Munich Olympics massacre
| 1972 Munich Massacre | |
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One of the most reproduced photos taken during the siege captured a kidnapper on the balcony attached to Munich Olympic village Building 31, where members of the Israeli Olympic team and delegation were quartered.
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 Munich
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| Location | Munich, West Germany |
| Coordinates | 48°10′46.9″N 11°32′57.1″E / 48.179694°N 11.549194°ECoordinates: 48°10′46.9″N 11°32′57.1″E / 48.179694°N 11.549194°E |
| Date | 5–6 September 1972 4:31 am – 12:04 am (UTC+1) |
| Target | Israeli Olympic team |
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Attack type
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| Deaths |
17 total (including perpetrators)
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| Perpetrators | Black September |
| Motive | Israeli–Palestinian conflict |
17 total (including perpetrators)
The Munich massacre was an attack during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, at which eleven Israeli Olympic team members were taken hostage and eventually killed, along with a German police officer, by the Palestinian terrorist group Black September.
Shortly after the crisis began, they demanded 234 prisoners jailed in Israel and the German-held founders of the Red Army Faction (Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof) be released. Black September called the operation "Iqrit and Biram", after two Palestinian Christian villages whose inhabitants were expelled by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
The attack was motivated by secular nationalism, with the commander of the terrorist group, Luttif Afif, having been born to Jewish and Christian parents.German neo-Nazis gave the attackers logistical assistance.
Police officers killed five of the eight Black September members during a failed rescue attempt. A German policeman was killed in the crossfire. They captured the three survivors, whom West Germany released the next month following the hijacking of Lufthansa Flight 615. Mossad responded to the release with the 1973 Israeli raid on Lebanon and Operation Wrath of God, tracking down and killing Palestinians suspected of involvement in the massacre.
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Wikipedia