Munich hell to be marked, 44 years on
THE INTERNATIONAL Olympic Committee is to hold a memorial in Rio for the 11 Israelis killed at the 1972 Games in Munich, after 44 years of campaigning by relatives of the victims.
Widow Ankie Spitzer, whose husband Andre — a fencing coach — was taken hostage and murdered by Palestinian militants from the Black September group, will be present at the unveiling of a memorial stone in the athletes’ village.
She said: “Nobody ever thought something so terrible would happen.”
“Just a few hours after the murder I went into the room of my husband where they were all held hostage.
“I cannot even describe to you the chaos when I opened the door of the apartment.” The terrorists, who had murdered two Israeli athletes, demanded the release of more than 200 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. When a rescue attempt by German police failed, the remaining hostages, and a policeman, were killed. After four decades of campaigning, the 70-year-old said she had never given up on her wish to secure at the Olympics a moment’s silence in honour of her late husband. The widower came to London in 2012 to plead with former IOC president Jacques Rogge for a memorial at the London games, but was devastated after her appeal to him failed. AN Israeli company will manage security at the Rio Olympics. International Security & Defence Systems (ISDS) was selected two years ago to oversee the event’s $2.2 billion security budget, following a tendering process which took three years. “We have been living and breathing these Olympics for years already,” said ISDS chief executive, Tomer Fulman. “For four years, we have sown, sprouted, watered and grown, and now things are in the right balance.” “It’s an honour,” said Leo Gleser, ISDS president and a former Mossad agent.