This Day in History: 5 September 2020
5 September 1972
48 years ago, today, the Munich Olympics massacre began, when a group of Palestinian terrorists stormed the Olympic Village apartment of Israeli athletes. Two were killed, and nine others were taken hostage. The terrorists were part of a group known as Black September. In return for the release of the hostages, they demanded that Israel release over 230 Arabs being held in Israeli jails, as well as two German terrorists. At Munich airport, the nine Israeli hostages were killed along with five terrorists in a shootout. Olympic competition was suspended for 24 hours in memorial for the athletes.
At the main Munich Olympic stadium, after the memorial service was held, it was ordered that the games continue by the International Olympic Committee President Avery Brundage, in order to show that the terrorists had not won. Even though the tragedy deeply scarred the games, there were still many moments of great athletic achievement. This included American swimmer Mark Spitz's seven gold medals. In the aftermath of the murders and Olympics, the Israeli government, led by Golda Meir, hired a group of Mossad agents to track down and kill the Black September terrorists.
Want to find out more about the Munich Olympics massacre? Click here for more information, or watch the 2005 Stephen Spielberg film 'Munich', which was based on these events.
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