The Aftermath of Munich, West Germany Olympic Games Essay

because of how the Olympics were broadcasted around the world. A visitor to Berlin during this time

“The Olympic Contradiction” in a passage by David Brooks about when people are stuck between two contradictions they should face both of them headon. Brooks uses the Olympics as a metaphor to make know the idea that competitive virtues can often coexist with cooperative values. In the passage Brooks uses the Olympics to effectively develops the idea that embracing contradiction should be considered positive rather than negative.

The Munich massacre occurred during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, where members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage and eventually murdered by Black September, a Palestinian terrorist organisation. By the end of the agonising ordeal, 11 Israeli athletes and coaches had been killed, and one German police officer. Consequently, the “Operation Wrath of God” was carried out in order to assassinate the individuals involved in the massacre, in which five of the eight members of the terrorist group were killed. The remaining three members were captured, and later released by West Germany after the hijacking by Black September of a Lufthansa airliner. The aftermath of the terrorist attack consisted of several short and long term impacts, including the effects on the Olympic Games, the world’s view on security and the victims’ families.

Most people would classify the Berlin Olympic Games of 1936 as just another Olympics, and they would be right because the Games did have the classic triumphs and upsets that occur at all Olympic Games. What most people did not see, behind the spectacle of the proceedings, was the effect the Nazi party had on every aspect of the Games including the results. Despite Nazi Germany’s determination to come off as the superior nation in the 1936 Olympics, their efforts were almost crushed by the very people they were trying to exclude.

“Germany's Holocaust Memorial Problem-and Mine” is an article that analyzes the complexities of creating a memorial that will represent a great amount of Jewish people that perished in the hands of the Nazi Germany during the 1930's and early 1940's. James E. Young author of this article, was part of a five member committee that would agree whether or not to build a memorial and the process was very difficult because they had to make sure that the jewish community accepted the memorial and the Germans would not feel offended or targeted. What made things awkward in a way was that Young was Jewish so he would be responsible of the criticism for either accepting or denying a memorial option. What was significant in the article was that the topic

A little after 4 a.m. on September fifth, as the Israeli athletes slept, eight members of the Black September jumped over the six-foot high fence that encircled the Olympic Village. The terrorists headed straight for 31 Connollystrasse, the building where the Israeli team was staying. Around 4:30 a.m., the terrorists entered the building. They rounded up the occupants of Apartment one and then Apartment three. Several of the Israelis fought back and two of them were killed. A several others were able to escape out windows. Nine were taken hostage (Rosenberg). In another apartment, they captured the Israeli wrestlers and weightlifters Eliezer Halfin, Yossef Romano, Mark Slavin, David Berger, and Zeev Friedman. When the fearless Israelis fought back, the Black September opened fire, killing Romano and one other person (Olympics Massacre). Once the team was taken hostage, the Palestinians dropped a list of demands out the window. In return for the hostages, the terrorists demanded 234 prisoners released from Israeli prisons and two from German prisons by 9 a.m. (Rosenberg).

Soon after Hitler took power in 1933, questions began to arise from the United States and other Western democracies of whether or not they should support the idea of the Olympic Games hosted by the Nazi Regime. America was particularly concerned about the persecution of Jewish athletes that lived in Germany in 1933. In the United States, debate over participation in the 1936 Olympics was a hot topic. The U.S. always sent one of the largest teams to the Olympics. Groups on either side of the debate stated strong views of whether the United States should participate in the Olympics in Hitler’s Nazi Germany.

The Holocaust is most well-known for the organized and inhumane extermination of more than six million Jews. The death total of the Jews is this most staggering; however, other groups such as Gypsies, Poles, Russians, political groups, Jehovah’s witnesses, and homosexuals were targeted as well (Holocaust Encyclopedia: Introduction to the Holocaust). The initial idea of persecuting select groups of people began with Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in Germany. In January 1930, Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany after winning over its people with powerful and moving speeches. From this point forward, it was a goal for both Hitler and his Nazi Party to rid the world of deemed “inferior” groups of people (Holocaust Encyclopedia: Timeline

Four lives were lives were lost all of which were the agents employed by Israel, two committed suicide after

The 1972 Summer Olympics were an international multi-sport event. Another name for that Olympic Game was the 1972 Olympics Massacre. It was the 20th Olympic Games. It was held in Munich, Germany from August 26, 1972 to September 11, 1972.The 1972 Olympics were the second Olympics to be held in Germany. The first Olympic Games that were held in Germany occur in 1936 in Berlin, which occurred during the Nazi regime. The Olympic Committee in West Germany was hoping to get rid of the military image of Germany. They were tired of the image that was portrayed by the 1936 Berlin Olympics, which Hitler used for his own benefit. Also, tensions were high due to the fact that the last games occurred during the Nazi regime. The Israeli athletes and

As soon as Ilana Romana heard about the situation in Munich, she expected the worst: "I knew who he was. He would not sit quietly. He was not the type. I knew it would end badly." She spoke of her husband, and, unfortunately, her prediction was correct. Earlier that day, her husband, Yossef, and his teammates were awoken by Arab terrorists beginning an episode that would result in the death of eleven Israeli athletes and forever scar the 1972 Olympics, leaving the games to be remembered for the years to come as the "Munich Massacre."

Two days after Britain and France declared war on Nazi Germany, on the 3rd of September 1939, President Roosevelt issued a proclamation of neutrality and ordered the suspension of munitions sales to all “belligerents” (nations involved in war.) This included its “allies” the British and the French, as they were counted as “belligerent” nations.

These initial aims were not clearly outlined and matched by all of the countries involved in the Munich Pact and led to Hitler gaining more power, ignoring the agreement and invading the whole of Czechoslovakia. When negotiating one has to constantly look at possible short term and long term outcomes, which did not seem to happen in

To begin, the Munich Massacre occurred primarily due to lack of preparation, collaboration, and oversight. After reading the article, this lack of preparation and collaboration ultimately led to the deaths of nine innocent individuals. If I were the commander, more emphasis would have been placed on the teamwork aspects of the command center. To be fair, this incident was unprecedented in Olympic history. To expect a flawless and mistake free operation would, in my opinion, be unrealistic. However, realizing the scope of the overall Olympic event, the commander should have set up the command structure in an entirely different manner.

The tension that is prevalent in deeply divided nations has been associated with unfair and unbalance policing that often targets minorities (Weitzer, 1995). The tension between Arabs and the police in Israel have been shown in extreme examples such as during the riots at the Al-Aksa Mosque in the year 2000 (Brym, R. J., & Araj, B., 2008). This resulted in 12 Arab Israelis being shot dead in 8 days by police. Cases like this have not happened with Jewish Israeli citizens.