Televised Terror:
The Munich Hostage Crisis
In the early hours of September 5th, 1972, eight armed men jumped a fence into the Munich Olympic Village and took eleven members of the Israeli team hostage. In return for the athletes, the hostage-takers demanded the release of 236 Palestinian prisoners from Israel. By the next morning, all of the hostages, five of the hostage-takers, and one West German policeman were dead.[1]
The 1972 Munich Summer Olympics, also known as the “Cheerful Games,” provided a ripe opportunity for West Germany to demonstrate its postwar success and banish the imagery of the Nazi’s 1936 Games.[2] Instead, they became the site of the first globally televised terrorist act: the infamous hostage crisis orchestrated by Black September. Restricted by their postwar constitution and unable to coordinate international cooperation, West Germany was forced to acquiesce to Black September’s demands. The government’s highly publicized failure catalyzed a revolution of terror—adaptation to a global stage.
Set against the backdrop of the escalating Cold War, growing tensions in the Middle East, and the strife of the American Civil Rights Movement, the Munich Olympics was an important demonstration of international cooperation and an opportunity for a recovering Germany to establish a global presence.[3] The Federal Republic of Germany crafted the event’s visuals to reflect this story. In stark contrast to the somber tone of the Nazi’s 1936 Olympics poster, the Munich Olympics employed bright colors and abstract figures, evoking a playful and modern Germany.[4] The Olympic emblem, a vibrant blue symbol representing a crown of light, was designed by Otl Aicher and signified the generosity of a freshly “Radiant Munich.” [5]
Though West Germany attempted to display a spirit of generosity, the truth of their dependence on international support became glaring on September 5th. Despite making significant progress in postwar recovery, including rearmament in 1956, West Germany remained dependent on economic and military support from the United States and the United Kingdom, especially as the continuing front of the West in the Cold War.[6] Alone, West Germany was weak. The restrictions of the postwar Grundgesetz, intended as a safeguard against a return to a police state, prevented domestic military action in peacetime, including in cases of terrorism.[7] Furthermore, in an attempt to set themselves apart from the Nazis, the West German government had minimized police presence at the Games, despite anticipating threats from multiple domestic terrorist organizations. When confronted with Black September’s attack, West German authorities wrestled with a lack of experienced personnel and specialized equipment including sniper rifles.[8] With the Israeli government refusing to meet Black September’s demands, West Germany was thrust into an impossible position. Without leverage, police hit the tarmac powerless to intervene as the deadliest antisemitic attack in Germany since the Holocaust ensued.
While the Munich Olympics were a symbol of diplomatic cooperation for nations under the protection of the Western Allies, for the unrecognized Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), they presented a unique opportunity for visibility. The British partition of Palestine, adopted by the United Nations in Resolution 181 (II) of 1947, left hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced, and without an internationally recognized government, unrepresented in the international regimes dictating their lives.[9] Hijacking the Olympics, an exclusionary symbol of friendly international cooperation, lent the Palestinian cause new visibility. As the hostage situation on September 5th developed, television coverage on stations, including ABC Sports and NBC News, shifted from athletics to grainy close-ups of the masked members of Black September.[10] While onlookers in Munich peered through binoculars at the balconies of the building where the hostages were being held, 900 million viewers around the world received live television coverage.[11] West Germany’s spectacular failure reached a riveted audience as ABC sportscaster Jim McKay announced at 3:24 AM on September 6th, “They’re all gone.”[12]
Though bloody, this spectacle of terror was effective. By utilizing the distinct, though related, organization ‘Black September’ to employ the shocking tactics necessary for capturing public attention, the PLO forced the world to behold the Palestinian people’s cause while maintaining diplomatic legitimacy. Two years after the Munich Crisis, the UN granted the PLO observer status, bringing Palestine one step closer to liberation.[13]
The diplomatic community recognized the implications of such a violent victory, however. In a memorandum to President Nixon on September 29th, primary foreign policy advisor Henry Kissinger referenced a longer CIA memorandum highlighting that “Arab terrorist groups, buoyed by the publicity received from the guerrilla operation at Munich during the Olympic Games, may well attempt to step up their activities over the next several months.” He continued to express concern that “fedayeen organizations” would attempt to expand their influence in the Middle East and Western Europe, potentially threatening “US firms and official installations.”[14] The UN response to September 5th, spearheaded by a group of “non-aligned countries,” was “disappointingly weak” in the eyes of the Nixon administration.[15] Though the December 1972 resolution condemned “acts of international terrorism which are occurring with increasing frequency and which take a toll of innocent human lives,” it also affirmed an “inalienable right to self-determination and independence,” with a specific reference to national independence movements, implicitly recognizing the struggle of Palestine.[16]
From their inception, the Munich Olympics relied on spectacle. Nearly four decades after the 1936 Berlin Olympics became the first televised Games, West Germany attempted to project images of a vibrant and modern post-war nation.[17] The reality of their continuing dependence on the Western Allies proved the downfall of this façade. Far from overwriting the collective memory of the Nazi regime, the power of live television allowed Black September to broadcast the failures of the West and the violent murder of 11 Jews. Ironically, it was only through this act of terror that the PLO generated momentum to propel themselves from decades of invisibility to relative legitimacy. As a result of this diplomatic success, both the number of global terrorist organizations and the violence of their attacks increased after 1972.[18] The Munich Olympics Hostage Crisis established a new norm of bloody pageantry, redefining terror for the modern age.
References:
[1] James Doubek, “50 years ago, the Munich Olympics massacre changed how we think about terrorism,” NPR, September 4, 2022, https://www.npr.org/2022/09/04/1116641214/munich-olympics-massacre-hostage-terrorism-israel-germany. This content of this article is largely drawn from Simon Reeve’s book One Day in September.
[2] Doubek, “50 years ago.”
[3] Elissa Watters, “Art, Sport, and Propaganda: 1972 Munich Olympics,” Williams College Museum of Art, July 30, 2021, https://artmuseum.williams.edu/1972-munich-olympics-art-and-propaganda/#:~:text=In%20the%20midst%20of%20Cold,but%20also%20cheer%20and%20unity.
[4] Otl Aicher and Rolf Müller, Official Standard Poster, Munich Olympics, ca. 1969, in Art, Sport, and Propaganda: 1972 Munich Olympics, by Elissa Watters, 10
[5] “Munich 1972 The Brand,” Olympics, https://www.olympics.com/en/olympic-games/munich-1972/logo-design.
[6] Alex Langer, “Containment”, International Relations (class lecture, Eastside Preparatory School, Kirkland, WA, January 14, 2025).
[7] Doubek, “50 years ago.”
[8] Doubek, “50 years ago.”
[9] UN General Assembly, Resolution 181 (II), Future government of Palestine, A/RES/181(II) (November 29, 1947), https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-185393/.
[10] Kurt Strumpf, September 5, 1972, AP Photo. Found in Doubek, “50 years ago.”
[11] AFP, September 5, 1972, Getty Images. Found in Doubek, “50 years ago.”
[12] Jim McKay, ABC News, September 6th, 1972
[13] Doubek, “50 years ago.”
[14] “Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) to President Nixon,” Washington, September 29, 1972, Foreign Relations of the Unites States, 1969-1976, Volume E-1, Documents on Global Issues, 1969-1972
[15] “Memorandum From Secretary of State Rogers to President Nixon,” Washington, December 11, 1972, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976, Volume E-1, Documents on Global Issues, 1969-1972
[16] “Telegram 5526 From the Mission to the United Nations to the Mission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization,” New York, December 13, 1972, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1972, Volume E-1, Documents on Global Issues, 1969-1972
[17] Chloe Merrell, “This week in Olympic history: 18-24 November – A look back at the first televised Olympic Games,” Olympics, November 18, 2024
[18] Doubek, “50 years ago.”