The Munich massacre, 1972

 

The Munich massacre, 1972

The Munich massacre was an event that happened during the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany. It occurred from the 5-6th of September. The massacre was caused by the armed extremist group from Palestine called "Black September." The group infiltrated the Olympic Village, where all the athletes stayed, taking 11 Israeli athletes hostage. The group demanded the release of 234 Arab prisoners in Israeli jails. After two hostages resisted their captors, they were killed, leaving 9 hostages left. Police began negotiating with the captors. However, the extremists were adamant about their demands and would not settle for less. The police then began to make a plan to free the hostages. The Police concocted a plan. They decided to fly the terrorists with the hostages by 2 helicopters to the Fliegerhorst airport. There, the terrorists would be passed to Cairo in Egypt. The police placed 5 snipers around the airport. The plan consisted of the police hiding on the plane and overwhelming the terrorists and having the snipers kill any survivors, all while trying to save the hostages. And so, the terrorists and hostages were flown to the airport. They landed at 10:30 PM. Before they landed, the police in the aeroplane abandoned the mission without telling their higher-ups as they feared the task was too dangerous. Two terrorists inspected the plane but got scared and returned to the helicopters when they realised there were no pilots. The police snipers then began to fire upon them without official orders. A fierce gunfight ensued, in which all 9 hostages still inside the helicopters were killed. A policeman was also killed. It is important to note that the snipers firing on the terrorists were not snipers but police sharpshooters. The police shot and killed 5 of the 8 terrorists, and the crisis was over. The situation was heavily criticised for the poor handling on behalf of the German government, as the plans put into place were ineffective and poorly executed. The event also heavily questioned the practicality of extreme ideology.