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:''Note: This article currently refers to the perpetrators of the Munich Massacre as "terrorist". There is currently a debate regarding whether this term should be asserted on Wikipedia. Its use on this page does not indicate a general acceptance of the term.''
[[Image:Ap munich905 t.jpg|right|A Palestinian militant on the balcony.]] ▼
▲[[Image:Ap munich905 t.jpg|right|A Palestinian militantterrorist on the balcony.]]
The '''Munich Massacre''' occurred at the [[1972 Summer Olympics]] in [[Munich]], [[Germany]], when 11 members of the [[Israel]]i [[amateur wrestling|wrestling]] team were taken hostage by the [[Palestinian]] militant group [[Black September]] (a designated [[terrorist]] organization by the [[United States]] and [[Israel]]). A failed rescue attempt led to the deaths of the 11 Israeli athletes, five Palestinian militants, and one [[Germany|German]] policeman. ▼
▲The '''Munich Massacre''' occurred at the [[1972 Summer Olympics]] in [[Munich]], [[Germany]], when 11 members of the [[Israel]]i [[amateur wrestling|wrestling]] team were taken hostage by the [[Palestinian]] militant group [[Black September]] (a designated [[terrorist]] organization by the [[United States]] and [[Israel]]). A failed rescueliberation attempt led to the deaths of all the 11 Israeli athletes, five Palestinian militantsterrorists, and one [[Germany|German]] policeman.
==The Attack==
At 04:30 on [[September 5]], five members of the Palestinian militant grouporganization [[Black September]] scaled a short chain-link fence surrounding the Munich Olympic village to enter the Israeli quarters, joiningconverging with three ofmore theiralong colleaguesthe whoway. hadCloaked already entered the Olympic village.in Maskedmasks and armed with [[assault rifle]]s, they quickly overcame what little resistance the sleeping Israelis, takingcould offer and took eleven hostages: David Berger, Ze'ev Friedman, Joseph Gottfreund, Eliezer Halfin, Joseph Romano, Andrei Schpitzer, Amitsur Shapira, Kahat Shor, Mark Slavin, Yaakov Springer, and Moshe Weinberg. Weinberg and Romano received a gunshot woundswound duringin the initial struggle, and Romano soon thereafter. Both would later die.
Over the ensuing 19 hours the world witnessed a display of incompetence by [[West Germany|West German]] police so stunning and embarrassing that it ultimately provided the direct impetus for the creation of [[GSG-9]], Germany's [[counter-terrorism]] unit.
The German authorities, under the leadership from Chancellor [[Willy Brandt]] and Minister for the Interior [[Hans-Dietrich Genscher]] rejected Israel'sthe offer from the Israeli Government to send ana Israelimilitary group of special forces . The Germans apparently believed they had the unitmeans to Germanysolve the situation alone. As the events unfolded, it became clear that they hadn't. The German police who took part in the operation had no special training infor this hostagesort rescueof operationssituation. ▼The Palestinian militants demanded the release and safe emigration of 232 Palestinians jailed in Israel, and an additional two in German prisons. Israel's response was immediate and absolute: there would be no negotiation. ▼
▲The Palestinian militantsterrorists demanded the release and safe emigration of 232 Palestinians jailed in Israel, and an additional two in German prisons. Israel's response was immediate and absolute: there would be no negotiation.
▲The German authorities, under the leadership from Chancellor [[Willy Brandt]] and Minister for the Interior [[Hans-Dietrich Genscher]] rejected Israel's offer to send an Israeli special forces unit to Germany. The German police who took part in the operation had no special training in hostage rescue operations.
Execution deadlines shifted first by three hours, and then by five more as German authorities attempted to negotiate. The militantsterrorists demanded transportation to [[Cairo]]. The authorities feignedpretended agreement, and two helicopters transported both the kidnappersterrorists and their hostages to nearby [[Fürstenfeldbruck]] airbase, where a [[Boeing 727]] aircraft was awaitingwaiting for them.
The authorities planned an assault onto the kidnappersterrorists atin the airport. FiveIt Germanwas snipersprobably wereone positionedof atthe worst planned acts in the airporthistory butof military special operations. There were only five snipers placed in the airport. The authorities were surprised to discoverfind out that therethe werenumber of terrorists was nine; kidnappers.they Nohad tanksbelieved orthat armoredthere personelwere fewer. carriersThere were atno tanks in the scenelocation. During the ensuingshooting, which took place over 2-hour shoot-outhours, one of the Germanpolicemen policehad belatedlythe calledbelated idea of calling for armoredtanks. supportThe tanks were called, but it took them more than thirtyhalf mjinutesan for the tankshour to arrive, dueas tothere trafficwas congestiona lot of traffic in the area.
AfterTwo twoterrorists ofwere to check the kidnapperssuitability inspectedof the aircraftplane, and werethen returningreturn to the helicopters. As they walked back across the tarmac to release the German helicopter pilots, thefive German police snipers positioned nearby opened fire. The timeIt was now 23:00.
The five German snipers did not even have radio contact, and did not fire with coordination.
The five German snipers did not have radio contact with each other and were unable to coordinate their fire. The chaotic result was the immediate death of two kidnappers near the pilot and a third was killed as he fled the scene. Three remaining kidnappers began to return fire from behind the helicopters, out of the snipers' line of sight. A German policeman was killed by the random gunfire. The protracted 45-minute gun battle ended when a unit of German armored cars finally approached the kidnappers' position.
The result was chaotic and calamitous. Two kidnappers near the pilots fell immediately, and a third as he fled. Three more began to return fire from the shadows of the helicopters, beyond the visual range of the snipers. A German policeman quickly succumbed to wild assault rifle salvos. The battle then turned into a protracted 45 minute struggle, until a unit of German armoured cars encroached on the terrorists' position.
[[Image:Munich helicopter crime scene.jpg|right|Crime scene photo where Olympic hostages were killed in Munich, 1972.]]
From inside one of the helicoptersThreatened, a kidnapperterrorist opened fire at theon hostages onfrom within the tarmacfirst helicopter, asprompting two othermore kidnappersto emergedemerge from the shadows. TheHe kidnapperthen inleapt from the helicopteraircraft, tossedleaving a grenade insidein thehis craft before leaping out and being cut down by sniper fireplace. TwoAll otherthree kidnappersArabs werefell also killed byto sniper fire, asand the explodingsubsequent hand grenadeexplosion killed the hostages inside one of the helicopters. The five hostages in the second helicopter were also killed during the battle. AThe German police investigation indicated that a few of the hostages may have inadvertently been shot inadvertently by the German police during the fierce gun battle. There are also indications that one of the kidnappersterrorists mayshot haveall shotof the remaining hostages. AHowever, a definitive conclusion was not possible becausedue to the hostages'severely corpsesburned werecondition burned inof the explosions and subsequent firebodies.
==Aftermath==
In the aftermath, German authorities captured and imprisoned the three surviving kidnappersterrorists. TwoThis limited success was overshadowed two months later when, on [[October 29]], a [[Lufthansa]] jet was hijacked and demands were made for the release of the Munich three [[Black— September]]and membersthey beingwere heldreleased, forwithout consultation with trialIsrael. TheySpeculation werepersists releasedthat bythe Germanyhijacking withoutwas thea Israeliset-up governmentintended to ease Germany's consenthumiliating failure at Fürstenfeldbruck. This was later confirmed in a U.S. documentary by a Palestinian guerrilla involved in the massacre. At the time, he was the only one not yet assassinated by Mossad.
Shortly after the massacre a German counter-terrorism unit, [[GSG 9]], was formed to provideprevent asuch moreevents robustin hostagethe rescue responsefuture.
[[Image:Municholympiccasket.jpg|right|Casket of one of the victims of the massacre.]]
In the twenty years after 1972, Israel's intelligence agency and paramilitary group [[Mossad]] has "enacted terminal reprisal on" (that is to say, killed) at least eight of the 11 Palestinians implicated in the attack, and the accidental assassination of a Moroccan waiter in Norway in a case of [[mistaken identity]] that became known as the [[Lillehammer affair]]. All 11 are now dead. Only [[Mohammed Daoud Oudeh]] (Abu Daoud), the man who thought up the attack, remains alive in [[Amman]], [[Jordan]]. He stated that funds for the massacre were provided by [[Mahmoud Abbas]]. [http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=32292] [http://www.israellawcenter.org/press.shtml?1700528700#april29] [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/si_online/news/2002/08/20/sb2/]
Israel's intelligence agency [[Mossad]] sought revenge for the killing of the Israeli athletes at Munich by assassinating at least eight of the eleven Palestinian militants suspected of planning or executing the Munich kidnapping. (In a related incident known as the [[Lillehammer affair]], the Mossad, in a case of [[mistaken identity]], also assassinated Ahmed Bouchiki, an innocent Moroccan man who worked as a waiter in Norway). Eleven of the suspected perpetrators of the attack are now dead.
==Impact on the Games==
Although competition was suspended for a full day, [[International Olympic Committee|IOC]] president [[Avery Brundage]] madeallowed the controversial decisionGames to continue the Games after a brief memorial service in the Olympic Stadium. The Brundagedecision wasto quotedcontinue asthe saying,games "thewas Gamescriticized mustby go on"many. DespiteHowever, despite extensive press coverage of the botched kidnapping incidentMassacre, only a handfulsmall number of athletes left the Games after the attack. andAs Brundage said, "the Games must go on". The IOC's decision to resume the Games was endorsed by the Israeli government.[http://encarta.msn.com/text_761562380__1/Olympic_Games.html] TheHowever, the IOC subsequentlyhas refused demandsrequests byto commemorate the victims'event familiesat thatsubsequent theGames. Olympics instituteFrom a permanentBBC memorial service to the slain Israelis. According to one account,article: "The IOC says that to introduce a specific reference to the victims of the Munich massacre could alienate other members of the Olympic community." [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3581866.stm]
==See also==
[[it:Massacro di Monaco]]
[[Category:Anti-Semitism]]
[[Category:Israeli history]]
[[Category:Olympics]]
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