Berlin, Germany
Reuters
Germany has appointed an eight-person commission to re-appraise the attack on Israeli athletes and team members at the 1972 Munich Olympics to answer unresolved questions, said German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser in a statement on Friday.
Wreaths are placed during a ceremony, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the attack on the Israeli team at the 1972 Munich Olympics in which eleven Israelis, a German policeman and five of the Palestinian gunmen died takes place near the Olympic village in Munich, Germany, on 5th September, 2022. PICTURE: Reuters/Leonhard Foeger
“For too many years, there was a lack of understanding or reappraisal of the events, transparency about them or acceptance of responsibility for them,” she said.
The project is part of a larger government approach to seek reconciliation with the families affected, including a compensation offer of €28 million.
Palestinians from the Black September militant group took members of the Israeli Olympic team hostage on 5th September, 1972.
Eleven Israelis, a German policeman and five of the Palestinian gunmen died after a stand-off at the Olympic village and the nearby Fuerstenfeldbruck airfield.
The Games continued in 1972 after the attacks and the IOC took almost half a century to comply with families’ requests for an official act of remembrance at an Olympic event.
