Israeli survivors of the Munich Olympic massacre recall the horror, 50 years on
Inauguration ceremony of sports centre dedicated to Israeli athletes murdered in Munich 1972 Olympic.
50 years ago this week, at the Munich Olympics, AndreSpitzer, a coach of the Israeli fencing team, was shot and killed by Palestinian terrorists. At the time, Ankie Spitzer, his wife was 26 years old. Ever since, the memories of that day have dominated her life.
The shooting of the Israeli team by members of the Palestinian militant group Black September had shocked the entire world and was largely broadcast live to millions of spectators.
In the end, five of the Palestinian gunmen, one German police officer, and 11 members of the Israeli team were all killed. Authorities from Germany and the Olympics received harsh criticism for how they handled the attack.
"I was only married one year and three months to Andre, we were a young couple, very much in love with a small baby, you know, we were on top of the world," Spitzer told Reuters ahead of a ceremony in Germany this week commemorating themassacre.
"I was with him at theOlympics, and I was in the room after they were murdered, just a few hours afterwards, and I looked around, everything was with blood," she said.
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"I said to myself...if they can do this I will never shut up, I will never stop talking about it, only for one reason, so that this will never ever happen again."
It was the beginning of a bloody 24-hour standoff that started with a struggle between the gunmen and unarmed athletes who attempted to defend themselves when the militants infiltrated the thinly guarded Olympic Village in the early hours of September 5, 1972, and forced their way into the Israeli apartments.
The assailants wanted a plane to the Middle East as well as the release of more than 200 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, including radicals Ulrike Meinhof and Andreas Baader of the German Red Army Faction.
German authorities later agreed to take the attackers and several hostages to the airport but the rescue effort was abandoned after police noticed it was being shown on live television.
A second attempt at rescue similarly failed, and a battle that broke out at Furstenfeldbruck Air Base was finally put to an end when the remaining shooters were apprehended.
Spitzer initially declined to attend Monday's ceremony in Munich with other family members and survivors, infuriated by what they saw as pathetic compensation offers from Germany, until a 28 million euro ($28 million) settlement was negotiated last week.
"For me the1972trauma will remain," said Ilana Romano, whose husband Joseph, a weightlifter, was another of the athletes killed in the attack.
"I hope that the world better understands and is ready to do more, and the most important thing is not to support terror and understand that terrorism destroys every good thing."
(With inputs from agencies)
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