On this day 39 years ago, 11 Israeli athletes and a German police officer were killed in Munich during the 1972 Olympic Games. The group responsible was a Palestinian organization called Black September.
The games, only in their second week, enjoyed a happy atmosphere. German authorities were determined not to present the same, militarized image they had in Berlin 1936. The terrorists were able to get into the apartment complex with the help of several unsuspecting athletes who were also trying to sneak in.
In the early hours of the morning, the Israelis were awakened by the gunmen attempting to tamper with the door locks. They sounded the alarm, and 18 managed to escape, leaving 11 captive. In the struggle, Moshe Weinberg was shot and killed, his body thrown outside to demonstrate the Palestinians' resolve.
Black September demanded the release of 234 jailed comrades in Israel along with Andreas Baadar and Ulrike Meinhof, founders of the German Red Army Faction. They then wanted to secure their own safe passage to Cairo Egypt. Israel refused to negotiate, and Germany tried offering money in exchange for the hostages lives, but all offers were turned down.
Two Bell UH-1 helicopters were used to fly the hostages and terrorists to the NATO airbase of Furstenfeldbruck. A Bowing 727 jet was waiting to take them to Cairo, with six German police dressed as the flight crew onboard. The plan was to capture the terrorists as soon as they got on, but as the helicopters approached, the received word that there were eight enemies, not five, as they had once thought. At the last minute, with the choppers touching down, the police voted to abandon the mission. This left only five snipers, deployed on the roof and control tower of the airport, to finish the job.
At 11 pm, the order to fire was given. In the ensuing gun battle, five terrorists were killed, but not before they sprayed the Israelis (tied to their seats in the helicopters) with machine gun fire and then tossed in a hand grenade. Many of the corpses were burned beyond recognition. Three terrorists survived to be captured.
The massacre caused outrage in Israel, who retaliated against Palestine with numerous air strikes. Germany suffered heavy criticism for their botched efforts, and the rest of Europe began training their own elite counter-terrorism organizations.
Jim McKay, ABC correspondant at the time, confirmed the tragic details live on television at 3:24 am as details were fed to him by Roone Alredge:
"When I was a kid, my father used to say, 'Our greatest hopes and our worst fears are seldom realized.' Our worst fears have been realized tonight. They've now said there were eleven hostages. Two were killed in their rooms yesterday morning, nine were killed at the airport tonight. They're all gone."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9HArGWgsm4
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