The Munich Olympics Hostage Crisis

Six German postmen are walking through the Munich Olympic Village at 4:10 a.m. on the morning of the 5th of September, 1972. They're heading towards the village's temporary post office, where they notice some commotion near gate 25A. A group of men wearing tracksuits are helping each other scale the 6-ft fence surrounding the complex. This is not an unusual sight. Many Olympic athletes sneak out of the village after dark to enjoy a night out on the town. To avoid getting in trouble with event officials or their coaches, some Olympians climb over the low fence once they return from a night of drinking at one of Munich's many beer halls. But the postmen are suspicious of this group of fence jumpers who are carrying duffel bags and moving with purpose. They decide to report the sighting to local officials, but no action will be taken. The motto of the 1972 Munich Olympics is the cheerful games, but the event will soon be overshadowed by terror. Heat. Heat. A week earlier, the best athletes in the world gathered in Munich to celebrate the 20th Olympiad, where this year's games hold a special significance for the host country of West Germany. Just three decades earlier, the Nazi government used the 1936 games as a showcase for Aryan racial supremacy and soon plunged Europe into the most destructive conflict in human history. West Germany bid on the 1972 Olympics to show how the country has evolved into a humane and democratic state after rising from the ashes of the genocidal Third Reich. This is Professor Ofer Ashkenazi, author of Still Lives: Jewish Photography in Nazi Germany and member of the 2023 Commission to Investigate the Attack. That's why we can understand a lot of the behavior of the West German regime, West German government uh in the Bavarian government during the Olympic Games as part of this attempt to show a different Germany, not a militarist Germany, not a belligerent Germany, but a peaceful one. This is Professor David Clay Large, author of Munich 1972, Tragedy, Terror, and Triumph at the Olympic Games. >> And that held true for Munich itself, which had some very heavy baggage pertaining to the past. Remember that Munich was the headquarters of the Nazi party early on. It's where the Nazi party was born. It's where they tried to stage their first coup to take over the country in 1923, the so-called beerhall Butch. It's where the first concentration camp was just up the road in Taco and the code of arms of Munich actually had the swastika in it. So Munich in particular wanted to show that it now was part of this new Germany and it was a city of fun and joy and hospitality as opposed to Nazis marching in the street. >> The 1972 Olympic Games are deeply symbolic for another country. Israel has sent its largest delegation yet with 14 athletes competing on the soil of a country which sought to exterminate the Jewish race less than 30 years earlier. A loud and sustained cheer greets the Israelis at the opening ceremony which serves as a powerful symbol of reconciliation. However, some Israelis are uneasy about competing in Germany. Tuvia Sakolski is a weightlifting trainer and a Holocaust survivor who later said, "For me, Germans and Munich mean the extermination of 6 million Jews, including my father and his family." >> I think one of the central, you know, ironies and tragedies of this whole operation, an Olympics that was supposed to be an Olympics of joy and fun and frivolity now ends up being the the Olympics of terror. Indeed, there are outside forces who see the Olympics as an opportunity to seow chaos and terror in Israel. On the 28th of November 1971, the Jordanian prime minister Wasval was assassinated by members of the obscure Black September organization. Black September is a Palestinian militant group with ties to the Fatar faction of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and its leader Yasa Arafat. The group was formed in response to the Kingdom of Jordan's violent crackdown on Fatar and other pro Palestinian militant organizations. This is Dr. Aviva Gutman, author of Operation Wrath of God, the secret history of European intelligence and Mosad's assassination campaign. >> In 1970, the Jordanian King Hussein was becoming a bit afraid of the Palestinians living in Jordan. They at times were about 60% of the population and he was fearing that his regime could be toppled. So he decided to go in with the army and he basically massacred the Palestinians living in Jordan in in September 1970 and evict most of them. And for the ones who fled, they started to build terror cells in Lebanon and they took the name Black September because it refers to this September 1970. >> Very little is known about Black September thanks in part to its decentralized structure. BSO members operate in small cells of no more than a dozen men or women and only receive instructions from third party intermediaries working with the PLO. This organizational structure assures planning secrecy and offers deniable plausibility to PLO leadership. >> I say quite a few fringe elements of Fatak, the mainstream Palestinian political party. They became increasingly frustrated that they would not be successful in targeting the Israelis in the occupied territories. And so they decided to move to targets in Europe and to attack the Israelis in Europe. So there were already certain Palestinian groups who decided to use terrorism as a strategy. And so Black September was then moving on onto this as well to kind of joining the armed struggle in Europe in that way. >> The assassination of Prime Minister Tol is the first time Black September claimed responsibility for an attack. At a meeting in Rome between BSO commanders Abu Dawoud and Abu Iad, IAD suggests the next target should be the 1972 Munich Games in response to the Olympic Committee ignoring a letter from the PLO asking that Palestinian athletes be allowed to compete. The other thing which makes a lot of sense to me is that for them it was more important as a media event as they wanted the world to pay attention to the Palestinians and they wanted to spend as much time as they can in the Olympic village because everybody is looking at the Olympic village. The main thing was just to have a stage that was as big as possible so they could uh demonstrate their grievances. And their intention wasn't to kill people or to stay some kind of massacre unlike say 9/11. Uh they weren't religious zealots by the way either. Islam was not their concern. Their concern was Palestine and breaking free from Israeli control. IAD recruits an eight-p person commando team led by Lutif Afif, cenamed Issa, and his deputy Yu Nasal, codenamed Tony. >> A few of them had experience fighting against the Jordanian army in September 1970, maybe also in Lebanon. The so-called Tony was one of them, but most of them had no serious combat experience. >> The pair travel to Munich and take temporary jobs in the Olympic village to recognize her. the area. The rest of the conspirators arrive in pairs and stash smuggled assault rifles, grenades, and ammunition in lockers at the Munich train station. These militants have been specifically chosen for the operation because they or their families have suffered at the hands of the Israeli government since 1948, most of them having been raised in refugee camps. Abu Dud lies low in Munich while Abu Iad continues to smuggle weapons into West Germany. By the 4th of September, all BSO operatives are in place and the team retrieves their weapons from the train station before setting out for the Olympic Village. At 4:30 a.m., a thief and the other militants assemble at the far end of 31 Connelly Strasa, a two-story apartment building where the Israeli delegation is staying in apartments 1 to 5. >> Complacency had set in. There had even been criticism from some of the teams. Security was too tight. The journalists weren't being allowed in and athletes were having trouble getting back and forth. So, they they relaxed the security. Not only was there no barbed wire and so forth, but the patrols stopped operating at night and that left the village incredibly vulnerable. >> A thief knows from his reconnaissance that the door to the building is never locked and leads six militants into the communal foyer in apartment 1. While Jamal Algashi stays behind to guard the entrance, the militants unzip their duffel bags and pull out AK-47s before snapping a magazine into place. The BSO members have been specifically instructed not to kill any of the Israelis except in self-defense. A thief inserts a copy of the apartment door key into the lock, but the door does not open. He struggles with the key before realizing the lock is inserted upside down. Seven Israeli coaches and referees are sleeping in apartment one when the militants arrive. One of them is 40-year-old referee Ysef Gutafroy, who is awoken by scratching sounds. He walks into the common area to investigate the noises when a thief finally manages to unlock the door. Good comes face to face with a group of armed men pointing AK-47s at him and quickly shouts, "Take cover, boys." before rushing the door. He throws the full weight of his 6'3", 290lb frame against the door. While the militants begin pushing back, Goodro's roommate is a weightlifting trainer and Holocaust survivor, Tufia Sakolski, who runs into the communal area. Through the halfopened door, I saw a man with a black painted face holding a weapon, Sakowski said later. At that point, I knew I had to escape. He runs back into his bedroom and tries to open the window while shouting, "Guys, run." Good manages to bar the door for 10 seconds before the militants use their assault rifles as crowbars to force the entrance open. Goodroys is overpowered and taken hostage while the BSO operatives spread out to the rest of the rooms. Solski is still struggling to open the window when the militants break in. He desperately punches through the thick glass and throws himself out of the window. Bleeding profusely from cuts in his arm, he gets off the ground and runs for help. The militants fire their AK-47s, but Sokski manages to evade them and finds cover behind the corner of the building. Back in the apartment, a thief bursts into the bedroom of wrestling coach Moshi Vineberg. He grabs a fruit knife and slashes at the militant leader who narrowly avoids the knife. Vineberg rushes Afif and knocks him down while grabbing at his rifle. A militant behind Afie aims and fires a single round which tears through the wrestling coach's cheek, sending Vineberg spinning to the ground, but not killing him. He is then taken hostage along with the six other Israelis in apartment one. Tuvia Sakolski is the only man to escape. In apartment 5, head of the delegation, Schmool Linen, is awoken by gunfire and goes to his window to investigate. The night is now deathly silent. Sports shooters in the Olympic village have been continuously firing into the air to celebrate their successes, leading Lin and others to dismiss the sound of gunfire. Back in apartment one, a thief's deputy, Yu Nasal, demands that the wounded Vineberg lead the militants to round up athletes. They march him outside with a gun at his back towards apartment 2, where the fencing team and sports shooters are staying. However, Vineberg lies and tells the BSO operatives that the inhabitants are not Israeli and instead directs them to apartment 3. Six weightlifters and wrestlers are sleeping in apartment 3. And it is likely that Vineberg believed these burly athletes would have a better chance of overpowering their attackers. The militants gather at the door of apartment 3 and [ __ ] their assault rifles. They creep inside the two-story duplex. Wrestler Gad Zabari is on the second floor and had been awakened by gunshots, but believed he was dreaming. He is trying to get some more sleep, but upon hearing voices outside his bedroom door, he climbs out of bed and opens it. He finds a BSO militant is pointing a gun at his friends Mark Slavin and Eliza Halen, who have already been taken hostage. The militant turns his attention to Samari and his roommate David Burger. The four men are pushed down the stairs at gunpoint to join weightlifters Ysef Romano and Ze Freriedman along with Moshi Vineberg. One of the militants starts tearing apart cabinets and overturning beds to find other Israelis while Yu Nasal demands to know where the rest of the delegation is. None of the Israelis answer and the athletes are pushed into a line with their hands above their heads, including Ramano, who is on crutches after tearing a ligament during competition. Nazal leaves apartment 3 and begins hering the Israelis back to apartment 1, where the rest of the hostages are under guard. Sabari is the first athlete in line and believes he and his friends are about to be executed. Upon reaching the door to apartment one, he makes a spontaneous decision. The militant guarding the door motions for Samari to enter the room, but the 106-lb flyweight wrestler instead slaps the barrel of his AK-47 aside and runs down the stairs leading to the underground parking garage. Two BSO operatives chase after Sabari, leaving two guarding the five Israelis still standing outside the door. Moshi Vineberg takes advantage of the chaos and attacks one of the militants, landing a punch so hard that several of the militants teeth go flying. One of the BSO members chasing Sabari turns around and fires a burst from his AK-47, killing Vineberg. The other militant fires at Sabari, but the wrestler escapes. The rest of the hostages are quickly shoved into apartment one while the Olympic village finally wakes up to the carnage. Lalen is now wide awake and rushes to the window to see Fineberg's lifeless body which has been carried outside by the militants laying in a pool of blood on the pavement. Balin races to the first floor living room and calls an outside line to the Sheran Hotel where the Israeli journalists and Olympic officials are staying. He shouts, "Call Israel. Arab militants have taken part of our delegation hostage." Only 10 minutes have passed since the BSO operatives first stormed apartment 1, where the hostages are being kept in a second floor bedroom. The Israelis are being tied up when Ysef Romano tackles one of the militants, knocking his AK-47 out of his hands. Romano grabs the assault rifle, but is shot by one of the hostage takers before he can fire back. Romano falls mortally wounded and gradually bleeds out in front of his friends. Responding to reports of gunfire, the security shift manager in the Olympic village sends an unarmed guard to investigate. At 4:50 a.m., the guard approaches apartment 1 and sees Vineb's body and a militant near the front door. The guard demands an explanation from the militant only for the armed man to disappear into the building. He calls for backup on his radio as the gravity of the situation now becomes apparent. Munich Chief of Police Manfred Shriber receives a call from the Olympic Village at 5:00 a.m. and immediately orders the complex sealed off. He telephoned the Bavarian Minister of the Interior, Reno Mack, who passes on the news to the Federal Interior Minister, Hans Dietrich Gensha. An unarmed Munich police officer, approaches the building at 5:10 a.m. and is faced by a BSO militant on the second floor. The militant tosses two pieces of paper down onto the pavement, which contained Black September's ultimatum. The hostage takers threw out a list a couple papers from the apartment where they were occupying and holding the hostages. And this contained the names of some 236 Arab prisoners in Israeli jails. It included a lot mostly Arabs, but also two German terrorists, Otter and Minho, who were close to the Palestinian cause, as well as the Japanese terrorists who had attacked the load airport in Tel Aviv. And so, you know, that was the problem. The Germans now are confronted with this threat that if they do not manage to get the Israeli government to release and start turning over these prisoners, that is the attackers, we're going to kill one hostage for every hour that their demands were not fulfilled. >> The Black September ultimatum demands the release of 328 imprisoned Arabs and non-Arabs by 9:00 a.m. or else the BSO members will start executing hostages. The list includes Andreas Ba and Olrich Minhof, two members of the German Red Army faction, which is a Marxist militant organization operating in West Germany. The German authorities have no clue who has done the attack, how many militants are there, how many hostages are there, and they will spend the next few hours trying to understand what's going on. Motty Fineberg's body is recovered at 5:30 a.m. around the same time that Chancellor Villi Brandt and Israeli Prime Minister Golden are informed of the situation. Dozens of military trucks and police vehicles descend on the Olympic village while reporters are alerted to the story. Despite this flurry of activity, the West German government is completely unprepared for a hostage situation in the Olympic village. Prior to the games, the West German Olympic Organizing Committee had been desperate to avoid any imagery that would be reminiscent of the Nazis, even at the expense of safety and common sense. Security at the 72 games is extremely lax, even by the standards at the time. The security personnel have only been prepared to deal with ticket fraud and drunkenness, not heavily armed militants. The chain of command is also unclear to most with some officials believing the Bavarian government has sole authority while others look to the federal government. West German police officers on the scene attempt to contact the militants to no avail. At 8:10 a.m., a fiery 42-year-old police woman, Anelise Grace, volunteers to talk with the BSO operatives. She approaches the front door of 31 Connelly Strasa and is surprisingly greeted by Lutif Aif himself. Grace attempts an aggressive approach, shouting, "What kind of rubbish is this?" Afif calmly responds, "This has nothing to do with you or Germany." Grace responds, "We can do nothing about freeing all those political prisoners you want from Israel. Why not give us conditions that are possible for us to meet?" A thief smiles and simply responds, "Free all those prisoners or all the hostages will die." The Israeli government reasons that negotiating will only inspire future attacks and categorically refuses to speak with Black September. The Israeli ambassador to West Germany relays Prime Minister Goldmir's guidelines to Chancellor Brent. One, Israel will not negotiate with the militants. Two, Israel will understand if the militants are promised freedom as long as it helps free the hostages. And three, Israel holds West Germany responsible for the crisis and expects them to do whatever necessary to save the hostages. Now, we have to remember that Israel officially say no. But in reality, ever since then, but even before, the official position was we do not speak with terrorists. But practically, if there is no other way, Israel speaks with terrorists just like any other country. >> With the 9:00 a.m. deadline impossible to meet, it is decided to send a small delegation to negotiate directly with the militants. Munich's police chief Manfred Shriber, mayor of the Olympic Village, Walter Troger, and an Egyptian member of the International Olympic Committee, Ahmed Damaraduni, approach the building and meet a thief at the front door. The conversation is courteous but tense with two BSO members on the second floor, pointing their AK-47s at the three men while AIF brandishes a grenade. Tuni tells Af that the Israeli and West German governments need time to locate and free the prisoners. In exchange, Afif agrees to extend the deadline to noon. Negotiations continue throughout the morning and into the afternoon. West Germany has no hostage negotiation team, meaning the men attempting to free the hostages are improvising their response in real time. The post Third Reich constitution also forbids the federal government from moving soldiers into the area without the permission of the Bavarian government. >> There are some people who would say the Germans did have some counterterrorist groups in Bavaria or that could be brought to Bavaria and they decided not to use them. And um part of the reason for that is that those groups were saved to a more serious event or uh an event that has to do with a cold war in East Germany. They didn't necessarily want to expose them at this point. >> In the federal capital of Bourne, Chancellor Villi Brandt is desperate to avoid spilling Israeli blood on German soil and authorizes Shriber to offer an unlimited ransom. The West Germans set up a telephone link with the apartment and several officials take turns speaking directly to the militants. >> The initial response by the German authorities were extremely amateurish. They did not understand the Palestinian motivations. >> Their conversations with Afif are polite but fruitless. When Triber informs Afif of the unlimited ransom, the militant leader responds, "This is not about money. Talk of money is demeaning." Despite these setbacks, Black September agrees to extend the deadline again to 1:00 p.m., then to 3:00 p.m., then to 5:00 p.m., while West German officials continue to scramble for a response. There is a lot of stress there because the Palestinians gave an ultimatum that if the Israelis would not release the prisoner, they will start to kill the hostages and and this ultimatum is kept changing. They keep changing it because what they wanted really is the is the attention. Chancellor Brandt urges Goldmir to compromise, but the Israeli leader is resolute in her decision, telling a reporter, "If we should give in, then no Israeli anywhere in the world can feel that his life is safe." It soon becomes apparent to West German officials that a peaceful conclusion is unlikely, and Trib's deputy police chief, Eor Wolf, begins preparing a rescue attempt. The West Germans are also under intense pressure from the head of the International Olympic Committee, Avery Brundage. Brundage is impatient to resolve the situation, which is taking attention away from the games and even refuses to pause sporting events while the crisis is ongoing. Athletes from other countries are still competing while the Israeli athletes sit with their hands bound in 31 Connelly Stratasa. It will take until the afternoon for this day's events to be postponed. >> The gains were continuing. By the way, this is another surrealistic aspect of the of the whole business. You know, the Israeli Golden Mayer called for the Germans to stop the gains, at least stop the games for God's sake. But they didn't do that because they didn't want to focus attention on this horrible embarrassment for them. They wanted to somehow put it under the rug as best they could and go on with the gains and finally somehow settle it without interrupting the gains or calling attention to their own incapacities. >> Meanwhile, in Tel Aviv, the Israeli government is increasingly pessimistic that the hostages will be saved. Prime Minister Mir orders the Israeli special forces units Matca to prepare to fly to Munich for a rescue mission, but the West Germans reject the offer for help. They cite constitutional concerns about letting foreign forces operate on German territory. Instead, Defense Minister Moshi Dian dispatches Mossad head Zed Zamir and General Security Services Agent Victor Cohen to Munich to coordinate a rescue mission with the West German government. At 4:35 p.m., a German delegation once again approaches AIF to beg for another extension of the deadline. Instead, an irritated AFI demands transport to Cairo, where he can conduct negotiations from a nation friendly to the Fatal group. After a quick deliberation, the Germans agree, but only if they are allowed to communicate with the hostages. Two of the Israelis, Andre Spitzer and Cahhat Shaw, speak to the Germans from the balcony before they are forcibly rushed back inside. Mayor Troga and Interior Secretary Hans Dietrich Gensha insists they must check on the condition of all the hostages and Afif reluctantly agrees. The two men enter apartment one and briefly meet with the Israelis. Genture later said, "This picture of the room will stay with me as long as I live. I will never forget those faces, full of fear and yet full of hope." Upon leaving, both men know the crisis will end in bloodshed. The West German government has no intention of letting the Black September militants leave Munich with the Israeli hostages. A hastily improvised rescue plan is devised where 13 West German police officers will storm the apartment from the roof via the ventilation shafts. Shortly before 6 p.m., the officers are in position on the roof and begin to creep towards the apartment balcony. Thousands of spectators surrounding the Olympic village and millions watching on television can see the West Germans gingerely approach 31 Connelly Strasa's ventilation shots. However, the Munich police have failed to cut the power to the apartment, which has a TV in every room. The militants are watching the operation unfold in real time. A BSO operative appears on the balcony and glances at the roof where a West German officer is only a few feet away. An angry AIF opens the front door at 6:10 p.m. and shouts that two hostages will be killed immediately if the officers on the roof do not withdraw. With no other choice, police chief Shriber calls off the faracical rescue attempt. Time is running short and a new plan is needed. After furious deliberation, it is decided that the hostages and the militants will be flown by helicopter to foren Feldbrook airfield, a remote Luftvafa base around 12 mi west of Munich. There, the West German police will launch another rescue operation. Another round of negotiations with AFI at 6:35 p.m. extends the deadline to 9:00 p.m. in order for an aircraft to be procured. But the militant leader is convinced his men are walking into a trap. But with the crisis entering its 12th hour, he agrees with the West German proposal to fly his men out of the country. >> At some point, we have an ultimate, one ultimatum after another. They extend it again, again, again. And at some point, the militants think that they got all the attention they want. Now they want to basically get out of there. For the Germans, it was really important to get them out of the Olympic village and then they can continue with the Olympic Games. So, it seems like everybody wins, right? That the the militants get what they wanted, the Germans get what they wanted. Meanwhile, Samir and Victor Cohen have landed in Munich and offer their expertise to the West German officials. However, Zamir later remembered the Bavarian officials were extremely hostile to us throughout, literally refusing to talk to us. At 7:20 p.m., two Bell UH1D Huey helicopters set down behind the Olympic Village administration building to prepare the hostages for departure. It takes more than 2 hours before a willing driver is found and a large bus parks in front of 31 Connelly Strasa at 10 p.m. 3 minutes later, the BSO operatives push the blindfolded Israelis onto the bus in groups of three men each. With all 17 men aboard, the bus sets out for the helicopters, traveling through the underground parking garage towards the administration building. West German police are finally able to enter apartment 1 where they retrieve Yseph Romano's body. 5 minutes later, the bus arrives at the waiting helicopters. The Hueies are piloted by two German airmen each who volunteered for this mission with the understanding that they will not be taken hostage. A thief motions for the rest of his men and the Israelis to board in full view of the spectators and television cameras. West Germans count the number of militants and make a shocking discovery. All day the negotiators were under the impression that there were five militants, but now realize there are eight. There are just five police snipers backed up by officers armed only with revolvers at Forst and Feldbrook airfield where preparations are underway. The West German police will be outgunned by the militants, but it is too late to change the plan. The two helicopters lift off at 10:21 p.m. followed soon after by a third Huey carrying the negotiating team along with Zamir and Cohen. Beaver's preparations are underway at Forston and Feldbrook. The plan is for the two helicopters to land in front of the main building and control tower which is lit by basic spotlights. Once the Huey set down, a thief has agreed to let the helicopter crews go before he and another militant will walk across the tarmac to inspect their transport. A Boeing 727 passenger airliner has been borrowed from Lufanza and is parked a short distance away from the landing zone. Inside are 16 Munich police officers with instructions to kill or capture any BSO members that board the airliner for inspection. Meanwhile, the five police snipers perched in and around the main building will take down the remaining militants still on the helicopters. Yet, the rescue plan has already fallen apart before the Hueies even arrive. Police officer Reinhold Reich is in charge of the 16-man crew aboard the 727 and has serious reservations about the plan. His men are poorly disguised as Lufanza crewmen and the militants will almost certainly become suspicious of such a large air crew. Reich is also a gasast to learn that the airliner is fully loaded with 10,000 gallons of fuel even though the West Germans have no intention of letting the aircraft leave. He and his men are sitting inside a bomb. If a firefight breaks out, they have only three submachine guns and service revolvers with which to fight the militants. With the helicopters only 2 minutes away, Reich calls for a vote on whether to abandon the aircraft. The result is unanimous. A member of the fake Lufanza crew later testified, "We were all of the opinion that our mission was far too dangerous and would be without effect. Every man aboard votes in favor of leaving the 727 and the officers begin disembarking. Reich runs to find Deputy Police Chief Guv Wolf to inform him of their decision. A furious Wolf bellows, "What am I to do now?" Just as the Hueies are coming in to land at 10:30 p.m., a central component of the plan has collapsed. And the sniper team at Forstston Feldbrook has also not been told of the additional three militants. There is no time to improvise a backup plan. The operation will have to go ahead with the planners hoping for the best. The helicopter carrying the negotiating team sets down first and the two Israelis are immediately concerned by the lack of visibility. When we first got to Foren Feldbrook, it was very dark. Zamir recalled. We would have had the field flooded with lights. I thought they might have had more snipers or armored cars hiding in the shadows, but they didn't. The Germans were useless. The two helicopters carrying the hostages and the militants land shortly after. Aif and his men gingerely exit the Hueies. The rotor blades slow to a stop and the four German airmen who piloted the helicopters get out and begin walking away. However, in violation of the earlier agreement, the militants raise their AK-47s at the pilots. The negotiating team watches on with outrage from the second floor of the main building. The militants now have 13 hostages. Aif and Nazar walk across the tarmac to check the 727 for traps while the German airmen are held at gunpoint. Upon being informed there are no officers inside the aircraft, Interior Minister Gench's aid or Rick Vinegar turns to him and furiously exclaims, "I am sure this will blow the whole affair." Meanwhile, the five police snipers are having their own problems. The Hueies were supposed to land sideways onto the main building so the snipers would have a clear view into their interior. They have instead sat down with their noses facing towards the snipers, putting the hostages in the crossfire. To add to the confusion, the huge helicopter rotor blades are casting long shadows on the ground, making any targets within them nearly invisible. The snipers are trying to adjust their positions when Afif and Nazar run out of the airliner, shouting that it's a trap. The militants at the helicopter raise their weapons and prepare to kill the hostages. Knowing it's now or never, Yorg Vulf gives the order to open fire. The two militants guarding the helicopter pilots are both hit and fall to the ground. Although only one is killed, the helicopter crewmen take off running in opposite directions while another sniper targets Aif and Nazar who are halfway across the tarmac. Nazar is hit in the leg and collapses. A thief continues unharmed. He and the rest of the Black September operatives duck behind the helicopters for cover and return fire with their AK-47s. The negotiating team on the second floor dives for cover with Genture almost killed by a stray bullet. A police officer on the first floor, Anton Flegabau, is firing his submachine gun at the militants when he is shot in the head and killed. The militants now begin throwing grenades in every direction. One of the helicopter pilots runs and dives behind a nearby wall, finding one of the German snipers taking cover in the intense firefight. Another militant is killed, but the lack of lighting means neither side can see each other. In another oversight, none of the snipers have radios and cannot coordinate with each other. At 10:50 p.m., one of the senior police officers now realizes that the outgunned Germans will need more support and radios for armored vehicles. He is told that they are still parked at the Olympic Village. The German police snipers fire wildly in all directions. And these five snipers had no training in that activity. That is, they didn't know how to do this. They didn't have high-powered rifles. They didn't have scopes. They didn't have night goggles. and it was at night. Now, >> their Hector and [ __ ] G3 assault rifles with 20-in long barrels provide inadequate accuracy over the range the men are expected to shoot. None of the officers are wearing steel helmets or body armor. One of the snipers will later testify to investigators. I am not a sharpshooter. Unlike the officers of the city police, I was not asked whether I would participate in such an action or not. I was just ordered. I thought it was certainly very very bad that we were practically cut off from the action leadership and that we had no radio. Hiding beneath a desk in the main building, Zamir pleads with Interior Minister Genture and Bavarian Prime Minister France Ysef Strauss to do something. They repeated the same phrases that I heard a few times. We can't do anything. This is not within our authority. This is a Bavarian affair. Finally, an enraged Zamir demands a megaphone to speak with the militants and try to diffuse the situation. The West Germans finally relent and Victor Cohen is sent to the roof with a megaphone. He shouts at the militants in Arabic, "Stop firing. The plane is ready for you as you want. If you carry on, you'll be hurt or killed. Stop firing." Black September operatives respond by spraying machine gun fire at the roof, narrowly missing Cohen. The stalemate continues with both sides taking pot shots at each other for over an hour. The Israeli advisers urged the West Germans to rush the militants from all sides simultaneously, but the local leadership remains paralyzed. Oric Fea attempts to rally the police officers meekly standing by without their guns drawn, but Munich Deputy Police Chief Guv Wolf had told the officers to only open fire at the militants if they are personally threatened. Wolf calls for an assault group of more heavily armed police officers to arrive by helicopter, but when they finally arrive at 11:34 p.m., the pilot lands more than a mile from the firefight. Due to yet another avoidable blunder, the assault group will not take part in the battle. At 11:55 p.m., four armored cars which had been at the Olympic Village finally arrive at the scene. They begin moving into position at 12:01 a.m. It has taken more than an hour for this armored support to arrive, and the hostages have been sitting in the helicopters for the entire duration of the battle. Sensing they are about to be overrun, the militants resort to their last option. Acting on the thief's orders, one jumps into the helicopter carrying four hostages and sprays the Israelis with machine gun fire. He then jumps out and tosses a grenade into the Huey before being shot dead by a sniper. A thief is also killed by a sniper almost simultaneously. The Huey erupts into a fireball, killing all four hostages. The scene is repeated at the other helicopter. A militant jumps into the crew compartment and executes the five hostages inside, firing his AK-47 at point blank range. Years later, Olri Vega will tell an interviewer that he could still hear their screams. One of the militants tries to escape, sprinting away from the main buildings, but runs right into the line of sight of a sniper positioned behind a low wall. The police sniper shoots him dead from just 5 yards away, but one of the armored car crews sees the sniper and believes he is a militant. In another example of how shambolic this operation has become, the armored car opens fire, wounding both the sniper and the helicopter pilot who took shelter next to him. A group of unarmed German firefighters have been waiting at the base firehouse for instructions, but have received none since the battle began. When the helicopter explodes, the frustrated firemen decide to act to save the hostages. The base fire engine drives into the middle of the firefight. With four militants still alive and firing back from under the other helicopter, stopping a short distance from the burning Huey, the firefighters begin spraying the area with foam to snuff out the flames. The militants sheltering under the other Huey now open fire on the firefighters, forcing them to retreat. The police snipers on the control tower aim for the AK-47 muzzle flashes and take down another militant. At 12:30 a.m., the firing finally stops 2 hours after the hostages arrived at the air base. >> And here it gets really sensitive. It's about a couple of hours of let's say a battle between the policemen and the militants. In retrospect, it is always described as you know very intense shootout but really uh we know that the militants together shot uh about 200 rounds. So really not a lot in 2 hours. It's it was not very much. The two Israeli officials along with dozens of West German policemen rushed to the helicopters hoping that some of the athletes have somehow survived. Victor Cohen is the first to get to the unburned Huey. I looked into the helicopter hoping that some of the hostages were alive and I saw all of them. They were bound by rope and all of them were dead. Munich police chief Manfred Shriber is overcome by grief at the scene which he later said plunged him into a deep depression which stays with you for the rest of your life. However, the police officers counting corpses discover that three of the militants are missing which sets off a frantic search as the armored cars race away to find the BSO operatives. Two are found hiding in the firefighting foe surrounding the burned chopper and another is apprehended attempting to flee the scene. The rescue attempt is a complete failure. All hostages and a police officer have been killed while several more officers are wounded. Five of the eight militants are dead. >> You know, we can still ask if it was uh to the benefit of the Palestinian cause. I'm not sure because what the world saw is Palestinian terrorists and what the world identified with Palestinian as terrorism for many years. The Black September massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics stuns the entire world. The shock of the attack is only made worse when the Reuters news agency mistakenly releases a wire report announcing all Israeli hostages have been freed. This leads to an hour of intense celebration in the Olympic village and in Israel until the horrible truth is revealed. After hearing the false report, Vizamir places a call to Goldenir and solemnly tells the prime minister, "Golder, I have bad news. We just returned from the airport. All nine were killed. Not one was saved. A correction issued by Reuters at 3:17 a.m. confirms that all hostages were killed. ABC reporter Jim McCain famously relayed the terrible news live on air, telling the camera, "When I was a kid, my father used to say, "Our greatest hopes and our worst fears are seldom realized. Our worst fears have been realized tonight. Despite IOC President Avery Brundage's stubborn refusal to let the massacre affect the Olympics, the games are suspended for 34 hours and a memorial service is held the following day. Rundage's speech at the service makes little reference to those killed and outrages the Israeli families by equating the hostages plight to Rhodesia being barred from the games for racism. The rest of the Israeli athletes withdraw from the Olympics along with members of several other delegations fearful of a repeat attack. Despite these concerns, the Olympics resume on the 7th of September and the games conclude 4 days later. The catastrophe is a shameful episode in West Germany's history. The decision to have little to no security at the Olympic Village is heavily criticized, as is the government's slapdash response to the crisis. Of the more than 450 policemen at the Forston Feldbrook airfield, only about 50 actually take part in the rescue mission. After extensive internal investigations, the West German government moves to cover up their litany of mistakes and bar the victim's families from autopsy logs, ballistics reports, and other key documents. The widow of one of the murdered Israelis demands justice. I wanted a full account of what really happened from the Germans. Nobody seemed to be able to explain who was at fault, who shot whom at the airport. After 20 years of constant pressure, an anonymous Bavarian government worker leaks the most damning documents of the massacre. 10 years of legal maneuvering follow before the German government admits responsibility for the disaster and settles with the Israeli families for 3 million. Israel responds to the massacre by bombing 10 Palestinian Liberation Organization camps on the 8th of September, killing or wounding over 200. Goldenir creates a committee to formulate a more wide-reaching response which recommends a broad assassination campaign against PLO and Black September militants. Mia is initially reluctant until the hijacking of Lufanza flight 615 on the 29th of October 1972 by Black September sympathizers. The West German government agrees to release the three militants captured after the Munich massacre in exchange for the safe return of hostages which leads to outrage in Israel. A furious goldir greenlights the assassination campaign cenamed operation wrath of God. >> Goldier stood in front of the Israeli parliament theet and said we will avenge those people. We will kill those who have killed us. and she was actually putting actions to her words and then task the foreign intelligence agency of of Isabel Mossad to identify who was responsible or involved in this Munich Olympic attack and then to hunt and kill each of them each of these Palestinian terrorists. Over the next 20 years, Mossad hunts down and kills dozens of suspected militants with connections to the Munich massacre. >> This operation had three aims. One aim clearly is is vengeance for the Munich massacre. But the second goal was disruption. They wanted to disrupt potential terrorist plans. So they wanted to kill high terrorist conspirators in the assumption that when they are the killed, it will be difficult for them to replace them. and so the plans could be disrupted and deterrence. So the goal was that every person who could potentially think of planning a new terrorist attack should fear for their lives or should refrain from planning further terrorist attacks against the Israelis or or European interests. >> The effectiveness and ethics of this campaign are still debated to this day. it it didn't quite work right and some innocent people were killed in the process and rather than making the situation safer for Israel it just made things worse. I should add too that on September 8th just a couple days after the Munich massacre. Uh the Israelis attacked sites in in Lebanon and Syria that they identified with the terrorists and then sent in the Israeli Defense Force into southern Lebanon which dramatically escalated the tensions in the area. This tremendously angered the moderate Arab states. Now they had to kind of not not identify Black September, but they couldn't really criticize it either because now Israel is reacting in this very forceful way that actually, you know, exacerbated the sense of horror and it prompted the Arab states now to start preparing for a retaliation of their own which came the next year in the Yam Kapoor war. Despite its outward refusal to acknowledge its complicity in the massacre, the West German government works to improve its counterterror capabilities. On the 26th of September 1972, just 2 weeks after the crisis, the West German government establishes Grenhut Grouper 9 under Orig Feer's command. Better known as GSG9. It is based on the experience of the Israeli sireet Matc 5 years after Munich. GSG9 will be called upon to resolve another hostage crisis playing out on the world stage, the hijacking of Lufanza Flight 181. Thanks again to Professor Ufair Ashkanazi, author of Still Lives: Jewish Photography in Nazi Germany and member of the 2023 Commission to Investigate the 1972 Munich Olympics attack. Also to Professor David Clay Large, author of Munich's 1972, Tragedy, Terror, and Triumph at the Olympic Games, and to Aviva Goodman, author of Operation Wrath of God: The Secret History of European Intelligence and Mossad's Assassination Campaign.