Memorial Held for Victims of 1972 Olympics

Relatives of the 11 Israelis killed during an attack by Palestinian militants at the 1972 Munich Olympics gathered for a tearful memorial service on Sunday near the scene of the crime.

"Time, they say, heals every wound but the scars will remain forever," Israel’s ambassador to Germany Shimon Stein told the 25 family members of the victims, who were joined by the 17 Israeli athletes competing at the 2002 European Track and Field Championships.

"None of us can forget those devastating images of that El Al flight leaving with the Israeli team and the coffins of the victims," Stein added, speaking in front of a monument erected outside the Munich stadium to commemorate the atrocities.

Munich Olympics 1972

The Munich Olympics began amidst great anticipation, both in Germany and abroad. They were supposed to be the biggest and best games yet, and were intended to revive Germany’s damaged reputation following Hitler’s nationalistic 1936 games in Berlin.

For the first ten days, the games were a great success. The city had built a new stadium, the housing for the athletes was top-notch, and the competition breath-taking. The American swimmer Mark Spitz, a Jew, captured world attention by winning seven gold medals.

But things changed dramatically on September 5 when eight members of the Palestinian Black September guerrilla group stormed into the Olympic village and raided the Israeli team headquarters.

Tragedy to remember

The militants killed two Israeli athletes immediately and took nine athletes and officials hostage, demanding the release of 200 political prisoners held in Israel.

The following 24 hours were tense as German police stood down the gunmen at Munich’s Furstenfeld military airport, from where the militants were hoping to leave Germany. Then, as the events were being broadcast live on television, the police opened fire and a gun fight broke out.

The rescue attempt went disastrously wrong. All nine remaining hostages were killed, as well as five of the gunmen, and one policeman.

"Members of the Israeli delegation arrived in Munich in 1972 in order to participate in the Olympic spirit and strive for peace and brotherhood," Israeli Athletics Association General Secretary Jack Cohen said during Sunday’s ceremony.

"They could not achieve that mission and returned in caskets."

Games go on

After the tragic events and the departure of the Israeli team, there was tremendous pressure to cancel the rest of the Olympics. But the President of the International Olympic Committee at the time, Avery Brundage, insisted that the games and the Olympic spirit must go on.

The fact that the memorial service was attended by members of the Israeli delegation to the European Track and Field Championships is testimony to the continuation of the sporting dream. The Munich stadium, too, is being used for the first time for a major event since 1972.

But even more poignant was Alex Averbukh’s pole vaulting victory on Saturday. For the first time since 1972, Israel received a gold medal at a major athletics championship. When the Israeli national anthem resounded from the stadium, tears welled up in the winner’s eyes.

"Of course I was thinking about what happened, but it's better to think about the future," Averbukh told reporters.