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The Munich Massacre September 5, 1972 
MUNICH, West Germany-Eleven
members of Israel's Olympic team
and four Arab terrorists were killed today
in a 23-hour drama that began with an
invasion of the Olympic Village by Arabs.
It ended in a shootout at a military airport
some 15 miles away as the Arabs were
preparing to fly to Cairo with their Israeli
hostages.The first two Israelis were killed early this morning when Arab commandos, armed with automatic rifles, broke into the quarters of the Israeli team and seized nine others as hostages. The hostages were killed in the airport shootout between the Arabs and German policeman and soldiers. In addition to the slain Israelis and Arabs, a German policeman was killed and a helicopter pilot was critically wounded. Three Arabs were wounded. The bloodshed brought the suspension of the Olympic Games and there was doubt if they would be resumed. Willi Daume, president of the West German Organizing Committee, announced that he would ask the International Olympic Committee to meet tomorrow to decide whether they should continue. The bloodbath at the airport, which ended around midnight, came after long hours of negotiation between Germans and Arabs at the Israeli quarters in the Olympic Village where the Arabs demanded the release of 200 Arab commandos imprisoned in Israel. Finally the West German armed forces supplied three helicopters to transport the Arabs and their Israeli hostages to the airport at F¸rstenfeldbruck. From there all were to be flown to Cairo. A Boeing 707 provided by the Lufthansa German Airlines was waiting. Two of the terrorists, carrying their automatic rifles, walked about 170 yards from the helicopters to the plane. And then they started back to pick up the other Arabs and the hostages. As the Arabs were returning, German sharpshooters reportedly opened fire from the darkness beyond the pools of light at the airport. The Arabs returned fire. How the hostages were killed was still in doubt. One theory was that an Arab threw a grenade into a helicopter in which some or all of the hostages were bound hand and foot. Partial explanation of how the Arabs knew so much about the Israeli compound in the Olympic Village came from Dr. Bruno Merk, the Interior Minister of Bavaria. He said that at least one of the terrorists was an official employee in the village and that there was reason to believe some of his confederates had also obtained accreditation. The idea of trying to liberate the hostages at the Olympic Village was rejected, Dr. Merk said, because it could have "involved athletes from other nations" living nearby. After the terrorists killed two Israelis and took control of the Olympic Village, a number of events continued until activities were suspended late in the day. Despite the carnage at the airport, Avery Brundage, chairman of the International Olympic Committee, famously said, "The Games must go on," and 34 hours later competition resumed. |
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 Associated Press
The coffin of David Berger, one of 11 Israeli team members killed at the
Munich Games. Above right, a Palestinian terrorist within the Olympic Village.
"They're all gone," the ABC-TV announcer Jim McKay intoned when confirmation
came in.
Runners Up
1994: Wide receiver Jerry Rice of the San Francisco 49ers (see Dec. 14) scored three touchdowns in a 44‚14 victory over the Los Angeles Raiders at Candlestick Park. The last touchdown, on a reception from Steve Young late in the fourth quarter, was the 127th of Rice's career, breaking Jim Brown's N.F.L. record. Rice had 192 regular-season touchdowns through 2002. 1960: Cassius Clay of Louisville, Ky., won a unanimous decision over the three-time European champion Zbigniew Pietrzytkowski of Poland to win the gold medal in the light-heavyweight division at the Rome Olympics. The 18-year-old Clay had his first pro bout as a heavyweight seven weeks later against Tunney Hunsaker, the police chief of Fayetteville, W. Va. 1918: The national anthem was sung for the first time at a sporting event in the middle of the seventh inning of Game 1 of the World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs at Comiskey Park. The Series, the last won by the Red Sox, was held at the White Sox' park for more seating and four weeks early because the government ordered the regular season ended early because of World War I. |
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