The 1972 Olympics were a landmark for Germany, but the terrorist attack in Munich has had a strong impact on society to this day.
After the success of the European Athletics Championships in Munich, which ended last Sunday, the possibility of the country applying for the 2036 Olympic Games is increasingly being discussed. In particular, the Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hendrik Wiest, in an interview in the “Rheinische Post” newspaper, he expressed his desire for the organization of the games in his state. However, the terrorist attack on the Munich Olympics, which began exactly 50 years ago today, still haunts the event.
August 26, 1972: Over 80,000 spectators are at the opening ceremony of the games, and both Germany and a billion television viewers from around the world eagerly await the start. More than 7,000 athletes from 121 countries were in Munich. “That relaxed and happy mood gave you chills,” said football legend Ottmar Hitzfeld at the time.
First Olympic Games after World War II
For the first time since World War II, the 20th Olympic games were chosen to be held in the Federal Republic of Germany 27 years after liberation from the Nazi regime and 36 years after the Berlin Olympics. The symbolism for the choice of Germany was multiple and especially for the city of Munich, as it was there that the National Socialist Party (NSDAP) of the Nazis was created. The goal of the political leadership as well as the organizers was to present a democratic and friendly country for everyone.
For a very short while, the general political climate was forgotten. The Olympics were a huge success with many medals. American swimmer Mark Spitz made history with seven gold medals. The hosts also won several medals, including Heide Rosenthal who received a gold medal in the long jump and Klaus Wolfermann, a javelin thrower, who not only won a gold medal but also set a world record with his performance.
The day that changed everything
The morning of September 5th was the day everything changed. Eight gunmen from the Palestinian organization “Black September” managed to enter the Olympic Village, despite warnings to the German authorities about security gaps and a possible terrorist attack. They headed to the building of the Israeli mission and after killing a coach and a weightlifter, they took 9 hostages, while the rest of the athletes and companions managed to escape.
The terrorists demanded from the then West German and Israeli governments the release of 234 Palestinians held by the Israelis, the release of the German terrorists and leading members of the Red Army Faction, Andreas Baander and Ulrike Meinhof, as well as their safe escape from West Germany. Their requests were not accepted, both by German Chancellor Willy Brandt and by Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir. The German state offered to give a large sum of money to the kidnappers to release the hostages. They, however, refused and insisted on their terms. The hostages were shot dead by the terrorists along with a German policeman and five of the terrorists. The terrorist attack will forever go down in history as the “Munich Massacre”.
The “moral” failure of politicians
The reaction of Germany’s special forces did not go unnoticed, as many doubts were expressed about the way they handled the case and it was argued that a different approach would have avoided bloodshed. For only 32 hours the games were stopped, while at the funeral ceremony the president of the IOC, Avery Brandage, sealed the continuation of the organization with the phrase: “The games must go on”. The then Mayor of Munich Hans-Jochen Vogel wanted to believe that the memory of the Munich Games would not be primarily identified with the murderous attack, as he wrote in the foreword to the German edition of the book “Munich 1972”. Athlete Heide Rosenthal stated that the decision to continue the Olympic Games was the right one. “We kept the competitive Olympic ideal without weapons, but in the games themselves.”
“Until today, no one has ever said ‘We’re sorry.’ We made the wrong decision. We were incompetent.” They were arrogant and humiliated us all the time,” said Anki Spitzer, representative of the victims’ families, to the ARD channel. It took 45 years to create a memorial site in 2017 in the Olympic Park. A few weeks before Memorial Day, survivors and their families wanted an apology from those responsible, an apology. In July, the federal government announced that first-degree relatives would be compensated, but the exact amount would not be disclosed.
DW – Klaas Hennig/ Iosifina Tsagalidou
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