50 years after the murder of 11 athletes of the Olympic delegation to Munich - today (Monday) a circle is expected to be closed.
The massacre carried out by Palestinian terrorists members of the "Black September" organization is one of the most bloody and severe wounds in the history of the State of Israel. For the families there will never be a balm for their personal loss, But a jubilee late since that black day, Germany accepts responsibility for the security failures, the neglect, repression, and even the inhumanity towards the bereaved families.
After the signing of a reparations agreement between the German government and Israel, the bereaved families will participate in a ceremony to be held today in Munich, where the Germans are expected to pay tribute to the murdered and express regret for their conduct in the event.
For some of the relatives this will be the first time they will set foot on German soil.
The reception for Herzog in Berlin, Germany,
Herzog, the President of Germany and their wives during the visit of the Israeli delegation, photo: AFP
"For us, the trip to the place where we lost our loved ones, a place that together with the Olympic Committee denounced us for decades and considered us insensitive to sleepers, is not a victory but a recognition, perhaps the beginning of healing. Our ancestors are no longer here, and we carry the fire for them," they said Yesterday the descendants of the murdered people of the Munich Olympics will participate in the ceremony.
Along with the bereaved families and President Yitzhak Herzog, the ceremony will also be attended by German President Steinmeier, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, Minister of Sports Hili Troper, and an emotional guest who has accompanied the families for years - Esther Roth-Shakhmorov who lost her coach, Amitsur Shapira, in the disaster.
The terrorists during the attack on the Munich Olympics, photo: AP
A terrorist during the massacre in Munich, photo: Gettyimages
The memorial ceremony for the victims of the massacre in Munich,
Tragic repression
The wound of September 1972 clouded the warm relations between Israel and Germany over the past 50 years.
Yesterday, at the Presidential Palace in Berlin, the President of Germany, Frank Walter Steinmeier, spoke, and told Herzog: "There were mistakes and omissions that Germany must take responsibility for regarding the events of Munich 1972. We suppressed it as a German nation, it is embarrassing and shameful. I am grateful that today I will have the opportunity to meet the families and approach them honestly in order to bridge the past and the present."
"There was a tragic repression here. The families tried to place this again and again in front of the Olympic Committee as well. I saw almost unimaginable and inhumane phenomena here," President Herzog replied.
"Even though hostages were executed in the compound, the Olympic Games continued, they didn't want to talk about what happened out of shame. The new agreement is important and will make it possible to deal with the pain, failures and mistakes."
German President Herzog: "Grateful to have the opportunity to meet the families", photo: AFP
The demons are awakening
In the wake of the current arrangement in Germany, a discourse arose around the issue of reparations for the families of the Munich victims, some of which reek of anti-Semitism.
Quite a few Germans think that this is blackmail by the federal government, for an event that happened 50 years ago, for which they do not see direct German responsibility.
The President of Germany said yesterday that he recognizes a growing anti-Semitic discourse, both "traditional" anti-Jews and new anti-Semitism expressed against the State of Israel and the current reparations agreement.
The internal German discourse revolves mainly around the money and compensation that will be given to the families and not around the recognition of the German omission in the murder of the athletes.
Dealing with the issue led to an anti-Semitic bias mainly on social networks.
Thus, during the last few weeks, the anti-Jewish discourse expanded to alarming proportions.
The families of the victims to Munich at the closing of a dock at the Jewish Museum, photo: Amit Shisl
The Germans do not like to stir up demons from the past, certainly not a demon that the silence around him was sweeping.
Today the German nation will recognize, and not for the first time (with all the necessary differences and gaps of course), the bleeding wound of the State of Israel.
A recognition that might one day become healing.
were we wrong
We will fix it!
If you found an error in the article, we would appreciate it if you shared it with us