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| Israeli sportsmen and soldiers surround the army command cars bearing the coffins of the 11 Israeli athletes murdered by Palestinian gunmen in the Munich Olympics September 7, 1972. |
Fuerstenfeldbruck, Germany. Survivors, relatives and officials paid solemn tribute on Wednesday to 11 Israeli victims of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre at the site of their killings 40 years ago.
About 600 guests passed tight security checks to attend a ceremony at Fuerstenfeldbruck air base, west of Munich, where a hostage-taking by a radical Palestinian group known as Black September reached its tragic climax.
Many of the guests wore dark glasses and brushed away tears as an ecumenical memorial service marked the anniversary, which has prompted new questions about the turn of events on German soil.
Under grey skies and with flags flying at half-mast, white candles lined a podium over which hung large black and white photos of the Israeli athletes and coaches who were taken hostage and subsequently killed.
Ankie Spitzer, widow of fencing coach Andre Spitzer, said the trip to Germany brought back painful memories of the authorities' "disastrous rescue attempt."
"For us, families of the victims and those of the Israeli delegation who were fortunate enough (to survive) Munich, Germany will be linked forever to this saddest day in our lives," she said.
She condemned "the incompetence, the stupidity and the arrogance" of the West German security officials "who should have saved the athletes" and demanded "a new investigation on the failures of the authorities in 1972".
Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom said, "40 years ago, the young state of Israel went through one of its most tragic days ever." He stressed the enduring threat, citing the deadly July attack against Israeli tourists in Bulgaria and Iran's nuclear program as just two examples.
About 600 guests passed tight security checks to attend a ceremony at Fuerstenfeldbruck air base, west of Munich, where a hostage-taking by a radical Palestinian group known as Black September reached its tragic climax.
Many of the guests wore dark glasses and brushed away tears as an ecumenical memorial service marked the anniversary, which has prompted new questions about the turn of events on German soil.
Under grey skies and with flags flying at half-mast, white candles lined a podium over which hung large black and white photos of the Israeli athletes and coaches who were taken hostage and subsequently killed.
Ankie Spitzer, widow of fencing coach Andre Spitzer, said the trip to Germany brought back painful memories of the authorities' "disastrous rescue attempt."
"For us, families of the victims and those of the Israeli delegation who were fortunate enough (to survive) Munich, Germany will be linked forever to this saddest day in our lives," she said.
She condemned "the incompetence, the stupidity and the arrogance" of the West German security officials "who should have saved the athletes" and demanded "a new investigation on the failures of the authorities in 1972".
Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom said, "40 years ago, the young state of Israel went through one of its most tragic days ever." He stressed the enduring threat, citing the deadly July attack against Israeli tourists in Bulgaria and Iran's nuclear program as just two examples.
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| The Munich Olympics 1972 |
The leader of Germany's Jewish community, Dieter Graumann, condemned the refusal of the International Olympic Committee to mark the 40th anniversary of the bloodbath with a minute's silence at the opening ceremony of the London Games this summer.
The commemorations have given rise to new research into the horrifying chain of events at the summer Munich Games, which were meant to showcase the new face of what was then West Germany, nearly three decades after World War II.
On September 5, 1972, gunmen broke into the Israeli team's flat at the Olympic village, immediately killing two of the athletes and taking nine others hostage to demand the release of 232 Palestinian prisoners.
A bungled rescue operation resulted in all the hostages being killed along with a German policeman and five of the eight hostage-takers.
The news sent shock waves through Germany just 27 years after the Holocaust and opened a deep rift with Israel.
"Were we too naive? Did we underestimate the terrorist threat? These questions remain," German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said at the ceremony.
Israeli sprinter Esther Roth-Shachamorov relived the terror in an interview with AFP this week.
"I remember an exhausting and frightening day," she said.
"We saw the Germans conducting negotiations with the terrorists through the balcony. They were threatening every two hours that if 200 Palestinians were not released, they would throw an Israeli down on the street," she added.
The commemorations have given rise to new research into the horrifying chain of events at the summer Munich Games, which were meant to showcase the new face of what was then West Germany, nearly three decades after World War II.
On September 5, 1972, gunmen broke into the Israeli team's flat at the Olympic village, immediately killing two of the athletes and taking nine others hostage to demand the release of 232 Palestinian prisoners.
A bungled rescue operation resulted in all the hostages being killed along with a German policeman and five of the eight hostage-takers.
The news sent shock waves through Germany just 27 years after the Holocaust and opened a deep rift with Israel.
"Were we too naive? Did we underestimate the terrorist threat? These questions remain," German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said at the ceremony.
Israeli sprinter Esther Roth-Shachamorov relived the terror in an interview with AFP this week.
"I remember an exhausting and frightening day," she said.
"We saw the Germans conducting negotiations with the terrorists through the balcony. They were threatening every two hours that if 200 Palestinians were not released, they would throw an Israeli down on the street," she added.
Henry Hershkovitz, who was on the Olympic shooting team and has returned to the stadium, was quoted Wednesday by the German daily Berliner Zeitung as saying: "We were like a family and most of this family was killed."
Former fencer Yehuda Weinstain said in the paper: "The Games admittedly went on but their spirit had been murdered."
Last week, Israel released official documents on the killings lambasting the performance of the West German security services.
The police "didn't make even a minimal effort to save human lives," former Mossad chief Zvi Zamir said at the time after returning from Munich.
Meanwhile German investigative magazine Der Spiegel accused the government and Olympic organizers of covering up grave mistakes.
Months before the hostage-taking, the interior ministry and the Bavarian state police warned federal authorities in vain of the possibility of "terrorist acts" at the Games, the magazine said.
The head of the Munich police evidently feared that a robust security presence would revive ugly memories of the 1936 Games in Berlin, presided over by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
At a press conference later, Spitzer urged Germany to open all its files on the case.
"It's not our profession, it's not a hobby, it's not an obsession," she said. "It's just our right to know what happened."
AFP
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