The anniversary ceremony at Fuerstenfeldbruck airport outside Munich – the scene of a botched rescue attempt that left nine of the Israeli athletes, a West German policeman and five of the attackers dead – came days after the deal that ended a long dispute for compensation. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Israeli President Isaac Herzog laid wreaths at the site. Last week’s agreement led to a threatened boycott of the anniversary event by relatives of the slain athletes. They will receive a total of €28 million in compensation, a significant increase from the initial offer of €10 million. As part of the deal, Germany agreed to acknowledge the failures of the authorities at the time and allow German and Israeli historians to review the events surrounding the attack. “We are talking about a great tragedy and a triple failure,” said German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. “The first concerns the preparation of the games and the concept of security; the second the events of September 5 and 6, 1972. The third failure begins the day after the attack: silence, denial, oblivion.” Ankie Spitzer, the widow of fencing coach Andre Spitzer, said in remarks addressed to her late husband that “even though we have finally, after 50 years, achieved our goal, at the end of the day you are still far away and nothing can change that. “ “Everyone is now asking if I finally feel closure,” she said. “They don’t understand that there will never be closure. The hole in my heart will never, ever heal.” Before dawn on September 5, 1972, eight members of a Palestinian group called Black September climbed over the unguarded fence of the Olympic village. They stormed the building where Team Israel was staying, killing wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg and weightlifter Yossi Romano. Some Israeli athletes managed to escape but nine were seized. The kidnappers demanded the release of more than 200 Palestinians held by Israel and two German left-wing extremists in West German prisons.
“We can’t make up for what happened”
The attackers demanded a plane and safe passage to Cairo. After a day of tense negotiations, the attackers and their hostages were allowed to leave in two helicopters for Fuerstenfeldbruck. Sharpshooters at the airport opened fire. The attackers threw a grenade at one of the helicopters carrying the hostages, which exploded and shot the hostages in the other helicopter. The Olympics were put on hold for 34 hours, but then resumed, with then International Olympic Committee chief Avery Brande insisting that “the Games must go on”. Steinmeier acknowledged that the politicians of the time also “did everything to get back to business as quickly as possible.” “We cannot make up for what happened or what you experienced and suffered in the way of resistance, ignorance and injustice,” Steinmeier told relatives of the victims. “That embarrasses me.” “As the head of state of this country and in the name of the Federal Republic of Germany, I ask for your forgiveness for the inadequate protection of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics and for the inadequate resolution afterwards; for the fact that what happened could have happened “, he said. The compensation settlement includes payments that have already been made. Immediately after the attack, Germany made payments to relatives of the victims amounting to about 4.19 million marks (about 2 million euros or $2 million), according to the country’s interior ministry. In 2002, surviving relatives received an additional 3 million euros, the German news agency dpa reported. Steinmeier noted that Palestinian militants and their Libyan auxiliaries were directly responsible for the killings and said it was “very bitter that no word of sympathy, no word of regret is coming from political representatives of these countries today.” During a recent visit to Berlin, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas sparked outrage by refusing to condemn the 1972 attack and saying it could point to Israel’s “50 Holocausts”.
