The Munich Massacre – 1972

When we talk about the history of Mossad (Intelligence unit of Israel), the Munich Massacre holds significant importance. The incident led to one of the most distinct, courageous, and clinical operations in the history of the modern world – Operation Wrath of God.

On 5^th September 1972, during the ongoing Olympics, a group of Palestinian terrorists entered the Olympics village and took a few of the Israel athletes and coaching staff as hostages. What ensued later is etched into history as one of the most unfortunate incidents. 

The Hostage Situation

In the early hours (around 4:30 AM) of 5^th September, some 8 terrorists of the Palestinian organization – The Black September entered the premises of the Olympic Village.

The Black September is a part of Fatah which in turn is a faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

The attackers scaled a six feet tall fence and entered 31 Connollystrasse which was the home to the Israel Olympic team in the Olympic village. With the help of stolen keys, the terrorists secretly tried to make their way into Apartment 1. Yossef Gutfreund, a wrestling referee, was woken up during the act and as he saw armed masked men breaching the premises, he raised an alarm.

Gutfreund was said to have said “Hevre tistalku!”, a Hebrew phrase, meaning “Get out of here”.

To buy as much time as possible, Gutfreund threw himself against the door to block the terrorists. In the chaos, the weightlifting coach, Tuvia Sokolovsky, was able to escape. Meanwhile, the wrestling coach, Moshe Weinberg also confronted the terrorists, who later shot him in the face.

Weinberg, bleeding, was forced to help the terrorists find more hostages. He took the terrorists past Apartment 2 (that too had Israel Olympic team members) to Apartment 3 instead. Why Weinberg did this is debatable. Many experts and reports assume that Apartment 3 had men that were stronger than those in Apartment 2 and thus were more capable of confronting the terrorists. The move did not make a difference as the terrorists were able to capture six wrestlers and weightlifters from the apartment.

When the athletes were being taken back to the first apartment, on the way, Weinberg attacked one of the terrorists, knocking him down, unconscious. Before he could make another move, another terrorist shot Weinberg to death.

Yossef Romano, a weightlifter, was too shot to death when he tried to attack the intruders. By then, there were nine Israeli hostages and two other Israeli athletes were dead.

List of hostages:

1. Yossef Gutfreund – Wrestling referee
2. Kehat Shorr – Shooting coach
3. Amitzur Shapira – Track & Field coach
4. Andre Spitzer – Fencing master
5. Yakov Springer – Weightlifting judge
6. Eliezer Halfin – Wrestler
7. Mark Slavin – Wrestler
8. David Berger – Weightlifter
9. Ze’ev Friedman – Weightlifter

Shaul Ladany, a racewalker, who was in Apartment 2 was the first one to spread the word about the attack.

The Palestinian terrorists identified were:

1. Ahmed Chic Thaa
2. Luttif Afif 
3. Afif Ahmed Hamid
4. Khalid Jawad
5. Yusuf Nazzal
6. Adnan al-Gashey
7. Jamal al-Gashey
8. Mohammed Safady

The Demands

The terrorists demanded the release of 234 Arab prisoners jailed in Israel and two West German terrorists: Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof of the Red Army Faction. Israel’s government was against any negotiations and was firm on its stand. As per the reports, it is claimed that Israel did offer to send Israeli Special Forces, but the offer was rejected by the West Germany authorities.

The terrorists also demanded their safe passage from Germany to an Arab country. Ultimately, Cairo was chosen as the destination.

Munich Massacre: Rescue Attempts

During the ongoing negotiations, West German police did devise a rescue operation but they had to call it off as every move of theirs was being broadcasted live on television. The media was all around the perimeter and covering every moment.

Another blatant truth was that the West German police were not equipped and trained enough to tackle such a situation. The army could have been more helpful but it was prohibited to engage as per the post-war West Germany constitution. Thus, all the responsibility was now in the hands of the Munich police. 

At around 10:00 PM, after supposedly reaching an agreement, the terrorists with the bounded and blindfolded hostages left to board the helicopters to be taken to Fürstenfeldbruck airbase. The plan was to leave the country from the airbase as soon as possible and release the hostages after their demands were met.

The West German police created another plan for the rescue. They deployed five police snipers around the airbase to neutralize the terrorists when they board the aircraft (in which they were to be taken to Cairo). Unfortunately, the plan was not well thought of. Why? Because the police snipers were not trained to a professional level. They also had no radio communication with each other and were equipped with assault rifles instead of sniper rifles which was a huge mistake in such a situation. Another miscalculation by the West German police was that they thought there were around five terrorists but actually, there were eight.

The terrorists and hostages were to be transported to Cairo in Boeing 727. Initially, there was a plan where around 17 police officers disguised as cabin crew members were to be present inside the aircraft to help subdue the terrorists. This plan was later abandoned. All the responsibility was now in the hands of under-trained snipers. To worsen the situation, the snipers were improperly placed. It was very much possible that during the operation a sniper could come in the line of sight of another sniper thus wounding or killing one of his own.

The helicopters reached the airbase at around 10:30 PM. During the aircraft inspection, when they found It empty, the terrorists understood the deception plot. As soon as they raised an alarm, the police opened the fire on them.

Few terrorists and one police officer were killed in the gun battle. The hostages were still bounded and tied up in the helicopters. Before police could take an action, one of the terrorists threw a grenade inside one of the helicopters killing all but one Israeli who later died due to smoke inhalation. Another terrorist opened fire on the other helicopter from close range killing all the Israelis present inside.

The crossfire stopped at around 12:30 AM on 6^th September 1972. By that time 11 Israelis, 5 Black September terrorists, and one police officer were killed. 

By 3:00 AM local time, the news was broadcasted that all the Israeli hostages had been killed.

The Response to the Munich Massacre

As per some reports, the West German police had the intelligence that a terrorist attack during the Olympics was a big possibility, but the input was never taken seriously.

Nevertheless, the West German officials and policemen who were accused of negligence were exonerated later.

Almost two months after the Munich massacre, on October 29, two Black September terrorists hijacked a Lufthansa flight from Damascus, Syria to Frankfurt, Germany. The hijackers demanded the freedom of three terrorists captured during the massacre or else they would blow up the aircraft with several passengers and crew members in it. The terrorists were released ultimately and the five Black September militants were given safe passage to Tripoli, Libya. The terrorists were greeted as “Heroes of the Munich Operation”. 

During the release of the terrorists, Israel was never consulted which raised a big question mark on the integrity of the West German police.

Golda Meir, the then Prime Minister of Israel, who was firm in her stand of not caving into terrorist demands, planned the “Operation Wrath of God” with the help of Mossad as a response to the “Munich Massacre”.

The operation consisted of eliminating the Black September members and operatives who were involved in the massacre. Many people saw the operation as an act of vengeance, but as per the Israeli authorities, it was a must mission to send a strong message to the terrorists (not only related to Black September but attached with any terror organization.)

Operation Wrath of God was assumed to span over 20 years, starting in 1972.