Fifty years after the assassination attempt during the Munich Olympic Games in which Palestinian assassins killed eleven Israeli athletes, a dispute over compensation payments is smoldering. The relatives of the victims are disappointed – and boycott a memorial event.
According to media information, the relatives of the victims of the 1972 Olympic attack in Munich want to boycott the official commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the terrorist attack. “50 years of abuse, lies, humiliation and rejection by the German government and especially the Bavarian authorities are more than enough for us,” wrote Ankie Spitzer and Ilana Romano, representing all the victims’ families, according to the “Bild” newspaper in a letter to Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder . The background is a dispute over compensation payments that has been simmering for a long time, said Spitzer to the “Spiegel”.
Most recently, the conflict seemed to have started to move after the families of the victims had been promised further payments. But even the new offer from the federal government, the Free State of Bavaria and the city of Munich has already been described by Spitzer as an “insult”. According to reports, a sum of ten million euros was in the room, to which payments from the years 1972 and 2002 of around four and a half million euros should be offset.
On September 5, 1972, Palestinian terrorists attacked the Summer Olympics in Munich. Eleven members of the Israeli team, including Spitzer’s husband André, and one policeman died.
In Munich, numerous events are currently commemorating the dead and injured. According to information from the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, officials now fear that Israeli President Izchak Herzog will cancel the central event on September 5th. “If the families stay away from the memorial service, it will be very difficult for the president to attend,” a senior government official familiar with the proceedings told the paper.
