Munich 1972 - The 11 Terror Victims

On the morning of September 5, 1972, some members of the Israeli delegation to the Olympic Games in Munich woke up at 31 Konoly Street in the Olympic Village to the cries of Yosef Gutfreund, who was trying to block the entrance door with his body against Palestinian terrorists, and urged his friends to flee the apartment.

The Israelis in the nearby apartments did not respond to Gutfreund’s calls, but were awakened by the sound of a series of gunshots and managed to see the wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg, injured in the face.

The athletes and coaches who were caught were imprisoned and shackled in one of the delegation’s rooms, under the threat of eight armed terrorists with submachine guns, pistols, and grenades, after a struggle in which Moshe Weinberg and Yosef Romano were killed.

The terrorists demanded the release of 234 Arab militants and two Germans and their transfer from Israel to an Arab country, in exchange for the release of the Israelis. They threatened that if their demand was not met by 12:00 noon, two of the kidnapped Israelis would be executed, and for every additional hour, two more would be killed. Until the deadline of the ultimatum, negotiations were opened with the terrorists.

After a nerve-wracking wait that lasted all day, the terrorists agreed to fly them to an Arab country along with the Israeli athletes as hostages. At 10:30 PM, nine of the athletes and their captors were taken from their room to a corner of the Olympic village, where two helicopters were waiting for them. The Israeli athletes were led under threats from the terrorists, handcuffed and tied to each other, and were placed in helicopters.

When the helicopters landed at a German military airport, the German police made a failed attempt to rescue the Israeli athletes, thereby allowing the terrorists to murder the nine Israeli athletes while they were defenseless inside the helicopters.

The three terrorists who were captured were released on October 30, 1972, less than two months after the incident, when the West German government capitulated to the “Black September” organization, which had hijacked a passenger plane of the “Lufthansa” airline.

The Olympic Committee in Israel has set itself the goal of continuing the legacy of the eleven athletes.
Every year on the Hebrew date (26th of Elul), the Olympic Committee of Israel holds the official memorial service in their memory, at the Yad Vashem monument on Weizmann Street in Tel Aviv.

Israeli delegations to the Olympic Games arrive at the memorial the evening before their departure and lay a wreath. During the Olympic Games, the Israeli Olympic Committee holds a memorial ceremony for the eleven victims, to which the heads of the International Olympic Committee, members of the local Jewish community, dignitaries, and members of the Olympic delegation are invited.

The families of the 11 are an integral part of the events of the Olympic Committee in Israel.