Editing Munich massacre (section)

==Ultimatum, negotiations and first rescue effort==
The hostage-takers demanded the release of a significant number of Palestinians and non-Arabs imprisoned in Israel, including [[Kōzō Okamoto]] of the [[Japanese Red Army]], along with one West German insurgent held by the West German penitentiary system, [[Ulrike Meinhof]], who was one of the founders of the West German [[Red Army Faction]].<ref name="FFD1" /> Evidence uncovered in later years from the Munich Public Prosecutor's Office, held in the Munich State Archives, revealed that the original typewritten English-language communiqués of Black September contained a list of 328 names.<ref name="FFD1" />

The hostage-takers threw the body of Weinberg out of the front door of the apartment building to demonstrate their resolve.<ref name="DRK1" /> Israel's response was immediate and absolute: there would be no negotiation. Israel's official policy at the time was to refuse to negotiate with terrorists under any circumstances, as according to the Israeli government such negotiations would give an incentive to future attacks.<ref name="ISA1">{{cite report|access-date=2024-08-31|date=29 August 2012|location=Tel Aviv|publisher=Israel State Archives|first1=Shlomo|last1=Mark|first2=Hagai|last2=Tsoref|first3=Louise|last3=Fischer|title=The Munich massacre, September 1972|url=https://catalog.archives.gov.il/en/chapter/first-reports-attack-hostage-crisis-failure-german-rescue-operation/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240908224901/https://catalog.archives.gov.il/en/chapter/first-reports-attack-hostage-crisis-failure-german-rescue-operation/|url-status=dead|archive-date=8 September 2024}}</ref>

Under [[Chancellor of Germany (Federal Republic)|Chancellor]] [[Willy Brandt]] and Federal Interior Minister [[Hans-Dietrich Genscher]], [[Zvi Zamir]], the head of Israel's [[Mossad]], later reported the German authorities had rejected his repeated offer to deploy the [[IDF]]'s ''[[Sayeret Matkal]]'', insisting instead the [[Bavarian State Police]] would handle the crisis.<ref name="IA1" /><ref name="ISA1" /><ref name="KKR1">{{Cite news|title=Olympia: "Wir waren total überfordert"|trans-title=Olympia: "We were totally overwhelmed"|url=https://www.merkur.de/lokales/muenchen/wir-olympia-waren-total-ueberfordert-2489327.html|first=Dirk|last=Walter|publisher=Münchener Zeitungs-Verlag|location=Munich|language=de|date=5 September 2012|access-date=2024-08-19}}</ref><ref name = "Reeve">Reeve, Simon. ''One Day in September'', 2001.</ref> The [[Bavarian Ministry of the Interior|Bavarian interior minister]], Bruno Merk, who headed the crisis centre jointly with Genscher and Munich's police chief Manfred Schreiber, denies that such an Israeli offer ever existed.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/interview-uns-ging-es-darum-das-leben-der-geiseln-zu-retten-1.740623|title=Interview "Uns ging es darum, das Leben der Geiseln zu retten|newspaper=Süddeutsche Zeitung|date=1 January 2006|language=de|access-date=9 August 2012|archive-date=11 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130511090448/http://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/interview-uns-ging-es-darum-das-leben-der-geiseln-zu-retten-1.740623|url-status=live}}</ref> Furthermore, such an offer of foreign military intervention could never be entertained due to the sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Germany.

According to journalist [[John K. Cooley]], the hostage situation presented an extremely difficult political situation for the Germans because the hostages were Jewish. Munich police chief Manfred Schreiber and Bruno Merk, the interior minister of Bavaria, negotiated directly with the kidnappers, repeatedly offering an unlimited ransom. According to Cooley, the reply was that "money means nothing to us; our lives mean nothing to us." The Germans also offered the Palestinians the substitution of high-ranking German officials. The kidnappers refused both offers.<ref name=Cooley/>

Meanwhile, the Olympic committee's refusal to suspend the games amid the emerging crisis intensified the pressure on the West German authorities and police to find a resolution.<ref name="IA1" />

Magdi Gohary and Mohammad Khadif, both Egyptian advisers to the [[Arab League]], and Ahmed El Demerdash Touny, an Egyptian member of the [[International Olympic Committee]] (IOC), also helped try to win concessions from the kidnappers but to no avail. However, the German negotiators were able to convince the terrorists that their demands were being considered, as "Issa" granted several deadline extensions.<ref name="FDO1" />

Elsewhere in the village, athletes carried on as normal, seemingly oblivious to the events unfolding nearby. The Games continued until mounting pressure on the IOC forced a suspension 12 hours after the first athlete had been murdered.

United States marathon runner [[Frank Shorter]], observing the unfolding events from the balcony of his nearby lodging, was quoted as saying, "Imagine those poor guys over there. Every five minutes a psycho with a machine gun says, 'Let's kill 'em now,' and someone else says, 'No, let's wait a while.' How long could you stand that?"<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/flashbacks/munich/shootings_in_the_night|title=Shootings in the Night|author=Moore, Kenny|magazine=Sports Illustrated|date=18 September 1972|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020822112617/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/flashbacks/munich/shootings_in_the_night/|archive-date=22 August 2002 }}</ref>

===Ultimatum===
Shortly before 5:00&nbsp;am, the Munich police, the organising committee, and paramedics were alerted.<ref name="FFD1" /> Ambulances arrived, and the blood-soaked body of Weinberg, who had been thrown in front of the apartment building entrance (Connollystraße 31) by the terrorists and could not be saved, was recovered.<ref name="DRK1" /> The paramedics also tried in vain to negotiate with the attackers at the building entrance to attend to the injured person inside, Romano. Despite their efforts, the attackers would not allow them to enter the building, and he eventually succumbed to his gunshot injuries.

The terrorists demanded by 9&nbsp;am, the release of Palestinians and non-Arabs held captive in Israel, as well as Meinhof, who was imprisoned in West Germany.<ref name="FFD1" /> They also requested safe passage for themselves and the hostages to an Arab capital, using a plane provided for this purpose, where the hostage exchange would take place.<ref name="FFD1" /> The terrorists warned that they would shoot the hostages immediately if their demands were not met.<ref name="FFD1" />

There are different reports about the exact number of people to be released and whether non-Arab terrorists were included. For a long time, there was talk of two hundred Palestinians. In non-fiction books by Simon Reeve, Luis Palme, and Kay Schiller, it was stated from 2006 onwards, without further source evidence, that the hostage-takers had demanded the release of 234 Palestinians from Israeli custody, as well as the German Red Army Faction terrorists Meinhof and [[Andreas Baader]]. According to historians Anna Greithanner, Dominik Aufleger, and Robert Wolff, who found the original list of the hostage-takers in the ''[[Staatsarchiv München]]'' (Munich State Archives), it contains 328 names, including Meinhof and Okamoto of the Japanese Red Army,<ref name="FFD1" /> one of the perpetrators of the [[Lod Airport massacre|massacre at Lod Airport]] on 30 May 1972. Various news reports and television documentaries had also claimed that the Red Army Faction founder Baader was listed along with Meinhof, but the original communiqué held in the Munich State Archives issued by the Black September group to the West German government only listed Meinhof, not Baader.<ref name="ZGO1">{{Cite web|title=Andreas Baader, Ulrike Meinhof und hunderte Palästinenser:innen? Das Olympia-Attentat 1972|trans-title=Andreas Baader, Ulrike Meinhof and hundreds of Palestinians? The 1972 Olympic attack|url=https://zeitgeschichte-online.de/kommentar/andreas-baader-ulrike-meinhof-und-hunderte-palaestinenserinnen|first1=Dominik|last1=Aufleger|first2=Anna|last2=Greithanner|first3=Robert|last3=Wolff|publisher=Zeitgeschichte Online|location=Potsdam|date=2022-07-15|language=de|access-date=2024-10-27}}</ref> A copy of the initial communiqué shown in the movie ''One Day in September'' shows Meinhof, Baader and Okamoto listed.

Between 5:40&nbsp;am and 9&nbsp;am,<ref name="FDO1" /> the crisis team was set up on-site and met with [[Federal Ministry of the Interior (Germany)|Federal Minister of the Interior]] Hans-Dietrich Genscher, Bavarian Minister of the Interior Bruno Merk, [[Polizeipräsidium München|Munich Police President]] Manfred Schreiber, [[Parliamentary State Secretary|State Secretary]] Erich Kiesl, German National Olympic Committee President Willi Daume, and IOC President Avery Brundage, while the cabinet met in [[Bonn]]. The crisis team was given full authorisation by Chancellor Willy Brandt and the German Federal Government to do whatever was needed to rescue the hostages.<ref name="FDO1" /> At 8:45&nbsp;am, the [[Israeli Foreign Ministry]] received the initial news about the attack from the Israeli embassy in Bonn. This information was then forwarded to Prime Minister [[Golda Meir]], Minister of Education and Culture [[Yigal Allon]] (who had responsibility for the Olympic team), and Minister of Defence [[Moshe Dayan]].<ref name="ISA1" />

As the ultimatum neared its expiry, the crisis team resumed negotiations with the German-speaking leader of the terrorists, "Issa", who hid his face under a mask and wore a white hat.<ref name="FFD1" /> With the assistance of an envoy from the Arab League and the head of the Egyptian IOC delegation, they managed to extend the ultimatum.

At 9:30&nbsp;am, there was a mass rush in the press centre, but the press conference focused on the successes of swimming star [[Mark Spitz]]. Spitz, himself of Jewish origin, requested an escort and left Munich the same day.

===Midday extension===
A quarter of an hour before the noon ultimatum expired, an extension of three hours, until 3&nbsp;pm, was negotiated with the terrorists. During the negotiations, the mayor of the Olympic Village, Walther Tröger, along with Willi Daume, Manfred Schreiber, the Munich Police President and the head of security for the Games of the XX Olympiad, Bavarian Minister of the Interior Bruno Merk, and Federal Minister of the Interior and Vice President of the German NOC, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, offered themselves to the terrorists as replacement hostages, but to no avail.<ref name="FFD1" />

The Israeli ambassador to Germany, [[Eliashiv Ben-Horin]], announced around midday that the [[Cabinet of Israel|Israeli cabinet]] had decided not to accept the demands of the hostage-takers.<ref name="FFD1" /> Meir rejected the demands in order not to risk the lives of its citizens abroad for all time.<ref name="FFD1" /> Ambassador Ben Horin underscored Israel's faith in the German authorities' ability to save the hostages and demanded that the sporting competitions be halted until the hostage-taking was concluded.<ref name="FFD1" /><ref name="ISA1" />

At one point during the crisis, the German negotiators demanded direct contact with the hostages to satisfy themselves the Israelis were still alive. Fencing coach Andre Spitzer, who spoke fluent German, and shooting coach Kehat Shorr, the senior member of the Israeli delegation, had a brief conversation with West German officials while standing at the second-floor window of the besieged building, with two kidnappers holding guns on them. When Spitzer attempted to answer a question, he was clubbed with the butt of an [[AK-47]] in full view of international television cameras and pulled away from the window.<ref name="DRK1" />

===Afternoon extension and suspension of the Olympic Games===
At 3:25&nbsp;pm, the ultimatum was postponed to 5&nbsp;pm.<ref name="FFD1" /> By 3:38&nbsp;pm, the Olympic Games were suspended, after allowing ongoing competitions to be completed. The terrorists repeatedly changed their clothes and appeared on the balcony, with their number estimated at five.

Meanwhile, the terrorists learned from radio and television broadcasts that the police were approaching and had planned a rescue operation.<ref name="FDO1" /> The authorities had failed to cut off the terrorists' electricity and remove the press from the Olympic Village.

===German police mission to liberate the hostages===
[[File:Spitzer and Shorr.jpg|thumb|left|Israeli hostages [[Kehat Shorr]] (left) and [[Andre Spitzer]] (right) talk to West German officials during the hostage crisis.]]
In the early 1970s, [[counter-terrorism]] and [[Police tactical unit|tactical policing]] were largely unheard-of methods for combating [[terrorism]], and no military force worldwide had a unit specifically trained for managing hostage crises.<ref name="IA1" /> In West Germany, the absence of specialised units in the modern sense meant that such responsibilities were reactive and improvised measures, falling under the remit of ordinary [[law enforcement]] agencies. Although special military combat units existed within the {{lang|de|[[Bundeswehr]]}}, their 'combatant' status under the post-World War II [[Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany#Other stipulations|German constitution]] prohibited their deployment for internal operations during peacetime. As a result, these duties fell within the jurisdiction of the [[Law enforcement in Germany|regional state and municipal police]].<ref name="IA1" /> The ensuing events in Munich would mark a [[critical juncture]], compelling governments to recognise terrorism as a persistent security challenge and address it with diverse resources.<ref name="IA1" />

By 4:30&nbsp;pm, a hastily improvised team of 13 West German police officers, who had signed a declaration to willingly participate in a bold and risky hostage rescue operation, could be seen scaling the building in the Olympic Village.<ref name="BRR1">{{cite web|access-date=2024-08-11|date=5 September 2012|language=de|location=Munich|publisher=Bayerischer Rundfunk|first=Tilmann|last=Schöberl|title=Einsatzleiter Heinz Hohensinn "Blutbad wäre nicht zu verhindern gewesen"|trans-title=Head of Operations Heinz Hohensinn "Bloodbath could not have been prevented"|url=https://www.br.de/radio/bayern1/sendungen/am-morgen/olympia-attentat-hohensinn-100.html}}</ref><ref name="BYRF1">{{cite news|access-date=2024-08-22|date=27 June 2022|language=de|location=Munich|publisher=Bayerischer Rundfunk|title=Das Olympia-Attentat – Chronik des Terrors|trans-title=The Olympic Attack – Chronicle of Terror|url=https://www.br.de/themen/sport/inhalt/olympia-1972/zeitstrahl-olympia-1972-das-attentat-100.html}}</ref> Awkwardly disguised in Olympic training suits, wearing heavy bulletproof vests beneath, and carrying [[Walther MP]] submachine guns, they were thought to be members of the [[Bundesgrenzschutz|German Federal Border Guard]];<ref name="BRR1" /><ref name="BYRF1" /> according to former Munich police officer Heinz Hohensinn,<ref name="BRR1" /> who was a lead officer (''Einsatzleiter'') and part of the police assault operation on the ground, they were regular Munich police officers from the Bavarian State Police, with no experience in counter-terrorism or hostage rescue.<ref name="IA1" /><ref name="BRR1" /> Quoting Hohensinn, they realised from the onset that the bulletproof vests would not withstand the Russian ammunition the terrorists were using.<ref name="BRR1" />

The police officers were also informed and had signed a declaration that they had to return the Olympic training suits the next day, washed and cleaned, despite not knowing if they would survive or what was about to confront them.<ref name="BRR1" /> They planned to crawl down from the ventilation shafts and overpower the terrorists. The police officers took up positions awaiting the codeword "Sunshine", which, upon hearing, they were to begin the assault.

In the meantime, camera crews filmed the actions of the police officers from nearby apartments in the Olympic Village and broadcast the images live on television.<ref name="BRR1" /> This allowed the terrorists to watch the police prepare for the attack and hear it on the radio.<ref name="BRR1" /> A press image shows one of the terrorists peering from the balcony door—an image that became world-famous—while an armed police officer stood on the roof less than {{convert|40|ft|m|0|abbr=on|order=flip}} away.<ref name="GTYIMG1">{{cite news|access-date=2024-08-26|date=5 September 1972|location=Munich|publisher=[[The Asahi Shimbun]]|title=Munich Massacre, news press photo|url=https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/terrorist-group-black-september-member-checks-outside-while-news-photo/1215883606}}</ref>

After "Issa" threatened to kill some of the hostages and the police cover had been blown by the television coverage, the police were forced to suspend the rescue operation to avoid a bloodbath and retreated from the premises.<ref name="BRR1" /><ref>Interview with Heinz Hohensinn in [[One Day in September]]</ref> The press were also removed from the Olympic Village.

===Apparent change to demands in the evening===
Shortly before the 5&nbsp;pm deadline, the terrorists demanded safe passage for themselves and the hostages on a plane to [[Cairo]], where they intended to continue negotiations for the prisoners' release.<ref name="FFD1" /> To verify the hostages were still alive, Minister Genscher and Walter Tröger, the mayor of the Olympic Village, were briefly allowed into the apartments to speak with the hostages. Clearly, in fear for their lives, they agreed to fly to the Egyptian capital with the terrorists.<ref name="FDO1" />

Tröger noticed that several of the hostages, especially Gutfreund, showed signs of having suffered [[physical abuse]] at the hands of the terrorists and that David Berger had been shot in his left shoulder. Tröger spoke of being very moved by the dignity with which the Israelis held themselves, and that they seemed resigned to their fate.<ref name=Reeve/>

While being debriefed by the crisis team, Genscher and Tröger reported seeing "five" terrorists inside the apartment.<ref name="FDO1" /> Fatefully, this number, rather than "eight", was accepted as definitive.

As a sovereign state, the Federal Republic of Germany could not tolerate the hostage-takers forcibly transporting foreign guests to another territory at gunpoint.<ref name="FFD1" /> Moreover, none of the Arab states supported the diplomatic efforts of Brandt. Consequently, no agreement was reached, as they did not want to be involved in the situation.<ref name="FDO1" />

A feigned agreement had been reached. The terrorists from Black September and their nine Israeli hostages were to be flown out of the Munich Olympic Village by helicopter to an awaiting aircraft at Fürstenfeldbruck airbase. It was only through this manoeuvre that they were able to extend the ultimatum to 7&nbsp;pm. From 6&nbsp;pm, Schreiber's deputy Georg Wolf, and five police officers began preparing for a potential operation in Fürstenfeldbruck airbase, knowing it would be their last option for freeing the hostages.<ref name="FDO1" />