Remembering the Munich Olympic Massacre 50 Years Later

Fifty years ago this week, eleven members of the Israeli Olympic Team were murdered in a horrific terrorist act at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany. 

For Jews, the mere mention of Germany’s third largest city brings images of horror and grim reminders of the antisemitism still slithering around the world. 

On September 5 1972, at 4:30 am, Palestinian militant group Black September took the eleven Israelis hostage at a high-rise athlete residence in the Olympic village.  Two Israelis would be tortured and killed in front of their teammates within the residence. 

By 12:30 am on September 6, the other nine hostages were transported and killed in nearby Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base following a failed rescue mission by West German authorities. One West German police officer was also killed.

Twenty years after the attacks, Germany released a fuller story of the sheer barbarism that the Palestinian terrorists inflicted upon the team within those walls.

Five of the Black September terrorists were killed, and the three survivors were set free a month later in a hostage exchange following the hijacking of a German commercial airliner. 

Israel’s Mossad began Operation: Wrath of God, where they took covert aim at any living Black September members that were involved in organizing or perpetrating the Munich Massacre. Some were caught and killed. One still remains at large.

But during those 20 hours in 1972, people around the world watched on television as the events unfolded. The chronicles of antisemitism were front page headlines on every major newspaper. 

The Munich Games would continue. Jewish-American swimmer Mark Spitz would go home with a record seven gold medals. 

The massacre was dramatized in films such as the 1997 film “Prefontaine.” Mossad’s hunt for the perpetrators was depicted in Steven Spielberg’s controversial 2005 film “Munich.” Numerous books were written, including Simon Reeve’s “One Day in September” which was adapted into an HBO documentary. 

For 49 years, the International Olympic Committee refused to allow a moment of silence for the victims at the opening ceremony of any subsequent Summer Games. Not in 1984 in Los Angeles, not in 1996 in Atlanta. 

Until last year.

Eleven Summer Olympics passed before a moment of silence for the victims was finally held at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2021, albeit in front of COVID-reduced crowd of only 10,400 — the smallest opening ceremony crowd in modern Olympic history.

Eleven Summer Olympics passed before a moment of silence for the victims was finally held at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2021, albeit in front of COVID-reduced crowd of only 10,400 — the smallest opening ceremony crowd in modern Olympic history.

There have been reports of discussions between German and Israeli Olympic officials to submit a joint bid for Berlin and Tel Aviv to host the 2036 Summer Olympics. The two nations hope their bid will be a show of solidarity 100 years after Hitler and the Nazis hosted the 1936 games in Berlin. 

Throughout the 50 years since the Munich massacre, the families of the victims have had an awful experience getting information, compensation and acknowledgement from the German government. 

On September 2 of this year, the German government agreed to provide € 1.2 million in compensation to each of the 23 eligible family members of the Israeli victims. 

A memorial ceremony was held on September 5th in Munich, with victims’ families in attendance. German President Frank Walter-Steinmeier began his remarks by reading the names of each of the eleven Israeli victims and the West German police officer. In a speech lasting nearly 20 minutes, he expressed remorse and regret on behalf of Germany. 

“I ask for your forgiveness for the inadequate protection afforded to the Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games in Munich,” Walter-Steinmeier said. “And for the woefully inadequate investigation afterwards. For the fact that it was possible for what happened to happen. I have a duty and need to recognize Germany’s responsibility here and now and to the future.”

Israeli president Isaac Herzog spoke for nine minutes where he chastised the German response to the massacre, and recalled his experience of learning of the tragedy as a 12-year old in Israel. 

“I was a boy at that time, and yet I will never forget the terrible morning where together with my father I went to my school and we listened to the horrific news,” Herzog said. “I will never forget the tears we saw in our eyes, this feeling of complete shock.”

There was not a dry eye in the room during the speech of Ankie Spitzer, the widow of slain Israeli fencing coach Andre Spitzer. She gave her speech in English, speaking directly to Andre. Although they had only been married for fifteen months, she described their marriage as “the best time of my life.” She spoke of their daughter Anouk Yael Spitzer, and their 8 grandchildren who would never meet their grandfather. 

She ended her remarks with a pointed repudiation of West German authorities in 1972, as well as her outlook to the future. 

“The spokesman of the German government then, Conrad Ahlers, spoke at midnight about an ‘unfortunate interruption of the games which would be forgotten in a few weeks,’ No, Mr. Ahlers, we didn’t forget the ‘unfortunate interruption after a few weeks,’” Spitzer said. “You would think that mighty Germany would have done everything in its power not to add Jewish blood to its already bloody soil. Everybody is asking now if I finally feel closure. They don’t understand that there will never be closure. The hole in my heart will never ever heal. Thank you, Andre, for your gift of love. I’m so very lucky that I met you. You can rest now and so can I. Until we can meet again, my love. Be now forever you’re taken from my sight, though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass of glory in the flower, we will grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind. Andre, you were the wind under my wings. Thank you.”

The ceremony ended with a singing of the Israeli and German national anthems.