It looks small, the brown-beige airport building. The glazed structures and huge antennas that once identified it as a tower have long since been removed. But the big “C” on the front is still there, and anyway: If you look at the historical pictures from September 5th and 6th, 1972, you will quickly recognize this place. The attack by Palestinian terrorists on the Israeli Olympic team ended in a bloodbath 51 years ago on the tarmac of the Fürstenfeldbruck air base when the attempt by the Bavarian police to free the hostages failed dramatically. The Olympic attack took the lives of eleven Israeli athletes and the German policeman Anton Fliegerbauer.
The 32-year-old Munich police superintendent Anton Fliegerbauer died in the night of September 6, 1972 in a shootout on the ground floor of the tower.
(Photo: dpa)
Fliegerbauer was struck down by a bullet on the ground floor of the tower building. Inside, little has changed to this day, sparse offices of the Bundeswehr are housed there, many rooms are deserted. The Tower can only be visited during rare commemorative events. But that is changing now, at least virtually: This Friday, the district of Fürstenfeldbruck is presenting its “Digital Place of Remembrance Olympic Attack 1972”, which is available both as a website and as a mobile phone app. Those responsible want to follow the digital place of remembrance with a real one as soon as possible.
What visitors to the new site can expect is a digital storytelling of the tragic events of September 5th and 6th, enriched by video interviews with eyewitnesses. The makers were also able to speak to the former Mayor of Munich, Hans-Jochen Vogel, and the Mayor of the Olympic Village, Walther Tröger – both of whom have since died. The project team, headed by Silke Seiz, hopes that their descriptions should give “an insight into the decision-making process of those responsible”. In other eyewitness reports, paramedics, police officers and officials from the Federal Border Police share their sometimes touching memories of the events.
The “Place of Remembrance 72” app for mobile devices is even more complex; it is available in the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. The historical scenes can be “walked through” without actually having to be there, and anyone who wants to express their dismay can even virtually plant a flower during their visit. The creators emphasize that they wanted an “easily accessible” presentation of the matter, which should also be scientifically sound. The app can also be seen as an educational opportunity for schools and clubs.
A central impetus for the commemoration of the victims of the Olympic attack comes once again from Fürstenfeldbruck. The 37,000-resident city, 25 kilometers west of Munich, can’t help it at all that it became the scene of a massacre in 1972. At the time, the security forces had chosen the manageable air base for their liberation operation because they feared endangering innocent third parties at Riem Airport.
Thomas Karmasin (CSU) initiated the initiative for a stronger culture of remembrance and a memorial site in Bruck almost three decades ago. Karmasin was elected district administrator in 1996, at the age of 33 the youngest in Bavaria at the time. While the commemoration was rather difficult in Munich, Karmasin took matters into his own hands, not least moved by childhood memories of the night of terror.
Since 1999 there has been a memorial at the main gate of the Fürstenfeldbruck air base commemorating the assassination. A commemorative event has been held there every year since then.
(Photo: Johannes Simon)
On September 5, 1999, a memorial created by the Gröbenzell artist Hannes L. Götz was inaugurated in front of the main gate of the air base: a granite bowl in which prayer notes and – following a Jewish tradition – small stones can be placed. Since then, there has been a commemoration event every year; Charlotte Knobloch, President of the Jewish community in Munich and Upper Bavaria, did not miss a single one. The Israeli Consul General is also a regular guest.
Knobloch attests the district a “clever and forward-looking culture of remembrance” and praises the “exemplary efforts” in Bruck at every suitable opportunity. When the Jewish Museum in Munich launched the “Twelve Months – Twelve Names” project in the commemorative year 2022 to honor the victims of the attack with installations and exhibitions, the Brucker Land was involved six times, not least at the instigation of the FFB Historical Association.
The three young historians who work as consultants for the digital place of remembrance were also able to make their mark in 2022. Among other things, Dominik Aufleger, Anna Greithanner and Robert Wolff discovered in the state archive a copy of the confession letter with which the Palestinian terrorists on September 5, 1972 demanded the release of imprisoned like-minded people. All major authors on the subject had previously assumed that there were around 230 names on this list. Aufleger, Greithanner and Wolf proved: There are 328. And contrary to previous assumptions, left-wing terrorist Andreas Baader is not among them.
Experts are now hearing that the three young scientists recommended their work in Bruck to the historians’ commission on the Olympic assassination, which the Federal Ministry of the Interior is currently putting together. The international team of eight is scheduled to start its research work in May, which will take three years.
Most of the victims died at the foot of the Tower in 1972
The major goal in Fürstenfeldbruck remains to enable commemoration at the air base itself. The public appeal of the simple memorial directly on the barracks wall is naturally limited – the iconic tower, at the foot of which most of the victims died in 1972, could develop a completely different emotional impact on visitors.
That’s why Charlotte Knobloch has always supported the plan to convert the tower into a memorial – “absolutely equal” with the memorial site in the Olympic Park in Munich that opened in 2017. The growing distance to the events of 1972 makes it all the more important, according to Knobloch, to create a place where young people can also learn about the connections. The Bavarian state government has repeatedly signaled its approval of the idea and promised funds, and the district has developed a concept. But everything depends on the withdrawal of the Bundeswehr.
Although flight operations have been suspended since 2015, driving safety training courses are held by the Bavarian police and BMW on parts of the area. But “Fursty” still houses some Luftwaffe departments, most notably the officers’ school. Only when the Bundeswehr moves out can the memorial project become concrete, and that will probably not happen before 2026. After all, the district has already received a declaration of intent from the Federal Agency for Real Estate Tasks (Bima) that the tower should not fall into the wrong hands when the barracks are then converted into a residential and commercial area.
Until then, they will gather in Fürstenfeldbruck every September 5 in front of the barracks gate, give speeches and pray together. Last year, at the big state funeral to mark the 50th anniversary of the Olympic attack on the runway at the air base, District Administrator Karmasin made a promise to the victims’ families: “We’ll be there, year after year.”