THE 1972 MUNICH MASSACRE
The Munich Massacre was a terrorist attack on the 1972 Olympic Games by 8 Palestinian terrorists. It resulted in the death of 11 Israeli Olympic team members and 5 out of the 8 terrorists. On September 4, 1972 the Palestinian terrorist launched operation Black September. The terrorists broke into the 31 Connollystrasse in the Olympic village, the building that the Israeli team slept in. Around 4:30 a.m. they rounded up the Israeli team members of apartments one and three. A few members fought back which resulted in the death of two team members. A few escaped out windows, but a total of nine were taken hostage. The terrorists dropped a note out the window demanding that 234 prisoners were released from Israeli prisons, and two form German prisons, by 9 a.m. Negotiators were able to extend the time until 5 p.m. but the terrorists refused to back down on their demands. When 5 p.m. came the terrorists realized that their demands were not going to be met, and asked for two planes to transfer them and their hostages to Cairo, Egypt hoping that the government there may be able to meet their demands. The German government came up with two plans to stop the terrorists, one was called Operation Sunshine, it was simply to storm the apartment, and the other was to intercept the terrorists on their way to the airport, but the terrorists figured out both plans. Around 10:30 p.m. the terrorists and hostages were taken to Furstenfeldbruck airport by helicopter. At the airport police arrived and in the gunfight two terrorists and one policeman were killed. Then a stalemate developed. Eventually armored police cars arrived and the terrorists knew it was over. One jumped into a helicopter and killed four hostages, another jumped in immediately after and killed the remaining five hostages. Three more terrorists were killed leaving three survivors who were taken into custody. Less than two months later they were released when two other members of Black September hijacked a plane and threatened to blow it up if their demands were not met.