"THE GAMES MUST GO ON"

The Munich Olympic organizing committee had done it’s best to erase memories of the 1936 Berlin Olympics, which had been exploited by Adolph Hitler.

During the 1972 Olympic Games, the head of the Israeli delegation’s fear about lack of security had been brushed aside. Likewise, German security specialists dismissed the “worst case’ scenario predictions from a German forensic psychologist as “preposterous”. It was to happen with eerie accuracy.

On September 5, at 4.30 AM, 8 Black-September members, (a mixed PLO/Al Fatah/KGB terrorist group) sneaked unhindered into the Olympic village and used stolen keys to reach the floor of the apartment used by the Israeli team. When wrestling referee Yossef Gutfreund saw the masked men, he threw his 300lb weight against the door. Wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg fought the intruders, was shot through the cheek and then forced to round up the other hostages. Leading them past apartment 2, he choose apartment 3, hoping that the 6 wrestlers and weightlifters inside would be able to fight off the attackers. Surprised in their sleep, during the ensuing scuffle two Israelis were shot to death, leaving the terrorists with 9 living hostages.
The escaped occupants of apartment 2 raised the alarm.

Not only did the terrorists demand release and safe passage to Egypt of 234 Palestinians and non-Arabs jailed in Israel, but also the freedom of terrorists Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof, who were jailed in Germany.

Golda Meir, then Israel’s Prime Minister, refused to negotiate and wanted to send a specialize Israeli unit to Germany, but the German government told the Israelis they would deal with the problem themselves.

Negotiations gained 5 extensions to the terrorists’ deadlines, during which German security forces set up their units. These however, were clumsily exposed to the terrorists by live footage of the event.

6 p.m. - Even though Egypt didn’t want to be involved in the hostage crisis, the Germans feigned agreement to transport the terrorists to Cairo.

10.10 p.m. - 2 military helicopters flew the group to a nearby NATO airbase. Presuming there were 5 terrorists, the German crisis team, consisting of 2 politicians and one tactician, posted 5 German snipers, none of them sharpshooters. However, when the hostages were led from the Olympic village, the Germans noticed there were 8 terrorists.
Having no radio contact, this news could not be relayed to the snipers, who also lacked the ability to coordinate their fire.
At the tarmac, dressed as flight crew of the Boeing 727, the armed German policemen voted to abandon their mission.

10.30 p.m. – After landing the helicopters landed, 4 of the Black September terrorists held the pilots at gunpoint, while two of them inspected the jet. Only then did they realize it was a trap. Mossad chief Zvi Zamir and his co-worker Cohen couldn’t do anything but helplessly watch the unprofessional rescue attempt. Poor lighting and having to use an inadequate weapon, which lacked infrared and telescopic sights, made Sniper no. 3 to miss his mark.

11 p.m. - chaos erupted when the other snipers were ordered to shoot. Not only did they target the terrorists, but German policemen as well.

The 11 o’clock news mistakenly reported to the relieved Israeli public that the hostages had been saved.

Armored personnel carriers, stuck in traffic, only arriving after midnight, causing the terrorist to panic. The Israelis were tied to the helicopter seats and from point blank range one of the Arabs killed raked them with a sub-machine gun, after which he tossed a hand grenade into the cockpit. Those of the athletes who were still alive, now were burned to death. In the ensuing gun fight German police killed 5 terrorists and three were captured.

3 a.m. - a teary-eyed Jim McKay from ABC’s Olympic coverage, announced: “They’re all gone!”

The massacre of the 11 Israeli athletes was not considered serious enough to cancel or postpone the Olympics.

On September 6, 80,000 spectators and 3,000 athletes attended a memorial service in the Olympic Stadium. Except for 10 Arab nations, all flags were half-staff. The IOC’s president praised the strength of the Olympic movement and equated the attack on the Israeli sportsmen with disallowing Rhodesia’s participation to the Games and the encroaching professionalism. Little reference was made to the murdered athletes.

After the memorial service, the remaining members of the Israeli team flew home, while the non-Israeli Jewish sportsmen were placed under guard.
Only a few sportsmen withdrew from the games, the rest continued as if nothing had happened.
A few days later someone unfurled a banner amongst the noisy, flag waving spectators of a football match. It read: “17 dead, already forgotten?” Security didn’t like the banner, and the people who held it were told to leave the stadium. Jim Murray of the Los Angelis Times wrote: “It’s almost like having a dance at Dachau.” (Which was close to Munchen.)

Libya gave the terrorists a heroes’ funeral, with full military honors.

“The games must go on…” was the opinion of the majority.

And so it was, as if not 11 Israeli athletes had been murdered on that black day in September 1972, 37 years ago this month.