They started as joyous games. Germany had encouraged a friendly atmosphere from the beginning. On the tenth day, though, the colorful celebration was interrupted by a terror attack. 5th of September, 1972, 4 am: The Olympic Village was resting in darkness. Eight men were climbing over a fence. Wearing training suits, they seemed to be athletes coming back from a night on the town. But they were actually Palestinian terrorists. Their aim was to reach the accommodation of the Israeli team. As soon as they experienced resistance, they opened fire. Two trainers died right away and another nine were taken as hostages. Ankie Spitzer, wife of the fencing coach, said a few days after the massacre, 'It was a total chaos. Food, clothes, blood, half of the wall came back into the room because of the shots of a very short distance. Um ... and I cannot forget the blood. It was all over the place.'
They wanted to draw attention to the fate of Palestinians with this bloody massacre. The attackers in the Connolly Street of Munich were demanding the release and safe passage of their 200 imprisoned fellows. With the Munich Games, Germany wanted to erase memories of the dark ghosts of the Olympic Games in Berlin, 1936. It was a nice try to show Germany from another side. The games were very nice, happy, and cloudless and everything was all right until that moment. Israel had sent 26 athletes to Munich. Palestine did not get permission to participate. The games had their own stars. Olga Korbut, the Soviet gymnast and Mark Spitz, the American swimmer, awed half a billion people in front of their televisions. Perfect games, until the 5th of September. The first ultimatum of the terrorists ran out at 9 am Luckily, they did not keep their promise, since they should have shot other hostages. Hans-Jochen Vogel, Vice President of the Organizing Committee, said, 'It was a very touchy situation since it was about Jewish people. Having Jewish victims of a massacre on German ground again was terrible and gave a very miserable aspect to the games. 'The Minister of Internal Affairs traveled to Munich. Hans-Dietrich Genscher and the crisis committee negotiated with the terrorists. Walther Troger, Mayor of the Olympic Village, said, 'We were surrounded by three or four terrorists carrying machine guns and they held us in check. The hostages were totally frightened and depressed.' Chancellor Willy Brandt and tried to reason with the Israeli government but could not manage. Israel refused to negotiate with the terrorists. Bruno Merk, Minister of Internal Affairs, said, 'There was no solution. The Israeli government refused every proposal to negotiate and to realize a potential exchange. The terrorists extended their ultimatum five times, but there was no negotiation. German police started its action without any defense or preparation.' Walter Renner, Sergeant- 'We were city police, and we weren't prepared for situations like this— not even trained.'
Hans-Dietrich Genscher and the crisis committee members were offering themselves in exchange for the hostages. The aggressive rescue action seemed to be hopeless. The terrorists did not accept the offer. Bruno Merk, Minister of Internal Affairs- 'Then they came up with a surprising demand. They wanted to fly to Cairo. The hostages agreed as well. ' Genscher wanted to make sure of this personally. One of the hostages appeared in the window of the Israeli accommodation and wanted to talk to Genscher. It was Andre Spitzer. Ankie Spitzer, his wife- 'He asked Andre, "How are you?" and “Is everything OK?”, and he said, “Well, I'm fine. "I just want my wife to know that she should not worry" about me because we will see each other again soon in Israel and just tell her that I love her." And that was the message.
10 pm: Two helicopters were waiting for the assassins and the hostages. The destination was to be the airport of Fürstenfeldbruck. There was to be a Lufthansa flight, according to the official announcement but that flight would never depart. Police units were arriving to Fürstenfeldbruck from every part of the territory. The airport and the building were tightly sealed off. Two helicopters with the terrorists and their hostages, emerged from the dark night. As soon as they got off the plane, police sharpshooters were ready. A bit later, the command was given to fire. Bruno Merk, Minister of Internal Affairs - 'All these decisions had to be made in a split second.' Five sharpshooters on top of the airport against eight terrorists. Several minutes of shooting could be heard from a far. Ulrich Wegener, Officer- ' There was a terrible bang. Also, the terrorists were shooting on the building. I pulled the minister under the table, and we lay under it for a while. There's nobody to make decisions. I would have expected to go out immediately, attack the helicopters and try to rescue the hostages, and then deal with the terrorists. But nothing at all happened the whole time. '
The journalists waiting there were told that all hostages had been rescued. Ankie Spitzer- 'In my parents' house, pandemonium broke loose, because everybody started to call. My father took a big bottle of champagne and wanted to open it and celebrate, and I said, "Father, I can't be happy yet, because I don't believe it." And he said, "But, Anka, it was on official television." Terrible mistake. In Fürstenfeldbruck, gunfire continues. One of the terrorists pulled the pin on a hand grenade. The balance of the bloodshed of the night: all nine hostages, one policeman, and five terrorists were killed. Abu Daud, Leader of the Insurgents- 'Many people say that Ben Shemen entered the 500,000,000 people to the house and say, "Who are they? They are Palestinians. The first time they hear about Palestine. " I think it's right. Burial service at the Olympic Stadium, at the place of the joyous games.
The organizing committee had made it's decision. The games must go on! The team of Israel flew back the same day. Eleven of the 26-member delegation who had come to Munich were dead. The survivors accompanied the coffins. The Olympic Games went on, though the atmosphere had been ruined. Celebration over.
