Germany asks forgiveness from bereaved relatives
'I ask your forgiveness for the inadequate protection afforded to the Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games at Munich and the woeful investigation afterward. That it was possible for what happened to happen.'
The presidents of Israel and Germany on Monday led commemorations marking 50 years since 11 Israeli athletes were killed by Palestinian terrorists at the Munich Olympics, with Berlin asking forgiveness from the families of the victims and admitting responsibility for a litany of failings.
“We cannot make up for what has happened, not even for what you have experienced and suffered in terms of defensiveness, ignorance and injustice. I am ashamed of that,” said German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
“As head of state of this country and in the name of the Federal Republic of Germany, I ask your forgiveness for the inadequate protection afforded to the Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games at Munich and the woeful investigation afterward. That it was possible for what happened to happen.”
Steinmeier’s apology came after a bitter fight by bereaved relatives for Berlin to own up to mistakes that enabled the massacre and for appropriate compensation.
A dispute over the financial offer previously made by Berlin to victims’ relatives had threatened to sour the ceremony, with family members planning a boycott.
But a deal was finally reached last Wednesday for Berlin to provide €28 million ($A41 million) in compensation. It also – for the first time – saw the German state acknowledge its “responsibility” in failings that led to the deaths of the Israelis.
Steinmeier said he was “profoundly grateful” the families of the victims and Israeli President Isaac Herzog were there, adding that without them there was “no way we could have had a proper act of remembrance”.
“Honoured family members, I cannot fathom what suffering, what pain you’ve been through … How can life go on?” he said. “For five decades, that gnawing pain has been with you.”
The German President noted the 1972 Olympics were meant to showcase a new Germany after the last games held there in 1936 under the Nazis.
“What a vote of confidence it was after the crimes of the Shoah [Holocaust] to take part in the games hosted by the perpetrators,” he said of Israel’s participation at the 1972 Olympics.
“We wanted to be good hosts, but we were not able to live up to the trust that the Israeli sportsmen and their families placed in Germany,” he added.
“The efforts of 1972 to showcase Germany as a peaceful, friendly democracy tragically failed in Munich,” the German President continued. “The Olympic Games became an international stage for the terrorists, an international stage for antisemitism and violence.
“Today’s act of remembrance can only be sincere if we are prepared to acknowledge painful facts,” he said, including an admission of “failure”.
As part of the compensation deal, media reported that Germany increased its offer to the families from an initial €10 million offer.
The negotiations over the amount of compensation and the release of further historical documents had been a lingering point of friction between the two countries, which have built strong ties despite the enduring legacy of the Nazi Holocaust.
Members of the Palestinian group Black September broke into the Olympic Village, killed two athletes from Israel’s national team and took nine more hostage on September 5, 1972. All nine hostages and a West German police officer died during a rescue attempt by German forces.
TIMES OF ISRAEL, AFP, AP
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