Looking Back

From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History

accessible at www.djnfoundation.org

62 | AUGUST 5 • 2021 

I

t began as a joyous occasion. As the 
20th Olympic Games began, the JN 
editorial on Sept. 1, 1972, captured the 
excitement with a simple sentence: “Jews 
were cheered in Munich.
” 
This referred to the cheers 
for Israeli athletes as they 
marched into the arena, but 
this was also a profound 
idea for Jews: “The Olympic 
Games of 1972 are a refuta-
tion of the horrors of Nazi 
terror that had its image in 
Hitler’s presence at the Berlin 
Olympics in 1936.
” 
The same issue also reported that 
American Jewish swimmer, Mark Spitz, had 
already won three of his seven gold medals. 
Spitz would be the most successful athlete at 
the 1972 Olympics.
The joy was not to last. On Sept. 5, 1972, 
eight Palestinian terrorists, affiliated with 
Black September, a militant offshoot of the 
Palestinian Liberation Organization led by 
Yasser Arafat, climbed the fence and entered 
the Olympic residential area. Armed with 
maps and stolen keys, they went directly to 
where Israeli athletes were living.

As the terrorists entered, Moshe 
Weinberg, the team’s wrestling coach, and 
Yosset Gutfreund, wrestling referee, con-
fronted them, but they could not stop them. 
Weinberg was shot and wounded. Soon, 
Israeli athletes were hostages.
Already wounded, Weinberg was killed 
in a later confrontation when he attempted 
to wrest a gun from a terrorist. Assisting 
Weinberg, while on crutches, weightlifter 
Yossaf Romano was also killed. One escaped 
but nine others remained as hostages.
The terrorists demanded the release of 
200 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and 
a plane for their escape. At night, thinking 
they had a deal, the terrorists led the hostag-
es, bound together and blindfolded, to buses 
that took them to helicopters, which trans-
ported terrorists and hostages to an air base. 
West German police were waiting for 
them. Inside the plane were policemen 
disguised as air crew; others were stationed 
outside. There was, however, one major 
problem: the police were not trained in 
counterterrorism. Legally, the better-trained 
and armed units in the German Army could 
not help the police. The rescue operation 
was a recipe for the disaster that resulted.

Upon arrival, after checking the airplane, 
the terrorists discovered the ruse. They 
began to shoot-up and throw grenades at 
the helicopters. Although the crews were 
able to escape, the hostages were trapped. In 
the aftermath, 11 Israeli athletes, five terror-
ists and one policeman lay dead. 
Shortly after, Israeli Prime Minister Golda 
Meir launched “Operation Wrath of God” 
to punish Black September planners of the 
crime. Israelis were accused of vengeance, 
but Zvi Zamir, director of the Mossad, while 
noting that those who planned the terror-
ism deserved to die, said: “No … We acted 
against those who thought that they would 
continue to perpetrate acts of terror … We 
were not dealing with the past; we concen-
trated on the future.
” 
Despicable acts like this can’t really have 
positive ramifications. But, if there was any 
consolation to be derived from this “Munich 
Massacre,
” it would be that much of the 
world was outraged and finally understood 
the forces of evil facing Israel. In addition, 
Western governments began properly train-
ing counterterrorist forces. 
A moment of silence was held to honor 
the memory of the 11 Israeli athletes slain in 
1972 at the opening ceremony for the cur-
rent Olympics in Tokyo. 

Want to learn more? Go to the DJN Foundation 
archives, available for free at www.djnfoundation.
org.

Mike Smith
Alene and 
Graham Landau 
Archivist Chair

Remembering the 
Munich Massacre

