Munich Massacre of 1972

¶ … Munich Massacre of 1972 was an organized terrorist attack on 11 Israeli Olympic athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. By the end of day-long the conflict, 11 Israelis, five Arab terrorists, and a German policeman were dead.

On September 5, 1972 at 4:30 AM, Arab terrorists wearing tracksuits and carrying weapons in athletic bags scaled the fence of the Olympic Village in Munich. Security was lax or non-existent, enabling a quick and efficient entry. Upon breaching the Village, the terrorists rendezvoused with an under-cover terrorist, who had been working for the Village, and thus knew exactly where the future hostages were sleeping. At 5AM, the terrorists knocked on the door of Israeli wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg, who immediately recognized that something was awry. He shouted a warning to his players and, with wrestler Joseph Romano, tried to keep the terrorists out while some of the players escaped out a window. Weinberg and Romano were killed in their efforts, and the terrorists attained nine Israeli hostages.

At 9 AM the terrorists announced that they were Palestinians of the group Black September, and demanded the release of 234 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and two German terrorist leaders in a Frankfurt prison, as well as safe passage out of Germany -- hostages in hand. Specifically, the terrorists asked for a helicopter to the airport, and for two planes to take them and the hostages to Cairo. After hours of negotiation, the Germans agreed, simultaneously giving their police force orders to kill the terrorists at the airport without harming the hostages.