Agreement in dispute over compensation for Munich Olympic attack in 1972

Created: 09/01/2022 05:36

IOC President Thomas Bach holds Ilana Romano, widow of the Israeli weightlifter Josef Romano (left), and Anke Spitzer, widow of the murdered Israeli fencing champion André Spitzer, on the sidelines of the event to unveil a memorial for the victims of the 1972 Olympic attack in Munich poor.

© picture alliance / Matthias Balk/dpa +++ dpa picture radio +++

A decade-long dispute comes to an end.

The surviving relatives of the victims of the 1972 Olympic attack will apparently receive compensation of 28 million euros shortly before the 50th anniversary.

Berlin - In the dispute with the relatives of the victims of the Munich Olympic attack in 1972, shortly before the commemoration on September 5th, there was apparently an agreement on compensation payments.

The news agencies AFP and dpa first learned this on Wednesday from circles in the federal government in Berlin.

Shortly thereafter, government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit confirmed the agreement on Wednesday.

German government agrees on compensation payments with relatives of Israeli victims

An armed police officer in a tracksuit secures the block where terrorists are holding Israeli hostages in the Olympic Village in Munich in 1972.

© Horst Ossinger/dpa +++ dpa picture radio +++

After decades of dispute, the German government and the families of the Israeli victims reached an agreement on compensation payments shortly before the 50th anniversary of the 1972 Olympic attack.

The lawyer and former Federal Minister of the Interior Gerhart Baum (FDP) also confirmed this to the German Press Agency on Wednesday.

The lawyer, together with colleagues from a Düsseldorf law firm, represented the bereaved in the negotiations.

The financial compensation for the suffering of the bereaved is therefore 28 million euros.

The federal government is to contribute 22.5 million euros, the state of Bavaria 5 million euros and the city of Munich 500,000 euros.

According to government spokesman Hebestreit, after the agreement has been reached, the representatives of the relatives will take part in the memorial service planned for Monday in Munich, which will commemorate the 1972 assassination.

The government now “looks forward to a dignified commemoration together with the relatives at the event on September 5, 2022”.

The conflict with the bereaved had escalated in the past few weeks, and they initially canceled their participation in the memorial service.

Response to agreement: "Enables a dignified commemoration"

The lawyer for the bereaved expressed his satisfaction that the settlement could be told before the planned memorial service.

"The agreement also enables a dignified commemoration on September 5 in the presence of Presidents Izchak Herzog and Frank-Walter Steinmeier and, above all, in the presence of the bereaved who, under the new circumstances, have agreed to take part in the celebration," explained Baum.

The agreement does not only contain material and immaterial recognition services.

"Equally important to the relatives is the processing of what happened at that time - now with disclosure of all sources," the lawyer for the relatives continued.

Ankie Spitzer, the widow of fencing champion Andrei Spitzer, one of the murdered members of the Israeli Olympic team, was relieved that the agreement had been reached.

Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) also reacted "very relieved" to the agreement with the bereaved.

"After the 1972 Olympics attack, nagging questions remained unanswered for far too long - we, as the current federal government, are very aware of this and have therefore acted," she explained.

A Palestinian terrorist squad broke into the Munich Olympic complex 50 years ago and took members of the Israeli team hostage.

Eleven Israeli athletes and a German policeman died in the hostage-taking and a failed rescue operation

.