Editing 1972 Summer Olympics (section)

== Munich massacre ==
{{Main|Munich massacre}}

The Games were largely overshadowed by what has come to be known as the "Munich massacre". Just before dawn on 5 September, a group of eight members of the Palestinian [[Black September (group)|Black September]] militant organization broke into the [[Olympic Village]] and took eleven Israeli athletes, coaches and officials hostage in their apartments. Two of the hostages who resisted were killed in the first moments of the break-in; the subsequent standoff in the Olympic Village lasted for almost 18 hours.

Late in the evening of 5 September that same day, the terrorists and their nine remaining hostages were transferred by helicopter to the military airport of [[Fürstenfeldbruck]], ostensibly to board a plane bound for an undetermined Arab country. The German authorities planned to ambush them there, but underestimated the numbers of their opposition and were thus undermanned. During a botched rescue attempt, all of the Israeli hostages were killed. Four of them were shot, then incinerated when one of the terrorists detonated a grenade inside the helicopter in which the hostages were sitting. The 5 remaining hostages were then shot and killed with a machine gun.

{{Quote box|width=28%|align=left|quote="Our worst fears have been realized tonight. They have now said that there were 11 hostages. Two were killed in their rooms, yesterday morning. Nine were killed at the airport, tonight. They're all gone."|source=—After a series of conflicting reports and rumours, [[Jim McKay]] of [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] brought the news at 3:24 a.m. local time.<ref name=BR>{{cite news |title=Transcend – Munich Massacre |work=Bleacher Report Media Lab |url=http://thelab.bleacherreport.com/transcend/#munich-massacre |access-date=27 March 2017 }}</ref>}}
All but three of the terrorists were killed as well. Although arrested and imprisoned pending trial, they were released by the West German government on 29 October 1972, in exchange for the [[Lufthansa Flight 615|hijacked Lufthansa Flight 615]]. Two of those three were supposedly hunted down and assassinated later by the [[Mossad]].<ref name=Calahan>[https://fas.org/irp/eprint/calahan.htm Countering Terrorism: The Israeli Response To The 1972 Munich Olympic Massacre And The Development Of Independence Covert Action Teams], M.A. thesis by Alexander B. Calahan at Marine Corps Command and Staff College, 1995.</ref> [[Jamal Al-Gashey]], who is believed to be the sole survivor, is still living today in hiding in an unspecified African country with his wife and two children. The Olympic events were suspended several hours after the initial attack for the first time in the modern [[Olympic Games]] history, but once the incident was concluded, [[Avery Brundage]], the [[International Olympic Committee]] president, declared that "the Games must go on". A memorial ceremony was then held in the Olympic stadium, and the competitions resumed after a stoppage of 34 hours. Due to the suspension, the Games that were originally to close on 10 September were rescheduled to 11 September.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.olympic.org/munich-1972|title=1972 Olympics – Munich Summer Games results & highlights|date=7 February 2019|website=International Olympic Committee|access-date=22 May 2019}}</ref> The attack prompted heightened security at subsequent Olympics beginning with the [[1976 Winter Olympics]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}

The massacre led the German federal government to re-examine its anti-terrorism policies, which at the time were dominated by a pacifist approach imposed after World War II. This led to the creation of the elite counter-terrorist unit [[GSG 9]], similar to the [[British SAS]]. It also led Israel to launch the [[Mossad assassinations following the Munich massacre]], in which those suspected of involvement were systematically tracked down and assassinated.{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}

The events of the Munich massacre were chronicled in the Oscar-winning documentary, ''[[One Day in September]]''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Movies {{ndash}} One Day in September (1999)|last1=Deming|first1=Mark|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/186705/One-Day-in-September/overview|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141215045841/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/186705/One-Day-in-September/overview|url-status=dead|archive-date=15 December 2014|department=Movies & TV Dept.|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=2014|access-date=6 May 2015}}</ref> An account of the aftermath is also dramatized in three films: the 1976 made-for-TV movie ''[[21 Hours at Munich]]'', the 1986 made-for-TV movie ''[[Sword of Gideon]]'',<ref>{{cite news|title=Television {{ndash}} Sword of Gideon|url=https://www.nytimes.com/tv/show/62766/Sword-of-Gideon/overview|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=6 May 2015}}</ref> [[Steven Spielberg]]'s 2005 film ''[[Munich (2005 film)|Munich]]''.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Dargis|first1=Manohla|title=An Action Film About the Need to Talk|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/23/movies/23muni.html?_r=0|website=[[The New York Times]]|date=23 December 2005|access-date=6 May 2015}}</ref> In her film ''1972'', Artist [[Sarah Morris]] interviews Georg Sieber, a former police psychiatrist who advised the Olympics' security team, about the events and aftermath of Black September.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Herbert|first1=Martin|title=Sarah Morris|url=http://www.frieze.com/issue/review/sarah_morris2/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081218194532/http://www.frieze.com/issue/review/sarah_morris2/|url-status=dead|archive-date=18 December 2008|website=frieze.com|publisher=Frieze Magazine|access-date=6 May 2015}}</ref> [[September 5 (film)|September 5]] historical drama thriller was released in 2024.