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Munich massacre victims remembered
September 6, 2002 Posted: 4:16 PM EDT (2016 GMT)
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The Olympic flag flies at half-mast the day after the massacre
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MUNICH, Germany -- Political leaders and sports figures have gathered to mark the 30th anniversary of the Munich Olympics massacre.
Just before dawn on September 5, 1972, eight Palestinian terrorists dressed in tracksuits clambered over the unguarded fence of the Olympic village.
Eleven athletes with the Israeli sports team were killed after being taken hostage.
Wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg and weightlifter Yossi Romano were killed immediately.
Nine others died later in the day in a shoot-out between the terrorists and police at Fuerstenfeldbruck military airfield.
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Five gunmen, all members of the Palestinian 'Black September' organisation, and a German police officer also died.
On Friday, political leaders and sports figures gathered at Fuerstenfeldbruck for a memorial service.
A large bouquet of flowers in the blue and white colours of the Israeli flag was laid at the spot on the tarmac where the hostages died.
German Interior Minister Otto Schily, Israeli Ambassador Shimon Stein and the President of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, were among those attending.
"A thread connects the terrible events of 1972 with today," Stein told the 100 people gathered at the airfield.
"The attackers abused the Olympic Games in a scandalous manner to pursue their political goals. The Olympic Games will always carry this blemish."
Eleven athletes and a German police officer died International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge, who competed in the sailing events in the 1972 Munich Games, said: "That day changed the course of the Olympic movement and indeed the Olympic Games forever.
"We can never forget this tragedy. The International Olympic Committee will keep the memory of these victims alive."
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Eleven athletes and a German police officer died
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Several speakers said the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and ongoing violence in the Middle East showed that extremists still threatened global peace 30 years on.
"On September 11 last year international terrorism entered a new dimension," said Schily.
"But just as we did not capitulate 30 years ago so we should not capitulate today to Islamic fundamentalism.
"We must learn from such catastrophes. We will only defeat terrorism in a lasting way if we also fight it in a political and spiritual way. We must overcome hate and animosity."
In an apparent reference to the attacks on the United States, Stein said: "The sad thing is that the terrorists have stuck to their gruesome methods over the years."
However, relatives of the victims, coaches and officials did not attend the ceremony, which falls on the eve of the Jewish New Year.
"We need to be here with our children. We don't want to be over there at this time," Ankie Spitzer, widow of fencing official Andrei Spitzer, told the Associated Press.
One of the grenade-damaged helicopters provided to the Palestinian kidnappers
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One of the grenade-damaged helicopters provided to the Palestinian kidnappers
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Spitzer said families of the victims asked organisers of the Munich commemoration to postpone Friday's event but they said that was not possible.
In August, the relatives attended a service held at the monument to the victims erected at the bridge linking Munich's former Olympic village to the Olympic stadium.
The victims' names are etched in the stone in German and Hebrew, with the solemn words: "In honour of their memory."
On the morning of September 6 -- the day after the massacre -- some 80,000 people gathered for a memorial service in the Olympic stadium where the games had been launched in festive style 12 days earlier.
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