A German government spokesman on Friday expressed regret over media reports that relatives of victims of the so-called Munich Massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics would boycott ceremonies marking the 50th anniversary of the tragedy.
Steffen Hevestreith told reporters in Berlin that the government was open to further talks with representatives of the families of the victims amid a long-running dispute over compensation payments.
“The federal government hopes to find a way for bereaved families to finally decide to attend the Sept. 5 memorial service.
Germany’s leading media outlets build When Spiegel Earlier in the day, the victim’s family had reported not attending the ceremony. build It quoted a letter from MPs Anky Spitzer and MP Ilana Romano to Bavarian Chancellor Markus Söder of the CSU party explaining the decision.
Spitzer and Romano wrote, “50 years of libel, lies, humiliation and denial from the German government, especially the Bavarian authorities, is more than enough for all of us.” Spiegel A long-running dispute over compensation was at the heart of their decision.
In Munich, several ceremonies and events are scheduled for September 4 and 5, including a memorial service hosted by the State Ministry of the Interior at the airfield where the rescue effort failed and most of the victims died. It is included. “For the first time, the city of Munich is officially inviting the families of the victims,” the city’s official website says in bold.
Disputes regarding payment of compensation
Germany’s offer in early August prompted hope of resolving the dispute.
The federal government in Berlin, the state government of Bavaria and the city of Munich have offered a total of €10 million (just over $10 million) in compensation. This amount also includes past payments in 1972 and 2002 totaling around €4.5 million. Representatives of the victims’ families called it an “insult.”
The German government’s special representative for tackling anti-Semitism, Felix Klein, said he regretted the family’s decision.
“I think the federal government has made a fair offer to relatives and bereaved families after the Olympic attacks,” Klein told German newspaper network RND. “It is at the upper limit of what someone will receive today. [in compensation] as victims of terrorist crimes. ”
Klein also applauded the proposal for a new historical and political assessment of what exactly happened, as the relatives of the victims had repeatedly complained that they were unable to access classified information.
But Pascal Korver, the government’s special representative for dealing with victims of terrorist and militant attacks in Germany, called for another attempt to find amicable agreement. He said he understood there were differences of opinion among them, but that in this case it was especially important to seek a solution.
“Germany has political responsibilities that we have to face, especially with regard to our unique relationship with Israel,” Korver said. Spiegel.
What is the “Munich Massacre”?
On September 5, 1972, at the Munich Olympics in what was then West Germany, eight members of the Palestinian terrorist group Black September killed two members of the Israeli Olympic team and took nine hostages. I took it to In total he was attended by six coaches and his five athletes. A weightlifter and wrestling coach was shot dead while trying to fight back when terrorists broke into an Israeli apartment in the Olympic Village.
The kidnappers initially demanded the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons, as well as Andreas Bader and Ulrike Meinhof, founders of the West German Red Army Faction (RAF) terrorist group, in return for the hostages. .
The Israeli government made it clear that negotiations should not take place given its policy of the time to refuse to negotiate with terrorists under any circumstances.
After a short period of negotiations by the Germans, whose eight kidnappers said there was no financial settlement that would satisfy them and that death would not deter them, German law enforcement launched two armed rescue missions. The police realized that their activities were being filmed by a large media presence on the scene, and that the hostage-takers were watching the officers’ preparations live on television, so the initial plan was called off. I had to.
The second rescue operation came despite a ruse attempt to convince the terrorists that their latest request – to travel safely to Cairo by helicopter for them and their hostages – would be honored. It ended in failure. The plan was to ambush them as they embarked.
The exact details of the operation have been disputed and classified for years, but West German officials faced considerable criticism for their response. , complaining about gaining access to all information known to German and Bavarian police and government agencies.
What is indisputable is that five hostage-takers, all hostages, one West German policeman were killed, and three of the terrorists were arrested.
To make matters worse, initial media reports misrepresented the operation as a success, the hostages saved, and the terrorists killed.
Even terrorists captured in failed operations were eventually released due to new terrorist threats. and threatened to blow up the jet.
A failed hostage rescue attempt at the Fürstenfeldbruck military airfield near Munich
New Shame After Nazi Berlin Olympics
The tragedy targeting the Israeli team was also iconic because it happened on German soil. The 1972 Munich Summer Olympics were the first international sporting event of such magnitude to be held in post-war West Germany after the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics were used for propaganda purposes by Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime.
The costly lessons of the failed rescue led to Germany establishing a new special federal counterterrorism police unit known as GSG 9 within months. It was an operation inside Germany and the police were authorized to do so. Deployed anywhere in the country as needed, the GSG 9 was designed to better respond to domestic terrorist incidents, with a skill set and firepower similar to that of a trained soldier.
msh/dj (AFP, dpa, KNA)
