Enlarge image
1972 Olympics in Munich: A burnt-out helicopter belonging to the Federal Border Police, in which several hostages from the »Black September« terrorist organization died in an attempt to free them
Photo: Göttert/ picture-alliance/ dpa
The German-Israeli Society (DIG) has spoken out in favor of an appropriate compensation scheme for the bereaved families of the victims of the attack on the Israeli Olympic team at the 1972 Games.
In a letter available to SPIEGEL, DIG President Volker Beck appealed to Chancellor Olaf Scholz to "work for generous compensation on behalf of the Federal Republic of Germany to the families and relatives of those murdered in Israel."
It is undisputed "that the police operation at the time to free the Israeli hostages from the hands of the Palestinian terrorist command was prepared and carried out amateurishly and unprofessionally".
The 50th anniversary of the Olympic assassination must now be used as an opportunity to "finally honor the losses suffered by the victims' relatives and their efforts for recognition and education through an appropriate compensation scheme and to apologize to the victims of the assassination for their omissions". , according to the letter dated July 7, 2022.
Survivors are considering boycotting the memorial service
As a non-partisan organization, the German-Israeli Society has been promoting bilateral relations between Germany and Israel in the areas of civil society, culture and science since 1966.
In mid-June 2022, she elected Volker Beck as her president.
The long-standing member of the Bundestag for the Greens was chairman of the German-Israeli parliamentary group in the Bundestag until 2017.
When Palestinian terrorists attacked at the Summer Olympics in Munich on September 5 and 6, 1972, eleven Israeli athletes and supervisors and a German policeman were killed.
Two of them were murdered in the Olympic Village, the others died during a failed liberation operation at the Fürstenfeldbruck airfield.
"We don't want billions - but money that makes a difference in the lives of our children"
Ankie Spitzer, widow of coach André Spitzer
Most recently, the families of the Israeli victims announced that they would not attend an official memorial service in Munich in September unless the question of compensation had been resolved by then.
"If they don't even pay us compensation according to international standards, we won't come at all," said the representative of the bereaved, Ankie Spitzer, to SPIEGEL.
According to Spitzer, the families of the victims had received money twice so far: one million marks for 34 surviving dependents, "along with the coffins," says Spitzer - "not from Germany, but from the Red Cross, because money from the state would have been tantamount to an admission of guilt."
In 2002, after years of dispute in court, another payment of three million euros followed.
The majority was spent on legal costs, 920,000 euros remained for 34 relatives.
In the eyes of the families, that was far from enough.
"We don't want billions - but money that makes a difference in the lives of our children," said Spitzer.
She herself had lost her husband and her daughter's father, the fencing trainer André Spitzer, in the assassination attempt.
"It's high time that everything is on the table"
The German-Israeli Society also considers the payments made so far to be insufficient.
Half a century after "this act of terrorism against Jews on German soil," Beck wrote in a letter to Chancellor Scholz: "Although the German side has already made comparatively small compensation payments to bereaved relatives in Israel, we consider this in view of the losses to the families who the traumata passed down to children and grandchildren and the lack of recognition of their suffering as far from appropriate.«
In addition, the relatives had "sought in vain for complete clarification" for years and had been "downright lied to" about the existence of files and documents in German archives: "It is high time that everything came to the table."
We ask and appeal to campaign for generous compensation and to take the ideas of the Israeli families seriously, the letter goes on to say.
It would be expedient if this were to happen before the commemorations at the beginning of September - "so that these celebrations can take place in a dignified setting".
In addition to the bereaved, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Israel's President Yitzchak Herzog and Thomas Bach as President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) are said to have been invited to the commemoration in September.
era