The 1972 Olympics: Massacre at Munich… 40 years later
Jewish Ledger | July 13, 2012
By Robert Gluck / JNS.org ~
MEMORIAL IN TEL AVIV FOR THE 11 ISRAELI
ATHLETES KILLED BY PALESTINIAN TERRORISTS AT THE 1972 MUNICH OLYMPICS.
CREDIT: AVISHAI TEICHER.GROUP.
Forty years ago, Palestinian “Black September” terrorists murdered 11 Israeli team members during theOlympic Games in Munich. Although the International Olympic Committee (IOC) declined Israel’s request for a moment of silence at this summer’s London games, there are scholars working to ensure that the 1972 tragedy isn’t forgotten.
One such expert is David Clay Large, a professor of history at Montana State University and author of the new book “Munich 1972: Tragedy, Terror, and Triumph at the Olympic Games.”
In May, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon wrote to the IOC on behalf of the widows of two 1972 victims, who called for a specific memorial during the upcoming Olympics. IOC President Jacques Rogge responded that a moment of silence would not be held because the IOC “has officially paid tribute to the memory of the [killed Israeli] athletes on several occasions.”
The same month, Large gave a presentation on the 1972 Munich Olympics at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York.
In an interview with JNS.org, Large explained that a request for a moment of silence “has been made before a number of times by various groups, and the IOC has always declined.”
“The reasons they give are that the Olympics are above politics, that they should be just about international competition and not drag into this atmosphere the political, social controversies of the day,” Large said. “That is the argument they give, but the Games have always been political, right from the beginning, and none more so than Munich 1972. The IOC should acknowledge reality and acknowledge this event that took place 40 years ago, which was the greatest tragedy to befall the Olympic Games. I think it is hypocrisy on the part of the IOC.”
DAVID CLAY LARGE, AUTHOR OF “MUNICH 1972: TRAGEDY, TERROR, AND TRIUMPH AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES.”
CREDIT: ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHING GROUP.
Set against the backdrop of the turbulent late 1960s and early 1970s, Large’s book provides a comprehensive history of the 1972 games, the abduction and the hostages’ tragic deaths after a botched
rescue mission by German police. Drawing on a wealth of newly available sources, he interweaves the political drama surrounding the games with the athletic spectacle in the arena of play.
According to Gabriel Sanders, director of public programs at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, “the story of the Munich Olympics is in many ways about Germany’s overcoming its Nazi past, and it is also a story about the Arab-Israeli conflict and the birth of Palestinian national consciousness. What the book does is it situates the murder of the 11 athletes not only in those contexts but within the context of the Cold War and how the Cold War affected and was affected by Olympic politics.”
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