written interview with Sports Illustrated,[86] Abu Daoud wrote that funds for Munich were provided by Mahmoud Abbas, Chairman of the PLO since 11 November 2004 and President of the Palestinian National Authority since 15 January 2005.[87]
Though he claims he didn't know what the money was being spent for, longtime Fatah official Mahmoud Abbas, aka Abu Mazen, was responsible for the financing of the Munich attack.[88]
Abu Daoud believes that if the Israelis knew that Mahmoud Abbas was the financier of the operation, the 1993 Oslo Accords would not have been achieved, during which Mahmoud Abbas was seen in photo ops at the White House.[86]
Abu Daoud, who lived with his wife on a pension provided by the Palestinian Authority, said that "the Munich operation had the endorsement of Arafat," although Arafat was not involved in conceiving or implementing the attack." In his autobiography, Abu Daoud writes that Arafat saw the team off on the mission with the words "God protect you."[89]
Ankie Spitzer, widow of fencing coach Andre, declined several offers to meet with Abu Daoud, saying that the only place she wants to meet him is in a courtroom. According to Spitzer, "He [Abu Daoud] didn't pay the price for what he did."[90] In 2006, during the release of Steven Spielberg's film, Munich, Der Spiegel interviewed Abu Daoud regarding the Munich massacre. He was quoted as saying: "I regret nothing. You can only dream that I would apologize."[91]
Daoud died of kidney failure aged 73 on 3 July 2010 in Damascus, Syria.[92]
List of fatalities
Shot during the initial break-in
Moshe Weinberg, wrestling coach
Yossef Romano, weightlifter
Shot and killed by grenade in eastern-side helicopter D-HAQO
According to the order in which they were seated, from left to right:
Ze'ev Friedman, weightlifter
David Berger, weightlifter (survived grenade but died of smoke inhalation)
Yakov Springer, weightlifting judge
Eliezer Halfin, wrestler
Shot in western-side helicopter D-HAQU
According to the order in which they were seated, from left to right:
Yossef Gutfreund, wrestling referee
Kehat Shorr, shooting coach
Mark Slavin, wrestler
Andre Spitzer, fencing coach
Amitzur Shapira, track coach
Shot on airstrip
Anton Fliegerbauer, German police officer
Palestinian terrorists shot dead by German police
Luttif Afif ("Issa")
Yusuf Nazzal ("Tony")
Afif Ahmed Hamid ("Paolo")
Khalid Jawad ("Salah")
Ahmed Chic Thaa ("Abu Halla")
Memorials gallery
Memorial plaque in front of the Israeli athletes' quarters. The inscription, in German and Hebrew, translates as:"The team of the State of Israel stayed in this building during the 20th Olympic Summer Games from 21 August to 5 September 1972. On 5 September, [list of victims] died a violent death. Honor to their memory."
Memorial panel for the victims of the attack on the site of the Munich Olympic Park
Memorial for the dead athletes in front of the airport in Fürstenfeldbruck. The names of the victims are engraved.
Place of memory in Ben Shemen forest in Israel
Graves of five victims of the Munich massacre at the Kiryat Shaul Cemetery, Tel Aviv, Israel. From left to right: André Spitzer, Mark Slavin, Eliezer Halfin, Kehat Shorr and Amitzur Schapira.
Media
Munich Massacre by Mark Podwal, published in The New York Times in 1972
1972, by Sarah Morris
21 Hours at Munich
Munich, a 2005 American-Canadian historical drama
Munich: Mossad's Revenge
One Day in September, 1999 documentary by Kevin Macdonald; winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary
National Geographic Seconds From Disaster episodes
Sword of Gideon
Visions of Eight
Munich 1972 & Beyond, 2016 documentary film by Steven Ungerleider
See also
Munich portal
Israel portal
Terrorism portal
Palestine portal
Olympics portal
1970s portal
Israeli casualties of war
Lod Airport massacre
One minute of silence
Palestinian political violence
References
Jump up ^ Breznican, Anthony (22 December 2005). "Messages from 'Munich'". USAToday. Gannett Co. Retrieved 17 April 2009.
Jump up ^ Karon, Tony. "Revisiting the Olympics' Darkest Day". Time. Retrieved 13 May 2010.
Jump up ^ Juan Sanchez (7 August 2007). Terrorism & Its Effects. Global Media. p. 144. ISBN 978-81-89940-93-5. Retrieved 16 December 2012.
Jump up ^ The new dimension of international ... Google Books. 11 September 2001. Retrieved 22 June 2010.
Jump up ^ Encyclopedia of terrorism. Google Books. Retrieved 22 June 2010.
Jump up ^ The terrorist trap: America's ... Google Books. 18 July 1976. Retrieved 22 June 2010.
Jump up ^ Reeve, Simon (22 January 2006), "Olympics Massacre: Munich – The real story", The Independent, archived from the original on 16 March 2012, retrieved 3 March 2012
Jump up ^ Fleisher, Malkah (22 July 2012). ""Baffled" Bob Costas to Call Own Minute of Silence During Olympic Broadcast for Slain Israeli Team". The Jewish Press. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
Jump up ^ Terrorism: A Global Scourge – Google Livres. Books.google. Retrieved 7 June 2010.
Jump up ^ Ciment, James (20 March 2015). Encyclopedia of Conflicts Since World War II. Routledge. p. 57. ISBN 978-1-317-47186-8. Early acts at Palestinian terrorism were geared toward drawing international attention to the plight of Arabs living under Israeli occupation and to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners. Unlike much later terrorism in the Arab Muslim world, these acts, which ranged from plane hijackings to targeted attacks on Israeli civilians, were motivated largely by a secular brand of nationalism. In fact, Luttif "Issa" Afif, the leader of the PLO-affiliated Black September group that captured and killed 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, was born to a Jewish mother and a Christian father.
Jump up ^ Latsch, Gunther; Wiegrefe, Klaus (18 June 2012), "Files Reveal Neo-Nazis Helped Palestinian Terrorists", Spiegel Online
Jump up ^ First official Olympic ceremony held in memory of Munich victims, jpost.com; accessed 5 September 2017.
Jump up ^ [1]
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j Alexander Wolff; Don Yaeger (2 August 2002). "When the Terror Began". http://www.si.com. Sports Illustrated/TIME. Retrieved 16 November 2015. External link in |website= (help)
^ Jump up to: a b Ahren, Raphael (22 July 2012). "Germany had a tip-off three weeks ahead of Munich massacre, Der Spiegel claims". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 22 July 2012.
Jump up ^ Reeve, Klein and Groussard.[page needed]
Jump up ^ Klein, pp. 35–36.
Jump up ^ Kelly, Cathal (28 April 2012), Munich massacre helped unwittingly by Canadians in 1972 Olympic atrocity
Jump up ^ "Ladany, Shaul". Jewsinsports.org. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
^ Jump up to: a b Burnton, Simon (2 May 2012). "50 stunning Olympic moments No 26: The terrorist outrage in Munich in 1972". Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
Jump up ^ "Article on CBC Archives". Archives.cbc.ca. Retrieved 7 June 2010.
Jump up ^ Nigel Cawthorne (2011). Warrior Elite: 31 Heroic Special-Ops Missions from the Raid on Son Tay to the Killing of Osama Bin Laden. Ulysses Press. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
^ Jump up to: a b Borden, Sam. "Long-Hidden Details Reveal Cruelty of 1972 Munich Attackers". New York Times. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
^ Jump up to: a b "Shaul Ladany biodata/stats". Sports-reference.com. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
Jump up ^ Paul Taylor (2004). Jews and the Olympic Games: The Clash Between Sport and Politics – With a Complete Review of Jewish Olympic Medalists. Sussex Academic Press. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
Jump up ^ Tom Mackin (2009). Making Other Plans: A Memoir. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
Jump up ^ Reeve, Simon (1 August 2011). One Day in September: The Full Story of the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and the Israeli Revenge Operation "Wrath of God". Regnery Publishing. ISBN 1628721413. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
^ Jump up to: a b Cite error: The named reference Cooley was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
Jump up ^ Oren, Amir (23 February 2006). "How Nixon got shot of Munich". Haaretz. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Reeve, Simon. One Day in September, 2001.
Jump up ^ "Interview "Uns ging es darum, das Leben der Geiseln zu retten" (in German). Süddeutsche Zeitung. 1 January 2006.
Jump up ^ Moore, Kenny (18 September 1972). "Shootings in the Night". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on 29 August 2008.
Jump up ^ YouTube.
Jump up ^ Interview with Heinz Hohensinn in One Day in September
^ Jump up to: a b c d Groussard.
Jump up ^ Interview with Tröger in One Day in September
Jump up ^ Grace, Francie (5 September 2002). "Munich Massacre Remembered". CBS News. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
Jump up ^ Munich Massacre, ESPN via YouTube, retrieved 18 March 2016
Jump up ^ "American Sportscasters Online interview with Jim McKay". Americansportscastersonline.com. Retrieved 7 June 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b Turnbull, Simon (27 January 2012). "Shaul Ladany: Still king of the road – Olympics". The Independent. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
Jump up ^ Interview with Ulrich Wegener in One Day in September.
Jump up ^ Reeve, pp. 103, 107.
Jump up ^ Groussard, p. 349.
Jump up ^ Reeve, pp. 115–16.
Jump up ^ Reeve, pp. 106–07.
Jump up ^ Groussard, pp. 354–55.
^ Jump up to: a b c Reeve, p. 116.
Jump up ^ Reeve, pp. 118-20.
Jump up ^ Reeve, pp. 121–22.
Jump up ^ Reeve, pp. 236–37.
^ Jump up to: a b James Montague (5 September 2012). "The Munich massacre: A survivor's story". CNN. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
Jump up ^ Peter Chalk (2012). Encyclopedia of Terrorism. ABC-CLIO. Retrieved 28 February 2013.
Jump up ^ Burke, Jason (26 March 2000). "Bonn 'faked' hijack to free killers". theguardian.com.
Jump up ^ Burnton, Simon (2 May 2012). "50 stunning Olympic moments No 26: The terrorist outrage in Munich in 1972". theguardian.com.
Jump up ^ Ellis, Jack (7 September 1972). "'Games must go on', says Brundage". Munich: Stars and Stripes. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
Jump up ^ Gallagher, Brendan (6 August 2002). "Athletics: Memories stirred of Olympic hostage horror". London, UK: The Telegraph (UK). Retrieved 11 October 2012.
Jump up ^ Fleming, David (29 July 1996). "Remembering the Munich 11?". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on 16 September 2000. Retrieved 22 July 2006.
Jump up ^ "Munich Crisis". Upi.com. 12 January 2007. Retrieved 7 June 2010.
Jump up ^ Encarta article on the Olympic Games. Archived from the original on 1 November 2009.
Jump up ^ Guardian article on the massacre, 7 September 1972.
Jump up ^ Butcher, Pat (12 August 2002). "ATHLETICS: In Munich, Israelis honor '72 victims". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 October 2012.
Jump up ^ BBC News article on commemoration at 2004 Olympics, 20 August 2004.
Jump up ^ "Rogge again rejects calls for minute's silence for victims of 1972 Munich massacre". The Washington Post. The Associated Press. 21 July 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2012. [dead link]
Jump up ^ Davidovich, Joshua (22 July 2012). "Still refusing moment of silence, Olympic head says memorial will be held in Germany". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
Jump up ^ "Munich ’72 and Beyond". Pbsinternational.org. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
Jump up ^ "IOC contributing $250,000 to Munich massacre memorial". http://www.jta.org. Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved 16 November 2015. External link in |website= (help)
Jump up ^ "First official Olympic ceremony held in memory of Munich victims". JPost.com. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
Jump up ^ "11 Israeli victims of ’72 Munich Olympic massacre officially commemorated in Rio", Jewish Journal, 5 August 2016; accessed 5 September 2017.
Jump up ^ "Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs article on Sydney 2000 Olympics and Plaque". MFA. Archived from the original on 29 March 2010. Retrieved 7 June 2010.
Jump up ^ "Simon Reeve's article in 2000: Munich massacre's echoes heard amid Sydney's jubilee". Jewishsf. Retrieved 7 June 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b Morris.[page needed]
^ Jump up to: a b c Melman.[page needed]
Jump up ^ "Munich: Mossad breaks cover" by Ewen MacAskill and Ian Black, The Guardian, 26 January 2006.
Jump up ^ Shalev, Noam 'The hunt for Black September'. BBC. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
Jump up ^ "MIDDLE EAST: Death of a Terrorist". Time. 5 February 1979.
Jump up ^ Posner, Gerald (2004). Why America slept: the failure to prevent 9/11. Random House Inc. p. 13. ISBN 0-8129-6623-6.
Jump up ^ "Officials Ignored Warnings of Terrorist Attack". Der Spiegel. 23 July 2012. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
Jump up ^ Aderet, Oferet (22 July 2012). "Germany was warned one month before Munich massacre, claims Der Spiege". Ha'aretz. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
Jump up ^ "Der Spiegel: Germany had warning of Munich attack". 22 July 2012. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
Jump up ^ Weinthal, Benjamin (26 August 2012). "'Germany met with Munich terrorists after attack'". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 26 August 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
Jump up ^ Reeve, p. 188.
Jump up ^ Klein, Aaron (2007). Striking back: The 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and Israel's deadly response. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks. ISBN 9780812974638. [page needed]
Jump up ^ "One Day in September". NY Times. Retrieved 22 November 2008.
Jump up ^ Neo-Nazi 'aided Munich Olympics massacre', The Local 17 June 2012
^ Jump up to: a b Frum, David (2000). How We Got Here: The '70s. New York City: Basic Books. p. 319. ISBN 0-465-04195-7.
^ Jump up to: a b Wolff, Alexander (26 August 2002). "The Mastermind". Sports Illustrated. Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on 4 October 2002. Retrieved 7 June 2010.
Jump up ^ "Israel Law Center on Abu Mazen". Israel law center. Archived from the original on 31 March 2012. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
Jump up ^ Abu Daoud.[page needed]
Jump up ^ Goodenough, Patrick (5 May 1999). "Munich Olympics Massacre Said to Be PLO Operation". CNSNews.com. Archived from the original on 4 April 2004. Retrieved 1 August 2013.
Jump up ^ "Her husband's killer". New York Daily News. 25 December 2005.
Jump up ^ "Suspected Munich massacre mastermind dead, report says". CNN. 3 July 2010.
Jump up ^ "Mastermind behind Munich Olympics attacks dies". BBC News. 3 July 2010.
Further reading
Blumenau, Bernhard (Basingstoke 2014), The United Nations and Terrorism. Germany, Multilateralism, and Antiterrorism Efforts in the 1970s Palgrave Macmillan, ch. 2. ISBN 978-1-137-39196-4.
Calahan, A. B. "The Israeli Response to the 1972 Munich Olympic Massacre and the Development of Independent Covert Action Teams" (1995 thesis)
Cooley, John K. (London 1973), Green March Black September: The Story of the Palestinian Arabs ISBN 0-7146-2987-1
Dahlke, Matthias (Munich 2006), Der Anschlag auf Olympia '72. Die politischen Reaktionen auf den internationalen in Deutschland Martin Meidenbauer ISBN 3-89975-583-9 (German text)
Daoud, Abu, (New York, 2002), Palestine : a history of the resistance movement by the sole survivor of Black September ISBN 1-55970-429-2
Groussard, Serge (New York, 1975), The Blood of Israel: the massacre of the Israeli athletes, the Olympics, 1972 ISBN 0-688-02910-8
Jonas, George. (New York, 2005), Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Team., Simon & Schuster
Khalaf, Salah (Abu Iyad) (Tel Aviv, 1983) Without a Homeland: Conversations with Eric Rouleau
Klein, A. J. (New York, 2005), Striking Back: The 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and Israel's Deadly Response, Random House ISBN 1-920769-80-3
Large, David Clay (Lanham, MD, 2012), Munich 1972, Rowman & Littlefield ISBN 978-0-7425-6739-9
Morris, Benny. (New York, 1999 and 2001), Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist–Arab conflict, 1881–2000, Vintage Books edition ISBN 0-679-74475-4
Reeve, Simon. (New York, 2001), One Day in September: the full story of the 1972 Munich Olympic massacre and Israeli revenge operation "Wrath of God" ISBN 1-55970-547-7
Tinnin, David B. & Dag Christensen. (1976), The Hit Team ISBN 0-440-13644-X
Yossi Melman, (17 February 2006), Interview with former Head of Mossad, Zvi Zamir ""Preventive measures"". Archived from the original on 1 October 2007. Retrieved 2012-02-03. , Haaretz
Mohammad Daoud Odeh (August 2008), interview with NOX magazine, "Rings Of Fire"
Kramer, Ferdinand: Das Attentat von München. In: Alois Schmid, Katharina Weigand: Bayern nach Jahr und Tag. 24 Tage aus der Bayerischen Geschichte. C. H. Beck Verlag, München 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-56320-1. p. 400–414.
Wolfgang Kraushaar: „Wann endlich beginnt bei Euch der Kampf gegen die heilige Kuh Israel?“ München 1970: über die antisemitischen Wurzeln des deutschen Terrorismus. Rowohlt, Reinbek 2013, ISBN 978-3-49803411-5, p. 496–573.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Munich massacre.
The Israeli Response to the 1972 Munich Massacre – Includes an extensive overview of the Munich massacre
A Tribute to the 1972 Israeli Olympic Athletes – Includes biographies and photographs for each of the 11 Israeli athletes killed
Time Magazine, 4 December 2005
Special Publication of Israel State Archives: The Fortieth Anniversary of the Massacre of the Israeli Athletes in Munich
[show]
Links to related articles
[show]
v
t
e
Israel at the Olympics
Summer Olympic Games
1952
1956
1960
1964
1968
1972
1976
1980
1984
1988
1992
1996
2000
2004
2008
2012
2016
Winter Olympic Games
1994
1998
2002
2006
2010
2014
2018
Israel did not participate in 1980 due to the boycott.
[show]
v
t
e
Prominent terrorist attacks against Israelis in the history of the Arab–Israeli conflict – the 1970s
1970
Swissair Flight 330 attack (February 21)
Avivim school bus massacre (May 22)
1971
Murder of the Aroyo children (January 2)
1972
Sabena Flight 571 (May 8)
Lod Airport massacre (May 30)
Munich massacre (5–6 September)
Israeli Bangkok Embassy hostage crisis (December 28)
1973
Assassination of the Israeli attache in Washington (July 1)
1974
Kiryat Shmona massacre (April 11)
Ma'alot massacre (May 15)
Nahariya attack (24–25 June)
TWA Flight 841 bombing (September 8)
Beit She'an attack (November 19)
1975
Savoy Hotel Attack (March 6)
Kfar Yuval hostage crisis (June 15)
Zion Square refrigerator bombing (July 4)
1976
Hijacking of Air France Flight 139 (June 27)
1978
Coastal Road massacre (March 11) ‡
1979
Nahariya massacre (April 22)
Attacks launched from the West Bank Attacks launched from the Gaza Strip Attacks launched from Lebanon Attacks launched from Jordan
‡ indicates the terrorist attack which caused the greatest amount of Israeli casualties during the 1970s
Full list of Lebanese rocket attacks on Israel
1960s 1980s
[show]
v
t
e
Prominent Palestinian militancy attacks in the 1970s
Within Israel
Avivim school bus massacre* (May 22, 1970)
Lod Airport massacre (May 30, 1972)
Kiryat Shmona massacre* (April 11, 1974)
Ma'alot massacre* (May 15, 1974)
Nahariya attack* (June 24–25, 1974)
Beit She'an attack (November 19, 1974)
Savoy Hotel Attack* (March 6, 1975)
Kfar Yuval hostage crisis* (June 15, 1975)
Zion Square refrigerator bombing (July 4, 1975)
Coastal Road massacre* (March 11, 1978)
Nahariya massacre* (April 22, 1979)
Within the Gaza Strip
Murder of the Aroyo children (January 2, 1971)
Aircraft attacks and hijackings
Swissair Flight 330 (February 21, 1970)
Lufthansa Flight 649 (February 22–23, 1972)
Sabena Flight 571 (May 8, 1972)
Lufthansa Flight 615 (October 29, 1972)
1973 Rome airport attacks and hijacking (December 17–18, 1973)
TWA Flight 841 (September 8, 1974)
Air France Flight 139 (June 27, 1976)
Worldwide
Munich massacre (September 5–6, 1972)
Israeli Bangkok embassy hostage crisis (December 28, 1972)
Assassination of the Israeli attache in Washington (July 1, 1973)
* Attacks launched from Lebanon 1960s 1980s
[show]
v
t
e
Israeli–Palestinian conflict
[show]
Participants
Israel
Israel Defense Forces
Israel Police
Mossad
Shabak (Shin Bet)
Palestinians
Principals
Palestinian National Authority
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)
Fatah
Hamas
Other groups
al-Aqsa Brigades
DFLP
PLF
PIJ
PPSF
PFLP
PFLP-GC
PRC
Third-party groups
Arab League
Hezbollah
[show]
Individuals
Israelis
Moshe Arens
Ami Ayalon
Ehud Barak
Menachem Begin
Meir Dagan
Moshe Dayan
Avi Dichter
Yuval Diskin
David Ben-Gurion
Efraim Halevy
Dan Halutz
Tzipi Livni
Golda Meir
Shaul Mofaz
Yitzhak Mordechai
Benjamin Netanyahu
Ehud Olmert
Shimon Peres
Yaakov Peri
Yitzhak Rabin
Amnon Lipkin-Shahak
Yitzhak Shamir
Ariel Sharon
Shabtai Shavit
Moshe Ya'alon
Danny Yatom
Zvi Zamir
Palestinians
Abu Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas
Moussa Arafat
Yasser Arafat
Yahya Ayyash
Marwan Barghouti
Mohammed Dahlan
Mohammed Deif
George Habash
Wadie Haddad
Ismail Haniyeh
Nayef Hawatmeh
Amin al-Husayni
Ghazi Jabali
Ahmed Jibril
Abu Jihad
Salah Khalaf
Leila Khaled
Sheikh Khalil
Khaled Mashal
Zuheir Mohsen
Abu Ali Mustafa
Abu Nidal
Izz ad-Din al-Qassam
Jibril Rajoub
Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi
Ali Hassan Salameh
Salah Shehade
Ramadan Shalah
Fathi Shaqaqi
Ahlam Tamimi
Ahmed Yassin
[show]
Timeline
Background
1920–1948
Mandatory Palestine (intercommunal conflict)
1920 Nebi Musa riots
1921 Jaffa riots
1929 Palestine riots
Hebron massacre
1936–39 Arab revolt
1944–47 Jewish insurgency
1947–48 Civil War
1948–1970
1948 Arab–Israeli War
massacres
1948–present Fedayeen insurgency
1951–1967 Attacks against Israeli civilians
1950s–1960s IDF reprisal operations
1953 Qibya massacre
1956 Kafr Qasim / Khan Yunis / Rafah massacres
1967 Six-Day War
1967–70 War of Attrition
1968 Battle of Karameh
Palestinian
insurgency
1968–1982
1970 Avivim school bus massacre
1972 Sabena Flight 571 / Munich massacre / Operation "Wrath of God" (1973 Lillehammer affair)
1974 Kiryat Shmona massacre / Ma'alot massacre
1975 Savoy Hotel attack
1976 Operation "Entebbe"
1978 Coastal Road massacre / South Lebanon conflict
1980 Misgav Am hostage crisis
1973–1987
1973 Yom Kippur War
1975 Zion Square bombing
1982 Lebanon War
Siege of Beirut
1984 Bus 300 affair
1985 Achille Lauro hijacking / Operation "Wooden Leg"
1987 Night of the Gliders
First Intifada
1987–1991
1988 Tunis Raid
1989 Bus 405 attack
1990 Temple Mount riots
1990s Palestinian suicide attacks
1994 Cave of the Patriarchs massacre
Second Intifada
2000–2005
Palestinian rocket attacks
list
Palestinian suicide attacks
Israeli assassinations
2000 October events
2001 Santorini
2002 Karine A / Operation "Defensive Shield" / Battle of Jenin / Battle of Nablus / Operation "Determined Path"
2003 Abu Hasan / Ain es Saheb airstrike
2004 Operation "Rainbow" / Beit Hanoun raid / Operation "Days of Penitence"
2006–present
2006 Operation "Bringing Home the Goods"
2008 Mercaz HaRav / Jerusalem bulldozer attack
2009 Temple Mount riots
2010 Palestinian militancy campaign
2015 Israeli–Palestinian conflict (2015–2016)
2017 Temple Mount crisis
Gaza–Israel
conflict
2006–present
2006 Gaza beach explosion / Gaza cross-border raid / Operation "Summer Rains" / Operation "Autumn Clouds" / Beit Hanoun shelling
2008 Gaza–Egypt border breach / Operation "Hot Winter"
2008–09 Gaza War
2010 Gaza flotilla raid
2012 Operation "Returning Echo" / Operation "Pillar of Defense"
2014 Operation "Protective Edge"
2015 Freedom Flotilla III
[show]
Diplomacy
Timeline
1948–1991
1948 Palestinian exodus
depopulated Arab settlements
1949 Lausanne Conference
1967–present Israeli settlement
settler violence
international law
1990s
1991 Madrid Conference
1993/95 Oslo Accords
1994 Protocol on Economic Relations (Paris Protocol)
1994 Gaza–Jericho Agreement
1994–present US security assistance to PNA
1997 Hebron Agreement
1998 Wye River Memorandum
1999 Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum
2000s
2000 Camp David Summit / Clinton Parameters
2001 Taba Summit
2002 Quartet established
2003 Road Map
2005 Israeli disengagement from Gaza
2005 Agreement on Movement and Access
2006 Valley of Peace initiative
2007 Annapolis Conference
2009 Aftonbladet Israel controversy
2010s
2010–11 Israeli–Palestinian peace talks
2011 Palestine Papers
2013–14 Israeli–Palestinian peace talks
United Nations
1947 UN Resolution 181
1948 UN Resolution 194
1967 UN Resolution 242
[show]
v
t
e
Arab–Israeli conflict
[show]
v
t
e
Countries
Authorities
Organizations
Primary countries
and authorities
All-Palestine
Egypt
Hamas Gaza
Iraq
Kuwait
Israel
Jordan
Lebanon
Palestinian National Authority
Saudi Arabia
Syria
Organizations
Active
Abu Nidal Organization
Amal
al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades
Syrian Social Nationalist Party
Arab League
Arab Liberation Front
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Fatah
Guardians of the Cedars
Hamas
Hezbollah
Jaish al-Islam
Kataeb
Lebanese Forces
al-Mourabitoun
Muslim Brotherhood
Palestinian Islamic Jihad
Palestine Liberation Front
Palestine Liberation Organization
Palestinian Popular Struggle Front
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command
Popular Resistance Committees
as-Sa'iqa
Inactive or
former
Arab Higher Committee
Arab Liberation Army
Black Hand
Black September
Haganah
Holy War Army
Irgun (Etzel)
Japanese Red Army
Lehi
Palmach
Revolutionary Cells
South Lebanon Army
Other countries
Algeria
China
Cuba
France
Iran
Kuwait
Libya
Morocco
North Korea
Norway
Pakistan
Russia
Sudan
Tunisia
Turkey
Uganda
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
United States
Venezuela
Yemen
Transnational
European Union
United Nations
Former states
Mandatory Palestine
Soviet Union
United Arab Republic
[show]
v
t
e
People
Lester B. Pearson
Abd al-Hakim Amer
Hosni Mubarak
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Anwar Sadat
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Ali Khamenei
Ruhollah Khomeini
Faisal I
Saddam Hussein
Ehud Barak
Menachem Begin
David Ben-Gurion
Moshe Dayan
Levi Eshkol
Golda Meir
Benjamin Netanyahu
Ehud Olmert
Shimon Peres
Yitzhak Rabin
Yitzhak Shamir
Ariel Sharon
Chaim Weizmann
King Abdullah I of Jordan
King Abdullah II of Jordan
King Hussein of Jordan
Émile Lahoud
Hassan Nasrallah
Fouad Siniora
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Mona Juul
Johan Jørgen Holst
Terje Rød-Larsen
Mahmoud Abbas
Yasser Arafat
Marwan Barghouti
George Habash
Ismail Haniyeh
Haj Amin al-Husseini
Khaled Mashal
Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi
Ahmad Shukeiri
Ahmed Yassin
King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia
King Fahd of Saudi Arabia
King Faisal of Saudi Arabia
Folke Bernadotte
Hafez al-Assad
Bashar al-Assad
Shukri al-Quwatli
Salah Jadid
Ernest Bevin
Arthur Balfour
Tony Blair
Richard Crossman
Madeleine Albright
Ralph Bunche
George H. W. Bush
George W. Bush
Jimmy Carter
Bill Clinton
Henry Kissinger
Ronald Reagan
Condoleezza Rice
Dennis Ross
Ramadan Shalah
Harry S. Truman
Cyrus Vance
[show]
v
t
e
Armed engagements
Background
1920 Battle of Tel Hai
1936–39 Arab revolt
1944 Operation ATLAS
1947–1950s
1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine
1948–49 Arab–Israeli War
1950s Palestinian Fedayeen attacks (Reprisal operations)
1956 Suez Crisis
1960s
1966 Operation Shredder
1967 Six-Day War
1967–70 War of Attrition
1968 Battle of Karameh
Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon
1968 Operation Gift
1970s–1980
1973 Yom Kippur War
Palestinian insurgency
in South Lebanon
1972 Operation Isotope / Lod Airport massacre / Munich Olympics massacre
1972–79 Operation Wrath of God (Airstrike, Spring of Youth)
1973 Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114
1974 Ma'alot massacre
1975 Savoy Operation
1976 Operation Entebbe
1978 Coastal Road massacre / Operation Litani
1980 Misgav Am hostage crisis
1980s
1981 Operation Opera
1982 Lebanon War
1982–2000 South Lebanon conflict
1984 Bus 300 affair
1985 Operation Wooden Leg
1987–93 First Intifada
1988 Mothers' Bus rescue / Tunis raid
1990s
1992 Operation Bramble Bush
1993–2008 Palestinian suicide attacks
1993 Operation Accountability
1996 Operation Grapes of Wrath
2000s
2000–05 Al-Aqsa Intifada (Second Intifada)
2000–06 Shebaa Farms conflict
2001–present Rocket and mortar attacks on southern Israel
2003 Ain es Saheb airstrike
2006 Operation Bringing Home the Goods / Operation Summer Rains / Operation Autumn Clouds / Lebanon War
2006–present Gaza–Israel conflict
2007–08 Operation Hot Winter
2008–09 Gaza War
2007 Operation Orchard
2007–present Lebanese rocket attacks
2010s
2010 Adaisseh skirmish / Palestinian militancy campaign
Gaza–Israel conflict
2011 Southern Israel cross-border attacks
2012 Operation Returning Echo / Operation Pillar of Defense
2014 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict
2015 Israeli–Palestinian conflict (2015–2016)
[show]
v
t
e
Diplomacy and peace proposals
To 1948
1914 Damascus Protocol
1915 McMahon–Hussein Correspondence
1916 Sykes–Picot Agreement
1917 Balfour Declaration
1918 Declaration to the Seven / Anglo-French Declaration
1919 Faisal–Weizmann Agreement
1920 San Remo conference
1922 Churchill White Paper
1937 Peel Commission
1939 White Paper
1947 UN Partition Plan
1948 American trusteeship proposal
1948–91
1948 UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 194
1949 Armistice agreements / Lausanne Conference
1950 Tripartite Declaration
1964 Palestinian National Covenant
1967 Khartoum Resolution / UN Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 242
1973 UNSC Resolution 338 / UNSC Resolution 339
1974 Israel–Syria disengagement agreement / UNSC Resolution 350
1978 UNSC Resolution 425 / Camp David Accords
1979 UNSC Resolution 446 / Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty / UNSC Resolution 452
1980 UNSC Resolution 478
1981 UNSC Resolution 497
1983 Israel–Lebanon agreement
1991–present
1991 Madrid Conference
1993 Oslo Accords
1994 Gaza–Jericho Agreement / Israel–Jordan peace treaty
1995 Beilin-Abu Mazen agreement
1998 Wye River Memorandum
1999 Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum
2000 Camp David Summit / Clinton Parameters
2001 Taba Summit
2002 Beirut Summit and peace initiative / Road map
2003 Geneva Initiative
2004 UNSC Resolution 1559 / UNSC Resolution 1566
2005 UNSC Resolution 1583 / Sharm el-Sheikh Summit / Israeli disengagement from Gaza / Agreement on Movement and Access
2006 UNSC Resolution 1701
2007 Annapolis Conference
2010 Israeli–Palestinian peace talks
2013 Israeli–Palestinian peace talks
[show]
v
t
e
Olympic Games scandals and controversies
By year
2008 (summer)
2010 (winter)
2012 (summer)
2014 (winter)
2016 (summer)
2022 (winter)
Boycotts
1936
1956
1964
1976
1980
1984
1988
Alternative
competitions
Intercalated Games (1906)
People's Olympiad (1936)
Games of the New Emerging Forces (1963)
Liberty Bell Classic (1980)
Friendship Games (1984)
Goodwill Games (1986–2001)
Events
Football match between Peru and Austria (1936)
"Blood in the Water" water-polo match (1956)
Tlatelolco massacre (1968)
Black Power salute (1968)
Munich massacre (1972)
Basketball gold-medal match controversy (1972)
Kozakiewicz's gesture (1980)
Centennial Olympic Park bombing (1996)
Winter Olympic bid scandal (1998)
Figure-skating judging scandal (2002)
Underage gymnasts controversy (2008)
Death of Nodar Kumritashvili (2010)
Quadruple jump controversy (2010)
One minute of silence campaign (2012)
LGBT rights protests (2014)
Sochi Ladies' singles judging controversy (2014)
Ireland Summer Olympics ticket scandal (2016)
Death of Bahman Golbarnezhad (2016)
Lochtegate (2016)
Rule 40 (2016)
List of stripped Olympic medals
Doping at the Olympic Games
Apartheid-era South Africa and the Olympics
Authority control
GND: 7508433-8
[show]
v
t
e
Terrorism in Germany
Notable attacks
Munich massacre
German autumn
Kidnapping and murder of Hanns-Martin Schleyer
Lufthansa Flight 181
Oktoberfest terror attack
1986 Berlin discotheque bombing
Mykonos restaurant assassinations
1993 Solingen arson attack
2004 Cologne bombing
Murder of Michèle Kiesewetter
2011 Frankfurt airport shooting
2016 Hanover stabbing
2016 Würzburg train attack
2016 Ansbach bombing
2016 Berlin attack
2017 Hamburg attack
Notable terrorists
In terror groups
Black September Organization
Abu Daoud
Adnan al-Gashey
Jamal al-Gashey
Red Army Faction
Andreas Baader
Gudrun Ensslin
Jan-Carl Raspe
Ulrike Meinhof
Brigitte Mohnhaupt
Christian Klar
Birgit Hogefeld
Wolfgang Grams
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Souhaila Andrawes
National Socialist Underground
Beate Zschäpe
Uwe Böhnhardt
Uwe Mundlos
Lone perpetrators
Gundolf Köhler
Arid Uka
Mohammad Daleel
Anis Amri
Terror groups
Domestic groups
Red Army Faction (defunct)
National Socialist Underground (defunct, the case is on trial)
Foreign groups
Black September Organization (defunct)
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Mukhabarat el-Jamahiriya (defunct)
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Counter-terrorism units
Federal Police units
GSG 9
Spezialeinsatzkommando
Military unit
Kommando Spezialkräfte
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Munich_massacre&oldid=799106896"
Categories:
Munich massacre
Mass murder in 1972
Black September Organization
Olympic Games controversies
Palestinian terrorist incidents in Europe
Massacres in Germany
Terrorist incidents in 1972
Terrorist attacks attributed to Palestinian militant groups
Antisemitism in Germany
Antisemitism in Egypt
Germany–Israel relations
Olympic deaths
1972 crimes in Germany
1972 in Israel
1972 in West Germany
Politics and sports
Terrorist incidents in Germany
Crime in Munich
Deaths by firearm in Germany
History of Munich
History of Israel
Hostage taking in Germany
Fatah
Israel at the Summer Olympics
Arab–Israeli conflict
Jewish sports
1970s in Munich
Kidnappings in Germany
Murder in Bavaria
Military operations involving Palestine
September 1972 events in Europe
Hidden categories:
Pages with reference errors
Pages with incorrect ref formatting
CS1 errors: external links
Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from February 2012
Pages with broken reference names
CS1 German-language sources (de)
All articles with dead external links
Articles with dead external links from March 2016
Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from October 2012
Wikipedia pages under 30-500 editing restriction
Use dmy dates from April 2013
Articles needing additional references from September 2017
All articles needing additional references
Coordinates on Wikidata
All articles with unsourced statements
Articles with unsourced statements from September 2017
All accuracy disputes
Articles with disputed statements from April 2013
Articles needing additional references from February 2012
Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from February 2015
Wikipedia articles needing clarification from February 2012
Interlanguage link template link number
Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers
Navigation menu
Personal tools
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Namespaces
Article
Talk
Variants
Views
Read
View source
View history
More
Search
Navigation
Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store
Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page
Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page
Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version
In other projects
Wikimedia Commons
Languages
العربية
Български
Català
Čeština
Dansk
Deutsch
Ελληνικά
Español
Euskara
فارسی
Français
Galego
한국어
Hrvatski
Bahasa Indonesia
Íslenska
Italiano
עברית
Latviešu
Magyar
Македонски
മലയാളം
Bahasa Melayu
Монгол
Nederlands
日本語
Norsk
Norsk nynorsk
Polski
Português
Română
Русский
Simple English
Slovenščina
Српски / srpski
Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски
Suomi
Svenska
Türkçe
Українська
Tiếng Việt
Walon
ייִדיש
粵語
中文
Edit links
This page was last edited on 5 September 2017, at 17:42.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Cookie statement
Mobile view
Enable previews

values: mw-page-base noprint

values: mw-head-base noprint

attrs: id class style

values: This article is extended-confirmed protected

attrs: class id

values: firstHeading firstHeading en

values: siteSub noprint

values: jump-to-nav mw-jump

attrs: role class

values:
note
hatnote navigation-not-searchable

attrs: href class

values: Help:Introduction to referencing with Wiki Markup/1

values: plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-Refimprove

values: Map of West Germany (the Federal Republic of Germany between 1949 and 1990)

values:
/wiki/File:Red_pog.svg
image
Locator dot

values: Maps, aerial photos, and other data for this location

values: Template:Campaignbox Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon

values: Template talk:Campaignbox Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon

values: 1972 Israeli air raid in Syria and Lebanon

values:
/wiki/Sabena_Flight_571_hijacking
mw-redirect
Sabena Flight 571 hijacking

values:
/wiki/Pan_Am_Flight_110
mw-redirect
Pan Am Flight 110

values: nowraplinks collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner

values:
/wiki/Palestinian_people
mw-redirect
Palestinian people

values:
/wiki/Neo-Nazism_in_Germany
mw-redirect
Neo-Nazism in Germany

values: This claim needs references to reliable sources. (September 2017)

values:
noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact
white-space:nowrap;

values:
/wiki/Foreign_Ministry_in_Bonn
mw-redirect
Foreign Ministry in Bonn

values: The material near this tag is possibly inaccurate or nonfactual. (April 2013)

values:
/wiki/Olympiapark,_Munich
mw-redirect
Olympiapark, Munich

values:
/wiki/Black_September_(group)
mw-redirect
Black September (group)

values:
/wiki/New_York_Times
mw-redirect
New York Times

values:
/wiki/Henry_Hershkowitz
mw-redirect
Henry Hershkowitz

values:
/wiki/Chef_de_mission
mw-redirect
Chef de mission

values: The material near this tag may use weasel words or too-vague attribution. (February 2015)

values: Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Words to watch

values: Chancellor of Germany (Federal Republic)

values:
/wiki/Israeli_Security_Forces
mw-redirect
Israeli Security Forces

attrs: alt src width height class data-file-width data-file-height

values:
/wiki/Munich-Riem_airport
mw-redirect
Munich-Riem airport

values:
/wiki/Femural_artery
mw-redirect
Femural artery

values:
/wiki/Kalashnikov_assault_rifle
mw-redirect
Kalashnikov assault rifle

values:
noprint Inline-Template
margin-left:0.1em; white-space:nowrap;

values:
/wiki/Involuntary_manslaughter
mw-redirect
Involuntary manslaughter

values: Help:Cite errors/Cite error included ref

values:
/wiki/Olympic_Flag
mw-redirect
Olympic Flag

values:
/wiki/Marathon_(sport)
mw-redirect
Marathon (sport)

values: 2012 Olympics one minute of silence campaign

values:
/wiki/2012_London_Olympics
mw-redirect
2012 London Olympics

values:
/wiki/Ahmed_Bouchiki
mw-redirect
Ahmed Bouchiki

values:
noprint
font-size:85%; font-style: normal;

values:
/wiki/Palestinian_Authority
mw-redirect
Palestinian Authority

values: 1972 (Sarah Morris) (page does not exist)

values:
/wiki/Academy_Award
mw-redirect
Academy Award

values: Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature

values: display:table-cell;padding:0.2em 0.2em 0.2em 0.3em;vertical-align:middle

values: margin:0.5em 0 0.5em 1em;border:solid #aaa 1px

values:
/wiki/One_minute_of_silence
mw-redirect
One minute of silence

values:
nofollow
external free
http://www.si.com

values:
/wiki/TIME_(magazine)
mw-redirect
TIME (magazine)

values: This citation requires a reference to the specific page or range of pages in which the material appears. (February 2012)

values: Help:Cite errors/Cite error references no text

values:
/wiki/The_Telegraph_(UK)
mw-redirect
The Telegraph (UK)

values:
nofollow
external free
http://www.jta.org

values: This citation requires a reference to the specific page or range of pages in which the material appears. (October 2012)

values: -moz-column-width: 30em; -webkit-column-width: 30em; column-width: 30em; list-style-type: decimal;

values: International Standard Book Number (identifier)

values:
nofollow
external text
https://fas.org/irp/eprint/calahan.htm

values:
col
navbox-title
2
background:#D5E6FF;;background: #BFD7FF

values:
/wiki/Israel_at_the_Summer_Olympics
mw-redirect
Israel at the Summer Olympics

values:
padding:0em 0.25em
hlist hlist-separated

values:
/wiki/Israel_at_the_Winter_Olympics
mw-redirect
Israel at the Winter Olympics

values: Template:Terrorist attacks against Israelis in the 1970s

values: Template talk:Terrorist attacks against Israelis in the 1970s

values:
/wiki/Terrorist_attacks
mw-redirect
Terrorist attacks

values:
/wiki/Avivim_school_bus_massacre
mw-redirect
Avivim school bus massacre

values: 1972 Israeli Bangkok Embassy hostage crisis

values:
/wiki/Savoy_Hotel_Attack
mw-redirect
Savoy Hotel Attack

values: display:inline-block; width:1.5em; height:1.5em; margin:1px 0; border:1px solid black; background-color:#FFFFC0; color:black; font-size:100%; text-align:center;

values: display:inline-block; width:1.5em; height:1.5em; margin:1px 0; border:1px solid black; background-color:#c1d7cd; color:black; font-size:100%; text-align:center;

values: display:inline-block; width:1.5em; height:1.5em; margin:1px 0; border:1px solid black; background-color:#ffb3b9; color:black; font-size:100%; text-align:center;

values: display:inline-block; width:1.5em; height:1.5em; margin:1px 0; border:1px solid black; background-color:#fff4d8; color:black; font-size:100%; text-align:center;

values: List of Lebanese rocket attacks on Israel

values: Template:Terrorist attacks against Israelis in the 1960s

values: Template:Terrorist attacks against Israelis in the 1980s

values: nowraplinks vevent collapsible collapsed navbox-inner

values: Template:Palestinian militancy attacks in the 1970s

values: Template talk:Palestinian militancy attacks in the 1970s

values: Template:Palestinian militancy attacks in the 1960s

values: Template:Palestinian militancy attacks in the 1980s

values: Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine

values: Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

values: nowraplinks collapsible collapsed navbox-subgroup

values:
/wiki/Haj_Amin_al-Husseini
mw-redirect
Haj Amin al-Husseini

values: History of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict

values: Sectarian conflict in Mandatory Palestine

values: Intercommunal conflict in Mandatory Palestine

values:
/wiki/Jaffa_riots
mw-redirect
Jaffa riots

values: Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine

values: 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine

values: Killings and massacres during the 1948 Palestine war

values: List of attacks against Israeli civilians before 1967

values: Tel Aviv–Jerusalem bus 405 suicide attack

values: List of Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel

values:
/wiki/Karine_A_Affair
mw-redirect
Karine A Affair

values:
/wiki/Operation_Rainbow_(2004)
mw-redirect
Operation Rainbow (2004)

values:
/wiki/Jerusalem_bulldozer_attack
mw-redirect
Jerusalem bulldozer attack

values: List of Arab towns and villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestinian exodus

values: International law and Israeli settlements

values: United States security assistance to the Palestinian National Authority

values: Protocol Concerning the Redeployment in Hebron

values:
/wiki/Sharm_el-Sheikh_Memorandum
mw-redirect
Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum

values:
/wiki/Clinton_Parameters
mw-redirect
Clinton Parameters

values: Israel, Palestine, and the United Nations

values: United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine

values: United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194

values: United Nations Security Council Resolution 242

values: nowraplinks collapsible collapsed navbox-inner

values: Template talk:Arab-Israeli conflict participants

values:
CountriesAuthoritiesOrganizations
font-size:114%;margin:0 4em
hlist hlist-separated

values:
/wiki/Hamas_Government_in_Gaza
mw-redirect
Hamas Government in Gaza

values:
/wiki/Jaish_al-Islam
mw-redirect
Jaish al-Islam

values:
/wiki/Palestinian_Islamic_Jihad
mw-redirect
Palestinian Islamic Jihad

values:
/wiki/Black_Hand_(Palestine)
mw-redirect
Black Hand (Palestine)

values:
/wiki/Holy_War_Army
mw-redirect
Holy War Army

values: nowraplinks collapsible autocollapse navbox-subgroup

values: Template:People involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict

values: Template talk:People involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict

values: Template talk:Arab–Israeli armed engagements

values:
/wiki/Operation_ATLAS
mw-redirect
Operation ATLAS

values:
/wiki/Tunis_Raid#Assassination
mw-redirect
Tunis Raid

values: 2011 southern Israel cross-border attacks

values: American trusteeship proposal for Palestine

values: United Nations Security Council Resolution 338

values: United Nations Security Council Resolution 339

values: Agreement on Disengagement between Israel and Syria

values: United Nations Security Council Resolution 350

values: United Nations Security Council Resolution 425

values: United Nations Security Council Resolution 446

values: United Nations Security Council Resolution 452

values: United Nations Security Council Resolution 478

values: United Nations Security Council Resolution 497

values: United Nations Security Council Resolution 1559

values: United Nations Security Council Resolution 1566

values: United Nations Security Council Resolution 1583

values:
/wiki/Sharm_el-Sheikh_Summit_of_2005
mw-redirect
Sharm el-Sheikh Summit of 2005

values: United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701

values: Template talk:Olympic Games controversies

values: List of Olympic Games scandals and controversies

values: Concerns and controversies at the 2008 Summer Olympics

values: Concerns and controversies at the 2010 Winter Olympics

values: Concerns and controversies at the 2012 Summer Olympics

values: Concerns and controversies at the 2014 Winter Olympics

values: Concerns and controversies at the 2016 Summer Olympics

values: Concerns and controversies at the 2022 Winter Olympics

values: Peru 4–2 Austria (1936 Summer Olympics association football)

values: 2002 Winter Olympics figure skating scandal

values: LGBT rights protests surrounding the 2014 Winter Olympics

values: Figure skating at the 2014 Winter Olympics – Ladies' singles

values: Apartheid-era South Africa and the Olympics

values:
nofollow
external text
http://d-nb.info/gnd/7508433-8

values: Kidnapping and murder of Hanns-Martin Schleyer

values:
/wiki/Oktoberfest_terror_attack
mw-redirect
Oktoberfest terror attack

values:
/wiki/Solingen_arson_attack_of_1993
mw-redirect
Solingen arson attack of 1993

values:
/wiki/2016_Hanover_stabbing
mw-redirect
2016 Hanover stabbing

values:
/wiki/Uwe_Mundlos
mw-redirect
Uwe Mundlos

values: nowraplinks hlist collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner

values: Category:Palestinian terrorist incidents in Europe

values: Category:Terrorist attacks attributed to Palestinian militant groups

values: Category:Military operations involving Palestine

values: Category:September 1972 events in Europe

values: Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting

values: Category:Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from February 2012

values: Category:Pages with broken reference names

values: Category:CS1 German-language sources (de)

values: Category:All articles with dead external links

values: Category:Articles with dead external links from March 2016

values: Category:Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from October 2012

values: Category:Wikipedia pages under 30-500 editing restriction

values: Category:Articles needing additional references from September 2017

values: Category:All articles needing additional references

values: Category:All articles with unsourced statements

values: Category:Articles with unsourced statements from September 2017

values: Category:Articles with disputed statements from April 2013

values: Category:Articles needing additional references from February 2012

values: Category:Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from February 2015

values: Category:Wikipedia articles needing clarification from February 2012

values: Category:Interlanguage link template link number

values: Category:Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers

values: Discussion about edits from this IP address [ctrl-alt-n]

values: A list of edits made from this IP address [ctrl-alt-y]

values:
/wiki/Munich_massacre
View the content page [ctrl-alt-c]
c

values:
This page is protected.
You can view its source [ctrl-alt-e]

values:
/wiki/Special:Random
Load a random article [ctrl-alt-x]
x

values: portal navigation p-navigation p-navigation-label

values: Guidance on how to use and edit Wikipedia

values: About the project, what you can do, where to find things

values: A list of recent changes in the wiki [ctrl-alt-r]

values: portal navigation p-interaction p-interaction-label

values: List of all English Wikipedia pages containing links to this page [ctrl-alt-j]

values: Recent changes in pages linked from this page [ctrl-alt-k]

values:
/wiki/Wikipedia:File_Upload_Wizard
Upload files [ctrl-alt-u]
u

values: A list of all special pages [ctrl-alt-q]

values: Permanent link to this revision of the page

values: Link to connected data repository item [ctrl-alt-g]

values: Printable version of this page [ctrl-alt-p]

values: portal navigation p-wikibase-otherprojects p-wikibase-otherprojects-label

values: عملية ميونخ – Arabic

values: Мюнхенско клане – Bulgarian

values: Σφαγή του Μονάχου – Greek

values: واقعه المپیک مونیخ – Persian

values: Prise d'otages des Jeux olympiques de Munich – French

values: Masacre dos Xogos Olímpicos de Múnic – Galician

values: 뮌헨 올림픽 참사 – Korean

values: טבח הספורטאים באולימפיאדת מינכן – Hebrew

values: Túszdráma a müncheni olimpián – Hungarian

values: Минхенски масакар – Macedonian

values: മ്യൂണിച്ച് കൂട്ടക്കൊല – Malayalam

values: Pembunuhan beramai-ramai di Munich – Malay

values: Мюнхений хядлага – Mongolian

values: ミュンヘンオリンピック事件 – Japanese

values: Теракт на Олимпийских играх в Мюнхене – Russian

values: Teroristični napad v Münchnu 1972 – Slovenian

values: Минхенски масакр – Serbian

values: Теракт на мюнхенській Олімпіаді – Ukrainian

values: ישראלדיקער ספארטלער אומקום ביי דער מינכן אלימפיאדע – Yiddish

values: /static/images/wikimedia-button-1.5x.png 1.5x, /static/images/wikimedia-button-2x.png 2x

values: /static/images/poweredby_mediawiki_132x47.png 1.5x, /static/images/poweredby_mediawiki_176x62.png 2x

values: mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-0 ns-subject page-Munich_massacre rootpage-Munich_massacre skin-vector action-view