50 years ago there was an assassination attempt on the Summer Olympics in Munich. Eleven Israeli athletes and a German policeman died. The shock is still deep in the survivors and their families today. How to compensate for this trauma? A current, explosive question.
Munich (dpa / lby) – The Green politician Konstantin von Notz has criticized the behavior of the Federal Republic towards the families of the victims of the 1972 Olympic attack. “The state’s handling of the terrible assassination, the victims and the survivors after the attack was insensitive and completely inadequate and is to this day,” said the deputy leader of the Greens in the Bundestag on Monday of the Bayern media group. The federal government is working intensively to ensure that further compensation can be paid to the families. “Furthermore, the entire background to the attack must be fully clarified. An apology is overdue.”
So far, there has been no contact with the relatives, but they will be contacted in the coming days, von Notz said. He referred to the coalition agreement between the SPD, Greens and FDP, according to which gaps in victim compensation law and victim support should be closed. In addition, one wants to make dealing with the victims and survivors of such attacks “overall more empathetic and dignified”.
Bavaria’s Anti-Semitism Commissioner Ludwig Spaenle (CSU) accused the Federal Republic of state failure on Monday. Germany must accept its historical responsibility and adequately compensate the relatives of the murdered terror victims and the survivors. “Everything else is pushed away and kept quiet,” he told the German Press Agency in Munich. The victims and their families cannot be treated as before. “This is a path that is shameful for the Federal Republic of Germany.”
The spokeswoman for the victims’ families, Ankie Spitzer, had previously canceled her participation in a memorial event on Tuesday evening in Munich. Spaenle then canceled the entire appointment. Spaenle, who invited to the commemoration, said that Spitzer justified this step with the still unresolved issue of appropriate compensation for survivors and the victims’ families.
In the attack on September 5, 1972 by a Palestinian terrorist command, eleven Israeli athletes and coaches as well as a German policeman died. Since then, there has been a struggle for compensation. According to the victims’ families, the money that has already been paid is not appropriate. In 2002, for example, they received three million euros as a humanitarian gesture, as the federal government, the Free State of Bavaria and the city of Munich explained at the time. A lawsuit for damages of around 40 million marks (around 20.45 million euros) with reference to massive errors in the police operation was dismissed due to the statute of limitations.
