La masacre de Múnich

En 1972, mientras se desarrollaban los juegos Olímpicos en Múnich, un grupo terrorista Palestino tomó de rehenes a 11 miembros del equipo israelí de competición, en la villa olímpica. Querían la libertad de sus compañeros y protestaban por la ocupación de territorios palestinos por parte de Israel. El manejo de la crisis fue tan malo que todos los rehenes israelís fueron asesinados. Para saber: Mark Spitz

Two trainers died right away and another nine were taken as hostages.

Israel had sent 26 athletes to Munich.

La masacre de Munich fue un ataque durante los Juegos Olímpicos de verano de 1972 en Munich, Alemania Occidental, en el que el grupo terrorista palestino Black September tomó como rehenes a once miembros del equipo olímpico israelí y los mató junto con un oficial de policía de Alemania Occidental.

Poco después de que comenzara la crisis, un portavoz de Septiembre Negro exigió que 234 prisioneros palestinos encarcelados en Israel y Alemania Occidental fueran liberados.

Los oficiales de policía mataron a cinco de los ocho miembros de Black September durante un intento fallido de rescatar a los rehenes. Un policía de Alemania Occidental también murió en el fuego cruzado. Los otros tres secuestradores palestinos fueron capturados. Sin embargo, al mes siguiente, tras el secuestro del vuelo 615 de Lufthansa, el gobierno de Alemania Occidental los liberó en un intercambio de rehenes. El Mossad respondió con la incursión israelí de 1973 en el Líbano y la Operación Ira de Dios, localizando y matando a palestinos sospechosos de estar involucrados en la masacre de Munich.

Los rehenes Shorr y Spitzer hablan con policias durante las negociaciones

1972: The Massacre: The attack on the Olimpic Camp in Munich

The history of a terror attack by the Palestinian terrorists on the 10th day of celebration in the Olympic Camp in Munich. Eleven Israeli Olympic Team members were taken hostage and eventually killed.

—They started as joyous games. Germany had encouraged a friendly atmosphere from the beginning. On the tenth day, though, the colorful celebration was interrupted by a terror attack.

5th of September, 1972, 4:00 a.m . The Olympic village was resting in darkness. Eight men were climbing over a fence. Wearing training suits they seemed to be athletes coming back from a night in the town. But they were actually Palestinian terrorists. Their aim was to reach the accommodation of the Israeli team. As soon as they experienced resistance, they opened fire. Two trainers died right away and another nine were taken as hostages. Ankie Spitzer, wife of the fencing coach, some days after the massacre:

—It was a total chaos. Food, clothes, blood. Half of the wall came, fell back into the room because of the shots at a very short distance. And I cannot forget the blood. It was all over the place.

—They wanted to call the attention to the fate of Palestinians with this bloody massacre. The attackers on the Connolly Street of Munich were demanding the release and safe passage of their 200 imprisoned fellows.

With the Munich games Germany wanted to erase memories of the dark ghosts of the Olympic Games in Berlin, 1936.

Heidi Shuller, sportman: It was a nice try to show Germany from another side. The games were very nice, happy and cloudless. Everything was all right until that moment.

—Israel had sent 26 athletes to Munich. Palestine did not get permission to participate. The games had their own stars. Olga Korbut, the Soviet gymnast, and Mark Spitz, the American swimmer, owed half a million people in front of the television. Perfect games until the 5^th of September.

The first ultimatum of the terrorist run out at 9:00 a.m. Luckily, they did not keep their promise, since they should have shot other hostages.

Hans-Jocher Vogel, vice president of the organizing committee: It was a very touchy situation since it was about Jewish people. Having Jewish victims of a massacre on German ground again was terrible and gave a very miserable aspect to the games.

—The Minister of Internal Affairs travel to Munich. Hans-Dietrich Genscher and the crisis committee negotiated with the terrorists.

Walter Troger, mayor of the Olympic village: We were surrounded by 3 or 4 terrorists carrying machine guns and they held us in check. The hostages were totally frightened and depressed.

—Chancellor Willie Brandt in Bonn tried to reason with the Israeli government but could not manage. Israel refused to negotiate with the terrorists.

Bruno Merk, Minister of Internal Affairs: There was no solution. The Israeli government refused every proposal to negotiate and to realize a potential exchange.

—The terrorists extended their ultimatum 5 times but there was no negotiation. German police started its action without any defense or preparation.

Walter Renner, sergeant: We were city police and we were not prepared for situations like this, not even trained.

Hans-Dietrich Genscher and the crisis committee members were offering themselves in exchange for the hostages. The aggressive rescue action seemed to be hopeless. The terrorists did not accept the offer.

Bruno Merk: Then they came up with a surprising demand. They wanted to fly to Cairo. The hostages agreed as well. Genscher wanted to make sure of this personally. One of the hostages appeared in the window of the Israeli accommodation and wanted to talk to Genscher. It was Andre Spitzer.

Ankie Spitzer: He asked “How are you, is everything OK?” And he said “I´m fine. I just want my wife to know that she should not worry about me because we will see each other again soon in Israel and just tell her that I love her. And that was the message.”

—The negotiating committee left the Olympic village at 5 p.m. The federal government fulfilled the conditions of the attackers. 10 p.m. Two helicopters were waiting for the assassins and the hostages. The destination was to be the airport. There was to be a Lufthansa flight, according to the official announcement but that flight would never depart.

Police units were arriving to the airport from every part of the territory. The airport and the building were tightly sealed off. Two helicopters with the terrorists and the hostages emerged from the dark night. As soon as they got off the plane, police sharpshooters were ready. A bit later the command was given to fire… (Transcripted about 5 minutes)

Para saber

Mark Spitz marcó un récord mundial al ganar siete medallas de oro en una sola Olimpiada (en natación). Siendo judío, se le pidió que abandonara Múnich antes de las ceremonias de clausura por su propia protección, luego de que surgiera el temor de que fuera un blanco adicional de los responsables de la masacre de Múnich. El récord de Spitz se mantuvo hasta 2008, cuando fue derrotado por Michael Phelps, quien ganó ocho medallas de oro en la piscina.

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