#OnThisDay In Jewish History:
September 5, 1972.
The Munich Massacre commenced.
[Thread]
The Munich Massacre was an attack during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, by Black September, a Palestinian terrorist group.
The group of 8 “stormed the Israeli athletes’ apartments in the Olympic Village”, disguised as Olympians, killing two members of the Israeli Olympic team and taking a further nine hostages.
By the 6th of September, the nine hostages would also be murdered
The hostage-takers demanded the release of 230 Arabs in Israel, in addition to two West German insurgents held by the West German penitentiary system.
At around 04:30am, the Black September terrorists snuck into the Olympic Village. The group then used stolen keys to enter the Israeli team’s apartments at Connollystraße.
The first target was Apartment 1. Yossef Gutfreund, an Israeli wrestling referee, was awakened by a faint scratching noise at the door. Upon the opening of the door, he threw a 135kg weight against the door in a futile attempt to prevent the terrorists from forcing themselves in.
Though Tuvia Sokolovsky, the weightlifting coach, fortunately, managed to smash a window and escape, Moshe Weinberg (wrestling coach) was shot in the cheek and forced to find more hostages.
Black September made their way to Apartment 3. Weinberg, in attempt to allow one of his wrestlers, Gad Tsobari, to run free, attacked the gunmen. He managed to knock one of the terrorists and slashed another with a knife, but failed to draw enough blood before being shot to death
Weightlifter Yossef Romano, a veteran of the 1967 Six-Day War, also attacked and wounded one of the intruders before being shot, killed, and reportedly castrated after he was shot.
Fortunately, racewalker Shaul Ladany was able to escape, whereby he jumped from the second-story balcony of his room and fled to the American dormitory. However, the gunmen were left with nine hostages who were then tortured.
During the operation to rescue the Athletes, the German Police officer Anton Fliegerbauer was killed in action after receiving a shot in the head.
The bodies of the five Palestinian attackers killed during the Fürstenfeldbruck gun battle, a firing battle between German authorities and the terrorists, were “delivered to Libya, where they received heroes' funerals and were buried with full military honors”.
The three remaining terrorists who survived the gunfight were arrested and held in Munich prison for trial.
On October 29, Lufthansa Flight 615 was hijacked and threatened to be blown up if the Munich attackers were not released. The three were released by West Germany.
Safady and the Al-Gasheys soon after touched down in Libya where they gave a press conference broadcast worldwide.
In the wake of the hostage-taking, the competition was suspended for 34 hours after public criticism of the Olympic Committee's decision to continue the games.
“On 6 September, a memorial service attended by 80,000 spectators and 3,000 athletes was held in the Olympic Stadium”
For the first time, during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, a moment of silence was held during the opening of the Olympic Games.
May the memories of our boys slain in cold blood be a blessing. 🕯
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