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N0KFQ > TODAY 06.09.15 15:43l 133 Lines 6874 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 66142_N0KFQ
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Subj: Today in History - Sep 6
Path: IW8PGT<CX2SA<N0KFQ
Sent: 150906/1336Z 66142@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.63
1972
More Israeli hostages killed in Munich
At Furstenfeldbruck air base near Munich, an attempt by West
German police to rescue nine Israeli Olympic team members held
hostage by Palestinian terrorists ends in disaster. In an
extended firefight that began at 11 p.m. and lasted until 1:30
a.m., all nine Israeli hostages were killed, as were five
terrorists and one German policeman. Three terrorists were
wounded and captured alive. The hostage crisis began early the
previous morning when Palestinian terrorists from the Black
September organization stormed the Israeli quarters in the
Olympic Village in Munich, killing two team members and taking
nine others hostage.
The 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, were publicized
by organizers as the "Games of Peace and Joy." West Germans were
intent on erasing the memory of the last Olympics held in
Germany: the 1936 Berlin Olympics that Adolf Hitler exploited as
a vehicle of Nazi propaganda. Police in Munich-the birthplace of
Nazism-kept a low profile during the 1972 Games, and organizers
chose lax security over risking comparison with the Gestapo
police tactics of Hitler's Germany.
So just before dawn on September 5, 1972-the eleventh day of the
XX Olympiad-evidently no one thought it strange that five Arab
men in track suits were climbing over a six-and-a-half-foot fence
to gain access to the Olympic Village. The village, after all,
had a curfew, and many other Olympic athletes had employed fence
climbing as a means of enjoying a late night out on the town. In
fact, some Americans returning from a bar joined them in climbing
the fence. A handful of other witnesses hardly gave the five men
a second glance, and the intruders proceeded unmolested to the
three-story building where the small Israeli delegation to the
Munich Games was staying.
These five men, of course, were not Olympic athletes but members
of Black September, an extremist Palestinian group formed in
1971. In their athletic bags they carried automatic rifles and
other weapons. They were joined in the village by three other
terrorists, two of whom were employed within the Olympic
compound.
Shortly before 5 a.m., the guerrillas forced their way into one
of the Israeli apartments, taking five hostages. When the
Palestinians entered another apartment, Israeli wrestling coach
Moshe Weinberg struggled with them. He was shot to death after
knocking two of his attackers down. Weightlifter Yossef Romano
then attacked them with a kitchen knife, and he succeeded in
injuring one terrorist before he was fatally shot. Some Israelis
managed narrowly to escape through a back entrance, but a total
of nine were seized. Four of the hostages were athletes-two
weightlifters and two wrestlers-and five were coaches. One of the
wrestlers, David Berger, had dual American-Israeli citizenship
and lived in Ohio before qualifying for the Israeli Olympic team.
Around 8 a.m., the attackers announced themselves as Palestinians
and issued their demands: the release of 234 Arab and German
prisoners held in Israel and West Germany, and safe passage with
their hostages to Cairo. The German prisoners requested to be
released included Ulrike Meinhof and Andreas Baader, founders of
the Marxist terrorist group known as the Red Army Faction. If the
Palestinians' demands were not met, the nine hostages would be
killed. Tense negotiations stretched on throughout the day,
complicated by Israel's refusal to negotiate with these or any
terrorists. The German police considered raiding the Israeli
compound but later abandoned the plan out of fear for the safety
of the hostages and other athletes in the Olympic Village. Ten
West German Olympic organizers offered themselves as hostages in
exchange for the Israeli team members, but the offer was
declined.
Finally, in the early evening, the terrorists agreed to a plan in
which they were to be taken by helicopter to the NATO air base at
FÜrstenfeldbruck and then flown by airliner to Cairo with the
hostages. The terrorists believed they would be met in Egypt by
the released Arab and German prisoners. Around 10 p.m., the
terrorists and hostages emerged from the building; the Israelis
bound together and blindfolded. They took a bus to a makeshift
helicopter pad and were flown the 12 miles to FÜrstenfeldbruck.
German authorities feared that the Israelis faced certain death
upon their arrival in the Middle East. Egypt had denied the
request to allow the plane to land in Cairo, and Israel would
never release the Arab prisoners in question. Israel had a crack
military task force ready to raid the plane wherever it landed,
but the German police planned their own ambush. In the course of
the transfer, however, the Germans discovered that there were
eight terrorists instead of the expected five. They had not
assigned enough marksmen to kill the terrorists and, moreover,
lacked the gear, such as walkie-talkies and bulletproof vests,
necessary to carry out such an ambush effectively. Nevertheless,
shortly before 11 p.m., the sharpshooters opened fire. Their
shots were off mark in the dark, and the terrorists fired back.
Toward the end of the firefight, which lasted more than two
hours, the Palestinians gunned down four of the hostages in one
of the helicopters and tossed a grenade into another helicopter
holding the other five-killing them all. At approximately 1:30
a.m., the last terrorist still resisting was killed. All eight
Palestinians were shot during the gun battle-five fatally-and a
German policeman was killed. One of the helicopter pilots was
also seriously injured.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, the Munich Games were
temporarily suspended. A memorial service for the 11 slain
Israelis drew 80,000 mourners to the Olympic stadium on September
6. International Olympic Committee President Avery Brundage, who
was widely criticized for failing to suspend the Games during the
hostage crisis, was further criticized for his decision to resume
them on the afternoon of September 6. On September 11, closing
ceremonies ended the XX Olympiad.
On October 29, Palestinian terrorists hijacked a Lufthansa jet in
Beirut and ordered it flown to Munich, where the three surviving
Munich terrorists were being held. Germany agreed to turn the
terrorists over in exchange for the release of the airliner's
passengers and crew, which was carried out after the jet landed
in Libya. The Black September terrorists, however, did not enjoy
their freedom for long. Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency,
formed an assassination squad that eventually killed two of the
three terrorists along with at least six others believed to have
been involved in the attack on the Israeli Olympic compound. One
of the Munich terrorists, Jamal al-Gashey, survives in hiding.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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