The dispute has been smoldering for decades: the survivors of the victims of the 1972 Olympic attack are fighting for access to the files and more compensation. At least Bavaria has now made all available documents public.
Würzburg (dpa / lby) - In the dispute over the processing of the Olympic assassination attempt 50 years ago in Munich, Bavaria claims to have made all files that were not previously publicly available public for everyone. "We have handed over all files to the state archives from the Bavarian side," said Bavaria's Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) on Thursday at the conference of interior ministers from the federal and state governments in Würzburg.
"In any case, there are no more files from Bavaria that would not be accessible," he emphasized. This was checked again. The "Münchner Merkur" had previously reported on it. Herrmann admitted that federal files may not yet have been published.
The plans for a commemoration ceremony to mark the anniversary of the Palestinian attack on September 5 were made jointly with the Israeli authorities and were mutually agreed, Herrmann said. "We assume that high-ranking representatives of the Israeli state will also take part." Israeli President Izchak Herzog and Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier are under discussion.
On the other hand, the relatives of the athletes and officials of the 1972 Israeli Olympic team who died in the attack made serious allegations against the German authorities and threatened to stay away from the commemoration ceremony. The spokeswoman for the bereaved, Ankie Spitzer, complained that numerous files were not accessible. She also demanded compensation from Germany. However, the federal government considers the compensation issue to be closed.
Eleven members of the Israeli Olympic team, a German police officer and five of the terrorists were killed in the attack. The Palestinian terrorists had taken hostage in the Israeli team's quarters. The events later shifted to the Fürstenfeldbruck military airfield. The use of the police to free the hostages is controversial. Critics accuse those responsible for the use of several serious errors and glitches.
The dispute over the processing and, above all, the compensation of the bereaved has been smoldering for decades. In 2002, Germany paid out an amount of around three million euros as a "humanitarian gesture". The surviving dependents consider multiple compensation to be appropriate.
