Status: 07/27/2022 1:12 p.m
The federal government offered the families of the victims of the 1972 Olympic attack “further recognition services”. Since the assassination attempt by a Palestinian terrorist commando 50 years ago, there has been a struggle for compensation.
50 years after the Munich Olympic attack in 1972, the families of the victims can now hope for compensation payments from Germany after decades of dispute. The federal government announced that it was prepared to provide further compensation. “An offer of further acknowledgment services to the survivors of the victims of the attack” is planned, said a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior, confirming corresponding media reports.
Trusting talks are currently being held with representatives of the victims’ families, he said. The federal government has decided “to articulate again the serious consequences for the victims’ families in immaterial and material terms,” said the ministry spokesman for the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”.
The financial benefits should therefore come from the federal government, the state of Bavaria and the state capital Munich. No information was given about the amount of the compensation payments.
50th anniversary of the Olympic assassination
At the beginning of September, a commemoration ceremony will be held to commemorate the assassination. In the attack by a Palestinian terrorist command on September 5, 1972, eleven Israeli athletes and coaches and a German policeman died.
“The commemoration of the 50th anniversary should be an occasion for a clear political classification of the events of 1972.” With a comprehensive review of the events of that time, the Federal Government wanted to express Germany’s special relationship with the State of Israel and create the starting point for a new, lively culture of remembrance.
Criticism from the victims’ families
The surviving relatives had previously criticized the way the German authorities were handling files and found the compensation already paid to be inadequate. The spokeswoman for the bereaved, Ankie Spitzer, had questioned, among other things, the participation of the victims’ families in the central commemoration, as long as the question of compensation is unresolved.
Immediately after the assassination, according to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, payments from Germany to the relatives of the victims amounted to around 4.19 million marks (around two million euros). The Ministry announced in 2001 that around 3.2 million marks of this were humanitarian payments by the Federal Republic. The remaining amount was made up of donations from the German Red Cross and services provided by the National Olympic Committee. The total amount went to the National Olympic Committee to be passed on to the bereaved.
In 2002, the bereaved received a further three million euros – as a humanitarian gesture, as the Federal Government, the Free State of Bavaria and the City of Munich explained at the time. A lawsuit for damages of around 40 million marks (around 20.45 million euros) with reference to massive mistakes in the police operation was dismissed due to the statute of limitations.