(ATR) A permanent museum to the events of the Munich 1972 Olympic massacre will open this week.
A private ceremony will be held on Sept. 6, the 45-year anniversary of the tragic events, to open the museum. The memorial will honor the 11 Israeli athletes and coaches and one German police officer who died in the terrorist attack during the 1972 Olympics. The attack was carried out by a band of Palestinians.
At the ceremony will be high level delegations from the German and Israeli governments, IOC members, and the families of the victims from the attack.
The memorial will be located between the Munich Olympic Stadium and the site of the 1972 Olympic Village. Impetus for the project came from IOC President Thomas Bach, the Bavarian government, as well as the Foundation for Global Sports Development.
Dr. Steven Ungerleider, GSD Vice-President and IOC consultant, told Around the Rings that for many years the project languished and the IOC was content with offering memorials on the sidelines of Olympic Games. With the election of Bach as IOC President, momentum for the project grew in the last four years.
"It took 45 years to get this done and I think it’s a very important benchmark in the history of the Olympic Movement," Ungerleider said to Around the Rings. "It is on a beautiful piece of property a couple hundred yards east of the stadium and a few hundred yards west of the place where the athletes were murdered in the apartments."
Inside the memorial a museum will inform visitors about the lives of those killed in the attacks through interactive exhibits and artifacts from the day. Ungerleider says he believes the museum will help the Olympic community reconcile the events of the siege and allow visitors to learn, "move on, and come together as a community."
Along with the memorial, Ungerleider helped produce a documentary about the attacks entitled "Munich ’72 and Beyond." The film has been nominated for an Emmy Award for "outstanding research" and is eligible for a 2018 Academy Award.
After the private ceremony, the museum will then open to the general public. ATR will be on the scene at the museum for its opening.
Written by Aaron Bauer
25 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.
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