Munich Massacre (1972): Hostage Attack at the Summer Olympics

The Munich massacre was a hostage attack on the Israeli Olympic team during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. On 5 September 1972 eight members of the Palestinian militant group Black September broke into the team’s quarters, killing two Israelis and taking nine hostage. By the early hours of 6 September all nine hostages, a West German police officer and five attackers were dead after a failed rescue attempt at Fürstenfeldbruck air base, an event that transformed Olympic security and counter-terrorism policy around the world.

Background: the “Cheerful Games”

The 1972 Olympics, held from 26 August to 11 September, were West Germany’s chance to present a modern, democratic country to the world. They were the first Olympics in Germany since the Berlin Olympics of 1936, which the Nazi regime had used for propaganda. Organisers deliberately chose a relaxed style, nicknamed the “Cheerful Games”, with light security, unarmed guards in pastel uniforms and an Olympic Village that was easy to enter.

The attack also grew out of the Arab–Israeli conflict. After the Six-Day War of 1967, Palestinian armed groups stepped up attacks on Israeli targets, including airline hijackings. Black September took its name from the conflict of September 1970, when the Jordanian army drove Palestinian fighters out of Jordan (see Black September in Jordan). It was linked to Fatah, the largest faction in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

The hostage-taking

Shortly before 4:30 a.m. on 5 September 1972, eight armed men climbed the perimeter fence of the Olympic Village and entered the apartments of the Israeli delegation at Connollystraße 31. Some athletes in neighbouring rooms escaped through windows and doors. The wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg and the weightlifter Yossef Romano fought back and were shot dead.

The attackers took nine other team members hostage. They demanded the release of more than 200 prisoners held in Israel, along with two leaders of the West German Red Army Faction, Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof, and safe passage out of Germany.

The Israeli government under Prime Minister Golda Meir refused to negotiate over the prisoners, holding that concessions would encourage further attacks. West German officials, including Munich police chief Manfred Schreiber, Bavarian interior minister Bruno Merk and federal interior minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher, negotiated through the day. Genscher offered to take the place of the hostages, but the offer was refused. Deadlines were repeatedly extended.

Meanwhile the Games went on for much of the day, and the standoff was broadcast live on television to a worldwide audience. A police attempt to storm the building in the afternoon was called off when officials realised that the attackers could watch the police preparations on television.

The failed rescue at Fürstenfeldbruck

In the evening the attackers asked to be flown to Cairo. The authorities agreed in principle but planned to ambush them at Fürstenfeldbruck, a NATO air base about 25 kilometres west of Munich. At about 10:30 p.m. two helicopters carried the attackers and their hostages to the airfield, where a Lufthansa Boeing 727 was waiting.

The plan quickly fell apart. Police had believed there were only four or five attackers, and only five police marksmen were deployed, without proper sniper rifles, night-vision equipment or radios. A group of officers disguised as aircrew on board the 727 voted to abandon their mission shortly before the helicopters landed. When two of the attackers inspected the empty aircraft and returned, the police opened fire.

A gun battle lasted more than an hour in poor light. Armoured vehicles arrived late, having been held up by traffic. Shortly after midnight on 6 September, one attacker fired into one helicopter and threw a grenade into it, and the hostages in the second helicopter were shot. All nine hostages were killed. The West German police officer Anton Fliegerbauer also died. Five attackers were killed and three were captured.

Confusion added to the tragedy. Early reports suggested that the hostages had been freed, and families and the public briefly believed they were safe. The truth was confirmed in the early hours, and the American broadcaster Jim McKay told viewers simply that “they’re all gone”.

The victims

The eleven members of the Israeli team who died were:

Several of the victims had personal histories that reflected Israel’s recent past. Some had been born in Europe and had survived or escaped persecution during the Second World War, while others, such as the young wrestler Mark Slavin, had emigrated from the Soviet Union only shortly before the Games. Andre Spitzer’s wife, Ankie, later became one of the most persistent campaigners for recognition of the victims.

Key people

• Golda Meir: Prime Minister of Israel, whose government refused to release prisoners and later authorised covert reprisals.
• Hans-Dietrich Genscher: West German interior minister who negotiated with the attackers and offered himself in exchange for the hostages.
• Manfred Schreiber: Munich police president, who directed the police operation in the Village and at Fürstenfeldbruck.
• Avery Brundage: American president of the International Olympic Committee, who decided that the Games should continue.
• Luttif Afif (“Issa”): Leader of the Black September team inside the Village, who was killed at Fürstenfeldbruck.

Myths and facts

A common belief is that the hostages were all killed by the attackers’ gunfire at the start of the battle. In fact they died near the end of the long firefight, and investigators have long debated whether any were struck by police bullets; German files released in later decades did not settle every detail. Another misconception is that West German police had no warning at all. Historians and journalists have since reported that officials received some general warnings about possible attacks before the Games, though how specific they were remains disputed.

It is also sometimes said that the Games were cancelled. They were not: after a pause of roughly 34 hours, competition resumed and the Olympics closed as scheduled on 11 September 1972.

“The Games must go on”

Competition was suspended for about a day. On 6 September some 80,000 people attended a memorial service in the Olympic Stadium, where the president of the International Olympic Committee, Avery Brundage, declared that the Games must go on. The decision was supported by many athletes and officials, who argued that stopping would hand the attackers a victory, but it was criticised by others as insensitive. The remaining Israeli team members left Munich.

For decades families of the victims asked the IOC for an official minute of silence at an opening ceremony. This was first granted at the Tokyo Games in 2021.

Consequences

The immediate aftermath was violent. On 8 September 1972 Israel carried out air strikes on PLO bases in Syria and Lebanon. On 29 October 1972 Palestinian militants hijacked Lufthansa Flight 615 and demanded the release of the three captured attackers. West Germany freed them, a decision that angered Israel and fuelled later suspicions about the government’s motives.

Israel’s government authorised a covert campaign, often referred to as Operation Wrath of God, in which the intelligence agency Mossad targeted people it held responsible for planning the attack. Over several years a number of Palestinian figures were killed in Europe and the Middle East. In 1973 an Israeli team in Lillehammer, Norway, killed a Moroccan waiter, Ahmed Bouchikhi, in a case of mistaken identity, and several agents were convicted by a Norwegian court.

In West Germany the disaster exposed the lack of a trained anti-terror force, because the federal constitution left policing largely to the states. On 26 September 1972 the government created GSG 9, a special unit of the federal border police. Other countries also strengthened or created counter-terrorist units, and security at later Olympic Games became far tighter and more expensive.

Legacy and remembrance

For many years the families criticised the West German and Bavarian authorities for mistakes during the crisis, for withholding files and for offering limited compensation. In 2022, shortly before the 50th anniversary, the German government reached an agreement with the families that included compensation of about 28 million euros, a commitment to open the archives to historians, and official acknowledgement of responsibility. At the commemoration on 5 September 2022, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier asked the families for forgiveness.

Memorials stand at Connollystraße 31, at Fürstenfeldbruck and in the Olympic Park, where an open-air memorial site was opened in 2017. In Israel, monuments in Tel Aviv and other cities honour the victims. The events have been explored in the Oscar-winning documentary One Day in September (1999) and in Steven Spielberg’s film Munich (2005), which dramatises the later Israeli response and takes liberties with the historical record.

Timeline

• 26 August 1972: The Munich Summer Olympics open.
• 5 September 1972, about 4:30 a.m.: Black September militants enter Connollystraße 31; Moshe Weinberg and Yossef Romano are killed.
• 5 September 1972, daytime: Negotiations continue as deadlines are extended; a planned police assault is called off.
• 5 September 1972, about 10:30 p.m.: Helicopters carry attackers and hostages to Fürstenfeldbruck air base; the gun battle begins.
• 6 September 1972, after midnight: All nine hostages are killed; a memorial service is held in the Olympic Stadium later that day.
• 8 September 1972: Israeli air strikes on PLO bases in Syria and Lebanon.
• 26 September 1972: West Germany creates the GSG 9 anti-terror unit.
• 29 October 1972: The three surviving attackers are released after the hijacking of Lufthansa Flight 615.
• 5 September 2022: Germany formally apologises at the 50th-anniversary commemoration.

Why it matters

The Munich massacre was the first time a terrorist attack unfolded live before a global television audience at a major sporting event. It ended the idea that the Olympics could stand apart from international conflict, reshaped how governments prepare for hostage crises, and remains a deeply painful memory in Israel and Germany.