Deadline extended: Dr. Manfred Schreiber, Munich chief of police, points to his watch while negotiating with an
Arab terrorist.
Deadly aftermath: The burned wreckage of the helicopter in which several Israeli Olympic team members were
killed rests at left at air base near Munich where the shootout took place.
He tried to block the door and screamed in
Hebrew, "Arabs, terrorists, get out fast."
Eventually, 18 of the Israelis managed
to escape, thanks to the warning, but in the
struggle the terrorists killed wrestling
coach Moshe Weinberg and weight lifter
Yossef Romano. The terrorists took nine
others hostage, including Gutfreund.
The Israeli captives were: Mark Slavin,
18, a wrestler; Eliezer Halfin, 24, a
wrestler; Andre Spitzer, 27, Israel's top
fencing coach; Berger, 28; Ze'ev Friedman,
28, a bantam weightlifter; Amitzur
Shapira, 40, probably Israel's best track
and field coach; Gutfreund, 40; Ya'acov
Springer, 52, weight-lifting referee and
Kehat Shorr, 53, the shooting team's coach.
It was now approximately 5 a.m.
A few minutes later, the terrorists gave
the German police their demands, typed in
English, calling on the Israeli government
to release 236 revolutionary prisoners
whose names they listed. In addition, the
terrorists asked for transportation by plane
to an unnamed destination. Their deadline
was 9 a.m. "Any attempt to interfere with
the carrying out of our mission will bring
about the immediate liquidation of all the
Israeli prisoners, either one at a time or all
at. once," the statement said. "If the
deadline is not met, the Zionist prisoners
will be executed forthwith."
Now, the long, seemingly interminable
wait had begun.
A Stunned World Reacts
Despite the drama being played out
nearby, many in the Olympic Village were
unaware.
"All my events were concluded, and I
In memoriam: Beneath the flame of the Olympic torch, the flags of
participating nations are flown at half-staff during a memorial service at
Munich's Olympic Stadium honoring the slain Israelis.
was leaving at around noon, but basically
nobody knew what was going on," said
American swimmer Mark Spitz, who had
just stunned the sports world by winning
seven gold medals.
However, when most people first found
out the news, the reaction was almost
universal: horror and shock.
"I just couldn't believe it," said Chris
Schenkel of ABC Sports, who was anchor-
ing the network's Olympic coverage. "I had
gone to sleep at around 4 a.m. (after send-
ing the network's Olympic feedback to the
United States) and when I woke up they
were on television (doing) these horrible
things."
Schenkel recalled how close he came to
the drama. "There was a side door right by
what we used for the studio and at 2 or 3
a.m. right when we left, they (the terrorists)