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September 7, 2002
MUNICH, Germany -- Thirty years after the massacre of 11 Israelis by Palestinian gunmen at the Olympic Games, Germany announced Friday that relatives had accepted $2.98-million in compensation -- far less than the $29-million they demanded and without an apology.
Speaking to reporters at a ceremony marking the anniversary of the Sept. 5, 1972, massacre, Interior Minister Otto Schily rejected suggestions German police made mistakes that contributed to the carnage.
"Even in Israel, hostage-takings and attacks are not prevented," Schily said. He said the compensation was a humanitarian gesture from the German government, the state of Bavaria and city of Munich.
The Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah meant the families of the slain Israeli team members didn't attend the ceremony at the military air base near Munich, where the drama came to a bloody end.
About 100 guests gathered at a memorial erected in 1999 at the Fuerstenfeldbruck air base, placing pebbles brought from Israel on the rim of its granite bowl beneath 12 flames of weathered steel -- symbolizing the Olympic flame, the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 victims, who included one German police officer.
A minute's silence followed near the squat control tower where German police shot four of the eight terrorists, sparking afirefight in which nine hostages, five of their captors and the police officer died.
"A thread connects the terrible events of 1972 with today," said Israel's ambassador to Germany, Shimon Stein. "The sad thing is that the terrorists have stuck to their gruesome methods over the years."
Thirty years ago in Munich, the drama started before dawn, when eight members of a Palestinian terrorist group called Black September clambered over the unguarded fence of the Olympic village, sparking a drama that millions watched on television.
Wearing track suits and carrying weapons concealed in athletic bags, they burst into the building where the Israeli team was staying, shooting dead wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg and weightlifter Yossi Romano.
Some Israeli athletes escaped through a back door but nine were seized. The terrorists demanded the release of more than 200 Palestinians held by Israel and of two German left-wing extremists in German jails.
After a day of tense negotiations, the terrorists and their hostages were allowed to leave aboard two helicopters for the Fuerstenfeldbruck airfield 16 miles away. The terrorists were promised a plane to Egypt.
Sharpshooters at the airfield opened fire as the terrorists and hostages prepared to board a Lufthansa jet.
The guerrillas tossed grenades at the hostages, and one of the helicopters was blown up by a terrorist grenade. When the fighting stopped, the captives and five of their captors were dead.
In related developments:
A survey shows anti-Semitism is on the rise in Germany, with more than a quarter of people surveyed saying they believe Jewish influence is too great and 17 percent saying they believe Hitler would be viewed as a great statesman if not for the Holocaust, German researchers said.
In the Middle East, an internal Irsaeli army investigation cleared soldiers who killed 12 Palestinians -- none of whom carried firearms -- in three incidents last week. Palestinians complainted the report was a whitewash.
The investigation said that in two cases, Palestinians were moving in a suspicious manner in areas off-limits to civilians and that soldiers acted according to regulations when they opened fire.
In the third incident, in which two Palestinian children and two teenagers were killed in a targeted missile attack on suspected militants, one of the missiles missed the target, apparently because of a technical problem, the military said.
Israel imposed curfews on most West Bank towns and froze Palestinian travel to keep out militants during the Jewish New Year's holiday. The restrictions confined more than 630,000 Palestinians to their homes.