Munich: The police were hardly prepared for the Olympic Games – Munich
The Munich police were miserably prepared for what rolled over them on September 5th and 6th, 1972 before the eyes of the world. How miserable revealed its then responsible President Manfred Schreiber. There were only three submachine guns in police headquarters, he said frankly. Trained snipers, appropriate rifles, telescopic sights, special ammunition – all of this has existed for a long time, but not with the Munich police.
This dilemma had already become apparent a year before the Olympic attack, in the bank robbery on Prinzregentenstrasse, the first hostage-taking in the history of the Federal Republic. The police chiefs sent the hunters among the officials to practice shooting in a gravel pit and from there to action. The failure is well known; the hostage was fatally hit by bullets, presumably also by the police.
Why were no conclusions drawn from all of this with a view to the upcoming Olympic Games? Why wasn’t a deployment strategy worked out, why weren’t special forces trained, why wasn’t equipment purchased? Ideologically, this fatal negligence is based on the good intentions of the Olympic organizers, 27 years after the end of the World War and the Nazi dictatorship, to present the Federal Republic to the rest of the world as a peace-loving and open country that – unlike Hitler’s Germany in Berlin in 1936 – without weapons carriers gets by. But as nice as it was thought up, the consequences of this naivety were devastating.
The police never worked through the catastrophe involving twelve people who were murdered near Olympia. Instead, the bloody event was presented as inevitable. After just a few days, those responsible absolved themselves of any responsibility and closed the files. With incredible cynicism, she blamed the Israelis. According to police file 1336, they themselves pronounced “the death sentence” on their people. It also raises doubts as to whether the task leaders in Fürstenfeldbruck were actually still concerned with freeing the hostages. And some things that went wrong that bloody night at the air base were covered up.
It has been known for a long time that there was “friendly fire” there, i.e. police officers shot at police officers. To this day, it has not been properly and fully worked up. There are still locked files in archives. Releasing this for scientific and journalistic processing would have been an important signal of transparency. Especially towards the reliable surviving dependents who have rightly felt deceived by Germany for 50 years.
But those responsible today missed this opportunity. The sending continues.