Exactly 50 years after the Olympic attack in Munich, the victims will be commemorated with two ceremonies this Monday. Eleven members of the Israeli Olympic team and a German policeman were killed in the hostage-taking, which the police ended with bloodshed. From today’s perspective, the police operation of that time is considered a complete failure.
From 9.45 a.m. at the memorial on the edge of the Olympic Village, which opened only five years ago, Munich’s Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) and the Bavarian Minister of Education Michael Piazolo (Free Voters) will speak. Speakers will also include Israeli Sports Minister Yehiel Tropper and Israel Olympic Committee President Yael Arad.
The celebration at 3 p.m. on the grounds of the former Fürstenfeldbruck air base in the west of Munich is central. The Palestinian terrorists and their hostages were lured there with the prospect of being flown out. As they exited the helicopters, they were fired upon by German security forces. In addition to the hostages and a police officer, five of the eight kidnappers died. In addition to the survivors of the Israeli victims, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) are expected to attend the commemoration in Fürstenfeldbruck. Both celebrations can be seen live streamed here.
Only a few days ago, the survivors and the federal government agreed on compensation. 28 million euros have now been determined as compensation, of which the federal government will pay 22.5 million, the Free State of Bavaria 5 million and the city of Munich 500,000 euros. In addition, there should be an extensive reappraisal of the events. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) had declared that the Federal Republic was taking responsibility. Federal President Steinmeier said on Sunday when he welcomed his Israeli colleague: “It is indeed shameful that it took 50 years for this agreement to be reached in the last few days.”
The anti-Semitism commissioner of the Free State of Bavaria, the former Minister of Education Ludwig Spaenle, spoke of a “state failure” at all levels. “It was about covering up, concealing, suppressing,” he said Augsburg General. “People wanted to get rid of it in Germany and across party lines – with a red mayor in Munich, a CSU-led state government in Bavaria and a social-liberal federal government,” said Spaenle. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) said on Sunday: “We have to show more empathy and more support to people whose lives have been dramatically changed by attacks.” The terrorist attack in 1972 left deep wounds. “Troubling questions have been left unanswered for far too long.”