(ATR) Ceremonies in Munich commemorate the 11 Israeli Olympians killed when terrorists struck the 1972 Games 40 years ago.
Wreaths were presented at the entrance to the apartment block where the Palestinian terrorists invaded the unit occupied by members of the Israeli team.
German TV will broadcast events live. Flags were flying at half staff in Bavaria state for the anniversary.
IOC vice president Thomas Bach represented IOC President Jacques Rogge, who is hospitalized for hip surgery. IOC member Alex Gilady of Israel was also on hand along with retired IOC member Walther Troeger, who was mayor of the ’72 Olympic Village.
After the ceremony at the Munich Olympic Park, the annual memorial moved for the first time to Fuerstenfeldbruck, the air force base west of Munich. The base was where hostages and terrorists died in a botched rescue attempt along with a German police officer.
The ceremony at Fuerstenfeldbruck was expected to draw about600 guests. An ecumenical service was conducted by a rabbi and two priests, one Catholic, one Protestant.
Speakers included: Bach, Israeli vice president Silvan Shalom, German Interior minister Hans-Peter Friedrich, Bavarian Prime Minister Horst Seehofer and Munich mayor Christian Ude.
Representing the Israel NOC were president Zvi Varshaviak and secretary general Efraim Zinger. The official delegation from Israel included 21 members.
Widows Ankie Spitzer and Illana Romano will speak to the media, expected to number 150.
Spitzer and Romano have been strident in their demand that the IOC mark the Munich attack with a moment of silence at the opening ceremony of the Olympics. Rogge refused the request for London, saying the ceremony was not an appropriate place for such a memorial. He said the IOC has regularly remembered the victims of the Munich attack, such as at the Munich memorial today.
Greenspan Film Airs Again
Southern California TV station KCET will air "1972 Olympics: Bud Greenspan Remembers" Sep. 5 to mark the 40th anniversary of the Munich tragedy.
The film was created and shown on Showtime on the 30th anniversary of the massacre and hasn’t been presented since, says Nancy Beffa, executive producer of Cappy Films, the company founded by Greenspan, who died in 2010. Greenspan was a reporter for NBC news in Munich.
Beffa tells ATR the 90-minute documentary was filmed in six countries with everyone from IOC President Jacques Rogge (an athlete at the 1972 Games) to wives of the athletes and officials who had to deal with crisis.
Written and reported by Ed Hula.
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