Families of victims of Munich massacre to receive 28 million euros and an apology from the German president

Relatives of 11 Israelis who were killed during the 1972 Olympics in Munich have reached an agreement with the German authorities on the amount of compensation, reports The Guardian. This happened a few days before the ceremony dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the terrorist attack, which will be held in the capital of Bavaria on September 5th.

According to Chancellor Olaf Scholz's spokesman Steffen Hebestrait, the relatives of the victims and the German government managed to agree on a common concept for the ceremony. Historians from the two countries will study and make public historical documents related to the attack, and families will receive an additional 28 million euros in compensation. In addition, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is the first of the country's official representatives to apologize on her behalf for security violations at the 1972 Games.

During the terrorist attack on September 5, 1972, members of the Palestinian paramilitary organization Black September killed 11 members of the Israeli national team. Later, during a shootout at the Furstenfeldbrück airport, one of the snipers who took part in the hostage rescue operation and five terrorists were killed.

The German authorities severely criticized the failed hostage rescue operation for neglecting security measures in the Olympic Village: policemen were sent to the airport without special sniper training and the necessary equipment, and the preparations for the operation were broadcast live on TV, so that the terrorists could follow all the preparations. Due to the restrictions that were included in the German constitution after World War II, the army was not allowed to operate inside the country during peacetime. Only after the Munich massacre in Germany was the anti-terrorism police unit, GSG 9, created.

Shortly before the ceremony to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the attack, the German government offered the families of the victims 10 million euros minus the 4.6 million euros already paid in humanitarian aid in 1972 and 2002. One of the representatives of the families of the victims, the widow of the widow of Israeli fencing coach Andre Spitzer Anka Spitzer, called the proposal "a joke" and "an insult", promised to boycott the ceremony, and also called on Israeli President Isaac Herzog to do so. Not everyone agreed with this position: the son of the late athletics coach Amitsur Shapira, Eyal Shapira, said that highlighting financial payments "damages the memory and dignity of those killed".