March 31, 2025

Scenario 21: '72 Munich Olympic Games

Scenario 21: '72 Munich Olympic Games
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The deadly attack on Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics stands as one of the most shocking moments in sports history - a terrorist operation that transformed what should have been a global celebration into a horrific hostage crisis broadcast live to over a billion viewers worldwide.

When eight members of the Palestinian militant group Black September scaled the Olympic Village fence in the early morning hours of September 5th, they set in motion a tragedy that would forever change how we approach security at major events. Disguised in tracksuits and armed with rifles, pistols, and grenades, they targeted the Israeli team's quarters with deadly precision. What followed was a 20-hour ordeal where the world watched helplessly as negotiations failed and a botched rescue attempt led to devastating consequences.

The Munich Massacre reveals multiple layers of tragedy beyond the immediate bloodshed. Germany had deliberately chosen minimal security to create a more welcoming atmosphere, spending less than $2 million (compared to over $1 billion for modern Olympics). A police psychologist had even predicted almost exactly what would happen in scenario #21 of his security assessment, yet his warnings went unheeded. ABC announcer Jim McKay's marathon 16-hour broadcast culminated in his haunting words: "Our worst fears have been realized."

We explore how this watershed moment fundamentally altered counterterrorism approaches worldwide, sparked Israel's covert Operation Wrath of God, and forced difficult questions about how society responds to terrorism. The cultural impact continues through films like "Munich" and the recently released "September 5th," ensuring this dark chapter remains relevant fifty years later. Through firsthand accounts and declassified information, we examine why this particular attack resonates so powerfully in our collective memory and what lessons it still offers today.


That is the story of the 1972 Israeli Olympic Massacre. https://www.fbi.gov/video-repository/newss-hostage-rescue-team-marks-30-years/view#:~:text=At%20the%201972%20Olympics%20in,HRT)%20was%20launched%20in%201983.


https://www.npr.org/2024/12/13/nx-s1-5126526/munich-1972-massacre-olympics-september-5


https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/munich-massacre.htm


Sportscaster Jim McKay on the 1972 Munich Olympic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj25Aqm8W-o&t=2s


1972 Olympics Special: Tragedy of Munich Games

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2Z3FmGLVU0&t=19s



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Chapters

00:16 - Episode Introduction

03:16 - Setting Up the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

08:19 - The 1972 Munich Olympics Begin

16:39 - The Hostage Crisis Unfolds

26:13 - Failed Negotiations and Rescue Attempt

42:39 - Aftermath and Media Coverage

50:39 - Cultural Impact and Closing Thoughts

Transcript
WEBVTT

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Oh, hey there, oh hey there.

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I'm Kate, I'm Bradley and this is the History.

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Buffoons.

00:00:22.103 --> 00:00:22.885
Hello, yes, how are you?

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I'm well, how are you?

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today?

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I'm good, I'm good.

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Hello, yes, how are you?

00:00:26.030 --> 00:00:26.391
I'm well.

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How are you today?

00:00:26.772 --> 00:00:28.135
I'm good, I'm good, excellent, excellent.

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Uh-huh, it's a whirlwind outside today and yesterday.

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It's quite windy.

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Yeah.

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If you have old trees, be careful.

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Yeah, tell us what happened.

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Well um.

00:00:41.000 --> 00:00:42.026
You have no tree anymore.

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I'm sure we have some, just not this particular one that was right in front of our house that luckily fell away from the house instead of towards the house.

00:00:50.872 --> 00:00:58.014
However, I currently have a car that I haven't been using but kind of wanted to sell.

00:00:58.014 --> 00:01:00.654
Well, let's just say we can't sell it anymore.

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Yeah, because a tree fell on that and blew out the back window, fucked up the front windshield, dented the fuck out of the side.

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Yeah, so yeah now it's scrap metal pretty much so I'm gonna have to call a place to either donate and or scrap it and see if I can literally get anything out of it yeah which will probably be not much and if anyone has any tips on how to pick up shards of glass in a gravel driveway send it our way, because we're gonna need to know, because I'm gonna have to try and clear all that out and uh yeah one of the reddit posts said duct tape and you suggested putting duct tape around your shoes and just clumping around.

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You know how quickly that would get gummed up with like the dust.

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Yes, the gravel driveway I mean it?

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Wouldn't, it wouldn't work at all.

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So whoever suggested that?

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Fuck off seriously duct tape okay.

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So, um, this is a little bit more of a somber episode, so I don't want to like do too much embellishment here this morning.

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Um, but briefly, we do have ourselves our classic gin and tonics we do.

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Yes, and I like how you said morning, so now people think we drink all day what I say you said this morning this morning.

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It's not morning.

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It's six o'clock in the afternoon, in the evening.

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Wow, I just woke up from a nap, so maybe I did think it was morning.

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I don't know I just didn't want people thinking we're not.

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We woke up, I woke up from a nap, so maybe I did think it was morning.

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I don't know.

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I just didn't want people thinking that we woke up.

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I woke up this morning and I grabbed myself a beer.

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That's such a good line from a song.

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By the way, name that artist Garth Brooks.

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The Doors, garth Brooks.

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I don't know, maybe it was Chris Gaines.

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But so it is not the morning, it is the evening.

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It's not the morning, it is the evening.

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And yeah, so we have our classic gin and tonics Cheers.

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Yes, cheers to you.

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It's so delicious, one of my favorite beverages.

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It's really so basic.

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A lot of people don't like gin and tonics.

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Yeah, I get it, but I actually rather enjoy them.

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Yeah, I do too.

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Plus there's another good line from a different band in a song called um from oasis.

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Now I'm just drawing a blank on the line.

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It's like give me gin and tonic.

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Literally the line he said I'm feeling supersonic give me gin and tonic okay you could have it all, but how much do you want it?

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You fall okay all right, I'm sorry.

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I'm not trying to be happy because I know you're about to kill that mood.

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I'm about to kill it.

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I was bringing it down.

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Think about the trees.

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Yeah, so I actually do not have a question for you today.

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I'm just going to kind of go into it.

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Sure, that's, fine.

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So we're going to talk about the 1972 Munich Olympics.

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Oh yeah, okay, do you know it?

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You weren't born yet, but I'm sure you've heard.

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No, I've heard of it.

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There's a movie with, I think, Christian Bale in it.

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Isn't it just called Munich?

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Eric Bana, eric Bana, that's it Not.

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Christian Bale.

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I'm sorry, but yes that is based off of this story.

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Yes, right, yeah, okay.

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Okay.

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So just a week into the 1972 Munich Olympics, on the morning of September 5th, a group of Palestinian militants known as Black September took 11 Israeli athletes and staff hostage.

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What did they do?

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The?

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other 11 months of the year, not a time for jokes.

00:04:20.637 --> 00:04:27.579
Jeez, are you sure?

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I mean, they got a tight window.

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30 days is all you get a year, so for 20 hours.

00:04:34.206 --> 00:04:34.706
Okay, how many people?

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I'm sorry, how many people?

00:04:35.348 --> 00:04:36.091
11 um Israeli athletes so like.

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Olympians yeah, yeah, yeah and their staff wow so a decent amount of people yes um.

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So for 20 hours this drama actually unfolded live on television.

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That's wild, yeah.

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So there was also a botched police rescue, which amplified the situation.

00:04:57.774 --> 00:05:03.031
Sure, and because it was broadcast live, the suspense pretty much grouped.

00:05:03.031 --> 00:05:26.478
Everybody 're talking about millions, if not a billion, people watching right um, and it was stirring memories of past emotional events, like the assassination of jfk in dallas in 63 so it was only nine years, yeah, so yeah, and this time these killings, because they there are killings.

00:05:26.699 --> 00:05:27.040
Well, yeah.

00:05:27.521 --> 00:05:33.473
It happened in Munich, which is kind of the birthplace of Nazism, and these victims were Jewish.

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Right.

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So they thought it was kind of tied to that, or something.

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We're going to go into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a little bit to understand why Black September targeted these athletes.

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Okay, okay.

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So it is actually one of the world's longest disputes.

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The conflict's origin traced back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the rise of Zionism, which is a movement for Jewish homeland, and Palestinian nationalism.

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So both groups laid claim to the same territory under Ottoman and later British rule, so they were essentially fighting for this land.

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So in 1948, there was an Arab-Israeli war, and the establishment of Israel in 1948 triggered a war that resulted in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, creating a massive refugee crisis.

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Okay.

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Okay.

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And then after that, in 1967, there was the Six-Day War.

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Six-day War Israelis' victory in this war resulted in its occupation of the West Bank, gaza Strip, east Jerusalem and other territories, further exacerbating this conflict and creating a whole new wave of Palestinian refugees Sure, okay, and creating like a whole new wave of Palestinian refugees Sure, okay.

00:07:05.170 --> 00:07:13.454
Then we have the Palestine Liberation Organization, which is called the PLO and that was formed in 1964.

00:07:13.454 --> 00:07:18.038
And it became the umbrella organization that represented the Palestine people.

00:07:18.699 --> 00:07:41.103
Okay, and it sought to establish a Palestinian state and employed various tactics, including armed struggles essentially right so black september in jordan between 1970 and 1971, during two weeks of during two weeks of september, like continuous two weeks.

00:07:41.103 --> 00:07:57.934
Sure, king hussein of j, fearing the growing power of the PLO within his country, launched a military crackdown, oh dear, that resulted in the deaths of thousands of Palestinians and the expulsion of the PLO from Jordan.

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Okay.

00:07:59.401 --> 00:08:02.610
So this event was called Black September.

00:08:03.170 --> 00:08:03.512
Gotcha.

00:08:03.699 --> 00:08:05.788
And it was a major blow for the Palestinians.

00:08:05.939 --> 00:08:08.750
So did they just take their name from it, or is that just what they did, okay.

00:08:09.100 --> 00:08:27.692
So a militant group called themselves Black September after the Jordan crackdown, and it was the largest faction of, like the PLO, that organization Sure, and its primary aim was to avenge the events in Jordan, okay, and to draw international attention to the Palestinian cause, gotcha, okay.

00:08:27.692 --> 00:08:39.095
So Black September represented a more radical element within the Palestinian movement, willing to carry out some pretty high profile attacks.

00:08:39.254 --> 00:08:40.784
Sure, I'm sure they wanted to.

00:08:40.784 --> 00:08:46.186
Yeah, because if they're trying to bring attention to them, yes, you don't want to do some random, stupid little whatever.

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Yes, you want to bring as much focus on it.

00:08:50.576 --> 00:08:55.307
Yeah, so yeah so their mission was essentially retaliation and to release.

00:08:55.307 --> 00:09:05.453
Have 200 palestinian prisoners released from israeli jails okay and they came into action at the 1972 Olympics.

00:09:06.240 --> 00:09:08.929
I mean it's really unfortunate they had to do it then.

00:09:08.929 --> 00:09:14.418
I understand why they did it then, though because, again, they're looking for the most amount of visual.

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Spectators yeah spectators to see what they're trying to accomplish, and obviously the Olympics are very important to the world and so on, and whatever society, yeah so yeah, I mean, I guess it's a good place to do it, but that kind of sucks yeah so the 72 munich games marked germany's first olympics since the 1936 berlin games, which had been heavily criticized because, it was used as a Nazi platform essentially.

00:09:46.980 --> 00:09:50.791
Yeah, I mean four years, well, two years before, either way.

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And then.

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So Germany is still like separated, segregated at this time.

00:09:56.090 --> 00:10:03.572
West Germany and East Germany, so they weren't fully united yet until 1989, I think it was under, was it Reagan?

00:10:03.572 --> 00:10:04.922
Yeah, was it Reagan?

00:10:05.163 --> 00:10:11.085
Yeah, yeah, yeah, tear down that wall, yeah mr gorbachev yeah, um, so they.

00:10:11.184 --> 00:10:15.491
There was also a 1968 mexico city olympics.

00:10:15.491 --> 00:10:22.931
Just before those games, a peaceful student protest turned deadly, with hundreds killed by government forces.

00:10:22.931 --> 00:10:26.442
That may be a future episode, so I'm not going to go into that right now.

00:10:26.442 --> 00:10:37.480
Fair enough, but so this was kind of germany's chance to like hey, we're gonna do it, it's gonna be great, we're all happy, we're gonna put our past in the past yeah, exactly.

00:10:37.480 --> 00:10:48.676
So in contrast to that, yeah, munich's organizers opted for a low-profile security approach.

00:10:49.722 --> 00:10:51.451
To try and make it seem more friendly.

00:10:51.472 --> 00:10:51.693
Yes.

00:10:52.461 --> 00:10:52.623
Oh jeez.

00:10:53.206 --> 00:11:01.094
Yes, so they spent less than $2 million and they used a bunch of unarmed personnel, essentially.

00:11:01.380 --> 00:11:03.148
That seems like a terrible fucking idea.

00:11:03.360 --> 00:11:04.625
It was a crucial misstep.

00:11:04.644 --> 00:11:05.990
Yeah, I mean clearly we wouldn't probably Personnel.

00:11:05.990 --> 00:11:07.596
Essentially, that seems like a terrible fucking idea.

00:11:07.615 --> 00:11:17.148
It was a crucial misstep, yeah, I mean clearly we wouldn't probably I mean, there's a good chance we wouldn't be talking about this if they didn't go all cheapo on the security.

00:11:17.148 --> 00:11:23.159
I read somewhere that it was less than $2 million then, whereas 2001 was something or 2004 was something, was it four 2004?

00:11:23.159 --> 00:11:49.326
Was that the last Olympics, where 2002, 22, 22, 2022 that's what I'm talking about less than two million at the 74 olympics versus the 2022 olympics, and I don't remember the number, but it was massively different well, I mean, yeah, it's 50 years, but yeah still, yeah, that's wild so, according to a declassified israeli report.

00:11:49.346 --> 00:12:15.850
Okay, the israeli delegation had concerns about the lack of security, especially in their ground floor accommodations oh so easy pickings yes wow, they noticed the lack of security personnel but hoped that everybody was undercover that's wild yeah, no, we weren't even doing that before the games.

00:12:15.850 --> 00:12:23.350
Police psychologist gregor sieber gregor was tasked with predicting potential security threats.

00:12:23.350 --> 00:12:25.494
Predicting Was he like a psychic.

00:12:25.494 --> 00:12:30.484
He was a psychologist, yeah, but they have that now.

00:12:31.726 --> 00:12:34.273
I know, like I can predict no, something's going to happen.

00:12:34.312 --> 00:12:38.510
No, they've got like crisis organizers and stuff like that.

00:12:38.991 --> 00:12:40.705
Yeah, there's a lot of people that organize crisis.

00:12:40.705 --> 00:12:42.090
You know what I mean Crises.

00:12:43.081 --> 00:12:58.010
So he outlined 26 different scenarios, including explosions and plane crashes, like pretty much this could happen and this could happen, sure, and scenario 21 was eerily accurate.

00:12:58.192 --> 00:12:58.552
Oh dear.

00:12:59.200 --> 00:13:08.407
Armed Palestinians breaching the Olympic Village, taking Israeli hostages, demanding prisoner releases and then escaping to an Arab capital.

00:13:08.849 --> 00:13:11.240
Wow, and that's ultimately the gist of it.

00:13:11.259 --> 00:13:17.292
That was scenario number 21, yes, and German organizers were like no, let's tone this down, sieber.

00:13:17.292 --> 00:13:18.706
Like let's tone this down.

00:13:19.080 --> 00:13:21.107
We don't want to raise any alarms here.

00:13:21.107 --> 00:13:31.982
So they argued that such extreme measures could only be prevented by canceling the games altogether and there's no way they were going to do that because of all the money involved, yes and such.

00:13:31.982 --> 00:13:41.547
And then germany would look weak if they they canceled it or whatever it might be so they're trying to save face yeah, and they're, they pretty much messed up.

00:13:42.226 --> 00:13:48.495
Yeah, so the 20th Olympiad began on August 26, 1972.

00:13:48.816 --> 00:13:48.936
Okay.

00:13:49.360 --> 00:13:52.870
With the West German organizers aiming for cheerful games.

00:13:53.159 --> 00:13:55.227
Well, who doesn't want a good cheerful game?

00:13:55.860 --> 00:13:59.549
American swimmer Mark Spitz was making history.

00:13:59.809 --> 00:14:00.673
I know that name, yeah.

00:14:00.820 --> 00:14:02.345
He won seven gold medals.

00:14:02.345 --> 00:14:11.538
A record stood until michael phelps in 2008 I was gonna say that and he won eight and michael phelps won eight oh, I thought he won nine.

00:14:11.558 --> 00:14:22.942
It was only eight that he won and that one that's the um information, information I have that's fine, because I know he I mean he's got a boatload, because maybe it was another game that he won more yeah, I think he broke his own record or something.

00:14:22.942 --> 00:14:25.509
Maybe I could be wrong yeah it's, I thought, one of them.

00:14:25.548 --> 00:14:43.150
He also won nine, but either way, I mean that's a lot of fucking medals so over 120 countries were in these games participating and, for the first time, the olympics were broadcast globally via satellite, reaching a billion viewers.

00:14:43.150 --> 00:15:06.975
Wow, for more than a week, the games proceeded without incident, until the early hours of september 5th yes, remember, remember the 5th of september at 4 30 am munich time yeah eight black september terrorists disguised as athletes scaled the unguarded fence of the Olympic Village.

00:15:07.456 --> 00:15:07.956
Oh Lord.

00:15:07.956 --> 00:15:13.832
They were heavily armed with rifles, pistols and grenades and grenades, Jesus.

00:15:13.832 --> 00:15:22.328
While some Black September members were already in Germany, Israeli intelligence believed the attack was planned and trained in Syria.

00:15:22.799 --> 00:15:24.023
Okay, the attack was planned and trained in Syria.

00:15:24.043 --> 00:15:35.831
Israel also accused Syria of helping the FAYDAIN, which is Arab guerrillas, obtain German work permits for reconnaissance.

00:15:36.221 --> 00:15:37.625
Oh, so they could kind of scope it out.

00:15:37.625 --> 00:15:38.428
Yes, gotcha.

00:15:39.160 --> 00:15:51.833
So, in the lead up to the games, members of the Black September arrived in Munich, separately surveying the Olympic Village and even obtaining jobs amongst the 30,000 workers.

00:15:51.833 --> 00:16:02.534
Yeah, athletes from Uruguay, whose quarters were next to the Israelis, recalled seeing all of these militants essentially as workers, right yeah.

00:16:03.321 --> 00:16:12.831
So at 4.20 am, as the alembic village slept, the terrorists moved in sure it's a good time to do it, because they know they're gonna a be there and be.

00:16:14.222 --> 00:16:25.072
The people are sleeping so yeah less to get in the way so two telephone linemen saw a group in track suits aka athletic gear scaling the fence.

00:16:25.072 --> 00:16:34.221
They didn't think anything of it, because it was actually a pretty common sight when athletes were running late they would scale these fences to get where they needed to go.

00:16:34.221 --> 00:16:38.231
So, they just let it go yeah.

00:16:39.327 --> 00:16:40.392
Wow, that's just wild.

00:16:40.533 --> 00:16:40.774
Yeah.

00:16:42.264 --> 00:16:45.936
Because maybe they should stop scaling the fences.

00:16:47.306 --> 00:16:52.421
Once out of view of these men, the group revealed the weapons and headed towards the Israeli quarters.

00:16:52.421 --> 00:16:55.490
Sure, so the Israelis.

00:16:55.490 --> 00:16:59.984
They shared five apartments in like a three-story building.

00:16:59.984 --> 00:17:07.624
Okay, and early that morning the intruders number unknown, um, well, they said eight, but there's a little bit of conflict.

00:17:07.644 --> 00:17:23.419
but they targeted apartment number one okay so wrestling coach mosh weinberg, 32 years old, half asleep, answered a knock on the door, a voice asked in german is this the israeli team?

00:17:23.419 --> 00:17:31.766
Seeing that the men were armed, weinberg tried to slam the door shut, yelling for his roommates to escape.

00:17:32.768 --> 00:17:38.919
He was immediately hit by submachine gunfire oh wow, so they went to town right away.

00:17:39.144 --> 00:17:43.575
Yeah, that's wild the same scene repeated in the second apartment.

00:17:43.796 --> 00:17:46.428
Okay, wrestler, so did these.

00:17:46.428 --> 00:17:48.615
Does gunfire not wake other people up?

00:17:49.625 --> 00:17:54.017
You know, I actually didn't read anything about anyone else in the building.

00:17:54.017 --> 00:17:57.388
Because I feel like they might've had their own like.

00:17:57.951 --> 00:17:59.314
Little, little house.

00:17:59.835 --> 00:18:00.356
Complex.

00:18:00.356 --> 00:18:03.374
Yeah, a three story complex with all these little apartments in it.

00:18:03.565 --> 00:18:10.356
But even if, okay, let's say that's the case, how did the other rooms not get woken up by this gunfire?

00:18:10.356 --> 00:18:11.747
They just took out this.

00:18:11.747 --> 00:18:12.589
What was it?

00:18:12.589 --> 00:18:14.674
German wrestler coach guy Is that?

00:18:14.695 --> 00:18:18.094
what you said, moshe Weinberg.

00:18:18.325 --> 00:18:20.428
Yeah, he was the the wrestling coach.

00:18:20.428 --> 00:18:25.573
Yeah, so I mean, they just shot him and no one heard that.

00:18:25.925 --> 00:18:28.291
I didn't read anything about others being.

00:18:28.814 --> 00:18:31.914
That's wild, yeah, anyway, sorry.

00:18:32.305 --> 00:18:43.539
Okay, so wrestler Yosef Romano, despite being on crutches from the competition injury, fought back attempting to disarm a terrorist with a knife.

00:18:43.800 --> 00:18:44.141
Okay.

00:18:44.285 --> 00:18:45.770
And he was fatally wounded.

00:18:45.770 --> 00:18:48.290
Of course, this is chilly.

00:18:48.290 --> 00:18:53.875
To demonstrate their brutality, the terrorists castrated Romano.

00:18:54.478 --> 00:18:54.718
Why.

00:18:55.285 --> 00:18:57.311
And left his mutilated body as a warning.

00:18:57.311 --> 00:18:58.054
Oh good.

00:18:58.153 --> 00:18:58.434
Lord.

00:18:58.454 --> 00:19:03.625
Yeah, so this is pretty dark, yeah, as a warning.

00:19:03.625 --> 00:19:07.082
Oh good lord, yeah, so this is pretty dark, yeah, in apartment number three, as the terrorists gathered more hostages and forced them towards apartment one.

00:19:07.082 --> 00:19:09.869
Like they're like, let's just all go to apartment one to kind of keep tabs on everyone.

00:19:09.869 --> 00:19:21.837
Sure, wrestler gad sobari broke free okay he dashed down a flight of stairs towards an underground parking garage, with bullets whizzing past him.

00:19:21.858 --> 00:19:22.799
Oh, good Lord.

00:19:23.845 --> 00:19:27.253
Meanwhile back in apartment supposedly he escaped.

00:19:28.036 --> 00:19:28.316
Really.

00:19:28.376 --> 00:19:28.576
Yes.

00:19:28.576 --> 00:19:39.615
Meanwhile, back in apartment, one wrestling referee, yosef Gutfrund Okay, I'm so sorry about the pronunciations, it's all right, I mean you're not.

00:19:39.615 --> 00:19:41.672
He was a large man.

00:19:41.672 --> 00:19:48.993
He held the door shut against five attackers and, shouting in Hebrew, he said boys, get out, right.

00:19:48.993 --> 00:19:49.797
But it was too late.

00:19:49.797 --> 00:19:53.494
The door was forced open and the terrorists stormed in.

00:19:53.494 --> 00:19:59.234
Eighteen Israelis managed to escape the chaos.

00:19:59.635 --> 00:19:59.817
Okay.

00:20:00.105 --> 00:20:02.272
But nine were taken hostage.

00:20:02.272 --> 00:20:08.497
Wow, they were bound hand and foot, grouped in threes and forced onto a bed.

00:20:09.018 --> 00:20:09.338
Okay.

00:20:10.085 --> 00:20:19.528
The terrorists then dragged Moshe Weinberg's body onto the steps in front of the Israeli compound as a message to the German police and the world.

00:20:19.907 --> 00:20:23.308
Jesus Christ, so you said that 4.20 in the morning.

00:20:23.308 --> 00:20:25.368
They started doing this as a message to the German police and the world, Jesus Christ.

00:20:25.368 --> 00:20:27.710
So you said that 4.20 in the morning they started doing this, mm-hmm.

00:20:27.710 --> 00:20:28.730
Where are we at right now?

00:20:28.730 --> 00:20:29.911
Do you have a time frame?

00:20:30.030 --> 00:20:31.851
Yes, so now we're about 6 am.

00:20:32.010 --> 00:20:35.231
Okay, so it's only been going on for less than two hours.

00:20:35.372 --> 00:20:35.592
Yeah.

00:20:36.113 --> 00:20:41.493
I would imagine people are starting to wake up because it's the Olympics, things got to get done and so on, right.

00:20:41.493 --> 00:20:45.855
So when do people start realizing some shit's going down?

00:20:46.095 --> 00:20:47.655
Closer to nine o'clock, I think.

00:20:47.736 --> 00:20:49.435
Holy shit, not till nine.

00:20:49.435 --> 00:20:51.916
Yeah, late start, I mean.

00:20:52.836 --> 00:20:55.258
Well, the people in the Olympic Village don't know.

00:20:55.698 --> 00:20:55.938
Right.

00:20:56.459 --> 00:20:58.118
The world, I think is a different story.

00:20:58.118 --> 00:21:09.122
But I'm not sure on the timing of that, but 6 am Munich, police, alerted by the escaped Israelis, had arrived at the Olympic Village.

00:21:09.122 --> 00:21:14.983
A crisis center was set up in the village administration building, which was about 200 meters away.

00:21:15.203 --> 00:21:15.463
Yeah.

00:21:16.164 --> 00:21:24.946
Police Chief, manfred Schreiber, quickly assembled 600 officers and armored cars to cordon off the area.

00:21:24.946 --> 00:21:30.232
Jesus Christ, an ambulance retrieved Moshe Weinberg's body at this point.

00:21:31.207 --> 00:21:32.111
And he was dead though.

00:21:32.171 --> 00:21:32.372
Yes.

00:21:32.846 --> 00:21:33.106
Okay.

00:21:33.849 --> 00:21:35.086
So he was the first man killed.

00:21:35.106 --> 00:21:36.853
Yeah, he was the castrated one or whatever.

00:21:36.932 --> 00:21:39.111
No, that was another wrestler.

00:21:39.111 --> 00:21:41.247
That's right, this was the wrestling coach.

00:21:41.247 --> 00:21:45.757
Yeah, he was the one shot yes, for initially uh, holding the door closed.

00:21:45.757 --> 00:21:48.871
That's okay, and there's a lot of people in here yeah, and I'm not gonna remember all the names.

00:21:48.911 --> 00:22:11.414
No shortly after police chief schreiber boldly approached the apartment, he was met by lutif efif okay, which is um a group, the group's leader, the um black september leader, who was wearing a white tennis hat, sunglasses and his face was blackened, so he probably had like a hood on or something Sure.

00:22:11.414 --> 00:22:17.757
And Schreiber considered grabbing Afif but was deterred when Afif revealed a hand grenade.

00:22:17.757 --> 00:22:22.295
Oh yeah, thumb on the pin, asking do you want to take me?

00:22:23.538 --> 00:22:46.678
like taunting him yeah, I mean they clearly went in there and they wanted to cause some mischief obviously yeah that's just being a really tame word, but clearly they were ready to go to they were if they needed to, yeah, so at 9 am, the terrorist threw a message out a window demanding the release of 234 Arab prisoners held in Israeli jails.

00:22:47.819 --> 00:22:57.776
Wow, the list also included German leftist terrorists and a Japanese terrorist involved in the Lod Airport Massacre.

00:22:57.776 --> 00:23:03.903
In the Lod Airport Massacre Now same year, 1972,.

00:23:03.903 --> 00:23:17.396
Lod Airport Massacre was a terrorist attack by three Japanese Red Army members recruited by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine External Operations.

00:23:17.396 --> 00:23:30.536
They condensed it into the acronym PFLPEo that's still a lot yeah so they opened fire at load airport, killing 26 and injuring 80.

00:23:30.556 --> 00:23:35.667
Good lord and one attacker was captured, the others killed, causing a bunch of outrage.

00:23:35.667 --> 00:23:45.221
So at this time, ironically 400 yards away, the Olympic Games were going on.

00:23:45.221 --> 00:23:56.740
Isn't that crazy to think that they kept going with it 2,000 fans were cheering at a volleyball game between West Germany and Japan, completely unawares.

00:23:57.086 --> 00:24:04.478
Yeah, it's just strange to think about that these people could be that unaware of what's going on 400 yards away.

00:24:04.478 --> 00:24:10.835
And yeah, let's watch some volleyball, cheer.

00:24:11.175 --> 00:24:12.097
Yeah, they had no idea.

00:24:12.204 --> 00:24:14.547
All these people are getting killed and held hostage.

00:24:14.547 --> 00:24:15.747
That's just wild.

00:24:16.688 --> 00:24:29.297
So the Palestinians demanded that they and their prisoners be flown out of West Germany to the Arab nation, to any Arab nation.

00:24:29.297 --> 00:24:30.698
They're like we don't care, Just get us over there.

00:24:30.718 --> 00:24:31.657
Just get us out of here.

00:24:32.239 --> 00:24:35.760
Yeah, they actually did specify, not Lebanon or Jordan.

00:24:36.642 --> 00:24:38.323
Oh, so they did not want to go to those two, okay.

00:24:39.766 --> 00:24:55.478
And they wanted three airplanes departing at different intervals and the authorities had three hours until noon at this point to comply or the hostages would be executed, two every 30 minutes.

00:24:57.339 --> 00:24:58.626
What Okay?

00:24:59.588 --> 00:25:02.757
A hotline was established between Munich and Jerusalem.

00:25:02.757 --> 00:25:31.724
Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir and her advisors quickly decided no negotiations with terrorists, no prisoner releases, full responsibility for rescue actions given to the Germans and no objection to safe passage for the terrorists if the hospitals hostages were guaranteed release okay so we do not negotiate with terrorisms, terrorisms terrorists.

00:25:34.530 --> 00:25:40.490
Um yeah, I mean that's pretty much a stance for a lot of countries they don't negotiate with terrorists because then it just gives them.

00:25:41.835 --> 00:25:41.996
Yeah.

00:25:42.224 --> 00:25:44.875
It gives more people reason just to do terrorist acts.

00:25:45.924 --> 00:25:51.336
So West German Interior Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher.

00:25:51.336 --> 00:25:54.894
Okay was fairly limited in his options.

00:25:55.185 --> 00:25:57.005
Well, yeah his hands are kind of tied.

00:25:57.307 --> 00:26:12.954
He personally bargained with the terrorists, offering unlimited money for the hostages release, which was rejected, and then he offered himself and other German officials, hopefully what they're knowing as hostages.

00:26:12.954 --> 00:26:15.980
But was also rejected.

00:26:16.885 --> 00:26:21.758
Did they reject him because they wanted to make a statement with these Israeli people?

00:26:21.825 --> 00:26:25.955
I'm assuming it's the less movement of these hostages, the better.

00:26:25.955 --> 00:26:29.493
Sure, because if there's any kind of exchange, things can go down right.

00:26:29.493 --> 00:26:44.204
Oh yeah, so the minister did stall for time, but he falsely promoted sorry, he falsely promised to persuade israeli to release these prisoners, like he told him.

00:26:44.244 --> 00:26:52.487
okay, we're gonna do it yeah in reality, the germans believed the hostages fate were already sealed.

00:26:52.487 --> 00:26:56.396
So he's probably like this isn't even gonna work, but I'm gonna lie to him anyway, sure?

00:26:56.396 --> 00:27:02.325
So gensher boldly demanded to see these hostages.

00:27:02.325 --> 00:27:10.413
He was taken to a bedroom and he saw the nine men bound, and one said that they were doing okay.

00:27:10.413 --> 00:27:22.376
At Gensher's pleading, the Palestinians pushed back the execution deadline to 5pm instead of noon, ultimately changing it A matter of four different times.

00:27:22.376 --> 00:27:24.497
Sure, but it ended up being 5 pm, gotcha.

00:27:24.497 --> 00:27:33.364
So West German authorities deployed 15 volunteer police sharpshooters wearing armored vests under athletic uniforms.

00:27:33.364 --> 00:27:40.041
Okay, they were tracked by zoom lens television cameras from the Olympic TV tower.

00:27:40.041 --> 00:27:44.359
That's wild, broadcasting live to the world and to the terrorists themselves.

00:27:45.011 --> 00:27:46.959
Why would they broadcast that to the world?

00:27:49.872 --> 00:27:50.675
I don't know.

00:27:51.332 --> 00:27:59.242
I just want your opinion Because I mean, why would you want to show that to everybody?

00:27:59.242 --> 00:28:02.598
Because you know shit could go south real quick with what's going on.

00:28:02.720 --> 00:28:03.020
I know.

00:28:03.210 --> 00:28:05.636
And why would you want to show people that on TV?

00:28:05.877 --> 00:28:06.198
I know.

00:28:06.700 --> 00:28:09.267
I trying to hide it, that's not what I'm saying.

00:28:09.267 --> 00:28:10.470
Yeah, but do you really?

00:28:10.470 --> 00:28:13.319
I wouldn't want to watch some person live get killed?

00:28:13.319 --> 00:28:15.347
I've actually seen that, have you?

00:28:15.669 --> 00:28:25.583
yeah, it was when I was working at audible in um the mid 2000s, like 2015, something like that.

00:28:25.583 --> 00:28:32.011
And oh, shep from fox news, shep something that was.

00:28:32.011 --> 00:28:34.817
That was the anchorman shep something.

00:28:34.817 --> 00:28:59.722
But fox news was always on and there was like a developing story of of a car chase and the guy got out and they can see the live broadcast a couple seconds before the rest of the world does okay so they can see, like what's coming, that they can like shut off the live feed or whatever if needed yeah they didn't get to it in time oh

00:29:00.865 --> 00:29:07.538
and um, the driver of the car that was um doing the the high chase.

00:29:07.538 --> 00:29:10.703
He got out and he essentially shot himself on live TV.

00:29:10.703 --> 00:29:11.265
That's wild.

00:29:11.265 --> 00:29:16.421
And Shep was like right before it happened he said shut it off, shut it off, shut it off.

00:29:16.421 --> 00:29:21.019
Like it wasn't enough time, like he saw this only seconds before and he kept saying shut it off, shut it off, shut it off.

00:29:21.019 --> 00:29:22.301
And then it happened.

00:29:22.301 --> 00:29:24.017
And then it went to commercial.

00:29:24.017 --> 00:29:26.576
He came back on and was was like I'm so sorry.

00:29:26.576 --> 00:29:28.119
You all saw that that wasn't supposed to happen.

00:29:28.119 --> 00:29:29.932
This is how we set that up, like we got.

00:29:30.772 --> 00:29:36.891
We have seconds to see this right before it's aired and yep, have you ever uh heard of the song?

00:29:36.891 --> 00:29:46.265
Hey man, nice shot by the band filter no it came out and I believe 95, I want to say 94, I think it was 95.

00:29:46.265 --> 00:29:48.744
I saw them at Summerfest in 1995.

00:29:48.744 --> 00:30:02.221
Um, that song and I don't remember the gentleman's name, but basically the the whole, just the basis of that song is uh was it a Congressman or something like that.

00:30:02.221 --> 00:30:05.615
Uh was giving a speech on TV and he shot himself.

00:30:06.698 --> 00:30:06.858
Yeah.

00:30:07.119 --> 00:30:09.823
Yeah, that's just fucking wild.

00:30:09.823 --> 00:30:14.961
It is wild, yeah, that someone would go to that length to do that, for I don't know.

00:30:14.961 --> 00:30:16.394
I mean whatever.

00:30:16.394 --> 00:30:18.538
Anyways, it's a really good song.

00:30:19.369 --> 00:30:23.958
So American television producer, excuse me announcer, he was an announcer.

00:30:23.958 --> 00:30:25.057
He was an announcer for ABC.

00:30:25.057 --> 00:30:25.986
Announcer for abc sports.

00:30:25.986 --> 00:30:28.693
Okay, okay his name is jim mckay.

00:30:28.693 --> 00:30:43.130
He provided a live 16 hour play-by-play coverage of the crisis wow so, initially, live television coverage was switched off, hoping to give the sharpshooters an advantage.

00:30:43.130 --> 00:30:48.238
As they like, moved into position, sure, because the terrorists were also watching.

00:30:48.357 --> 00:30:48.920
Well, yeah.

00:30:49.150 --> 00:30:51.377
But they couldn't get clear enough targets.

00:30:51.377 --> 00:30:57.599
If the sharpshooters took out one captor, the others inside would likely retaliate against the hostages.

00:30:57.599 --> 00:31:02.448
And then, at this time, they just showed the world what was happening.

00:31:02.448 --> 00:31:07.972
Yeah, and crowds were drawn by this live report, gathered around this area.

00:31:07.972 --> 00:31:15.451
German olympic olympic hostess boldly approached the apartment, spotted a terrorist peeking out.

00:31:15.451 --> 00:31:19.459
Jesus urged him in english to surrender, promising no harm.

00:31:19.459 --> 00:31:21.423
He quickly refused.

00:31:21.423 --> 00:31:22.530
Well, of course.

00:31:22.530 --> 00:31:34.266
And then a large group of of young Jewish individuals broke through police lines singing Hatkeva, which is the Israeli national anthem.

00:31:34.506 --> 00:31:34.786
Okay.

00:31:35.550 --> 00:32:10.558
Followed by we Shall Overcome, which is another song Amidst all these like sirens and hovering helicopters and like I I guess it was just for the hostages like they were like, hey, we're here, we're we were thinking about you yeah I mean thoughts and prayers oh god, that is such a good uh, anthony jeselnik, uh special, by the way so west german authorities had already made a crucial decision they would not allow the terrorists to fly away with the hostages.

00:32:10.679 --> 00:32:18.248
Yeah, the chancellor deemed it unacceptable for an honorable nation emphasizing their responsibility for the israeli safety.

00:32:18.248 --> 00:32:27.644
Okay, okay, realizing that they couldn't stall the increasingly agitated terrorists much longer, both sides needed a new plan.

00:32:27.644 --> 00:32:36.061
Sure, the terrorists and hostages would be transported to Munich's airport and flown out on a Lufthansa.

00:32:40.330 --> 00:32:41.171
Can you try it again?

00:32:42.092 --> 00:32:42.893
Lufthansa.

00:32:42.893 --> 00:32:43.554
I think it's.

00:32:43.953 --> 00:32:44.494
Lufthansa.

00:32:44.855 --> 00:32:45.395
Yeah, what is that?

00:32:45.395 --> 00:32:46.196
Is that an airport?

00:32:46.396 --> 00:32:47.357
It's an airline.

00:32:47.438 --> 00:32:49.140
Airline, yeah, yeah.

00:32:49.339 --> 00:32:49.839
That word.

00:32:51.061 --> 00:32:52.563
Lufthasana Lufthansa.

00:32:53.884 --> 00:32:54.444
Lufthansa.

00:32:54.444 --> 00:32:59.117
I've made you watch Goodfellas once before, right.

00:32:59.137 --> 00:32:59.358
Yeah.

00:33:00.931 --> 00:33:04.115
One of the whole big things is the Lufthansa.

00:33:04.115 --> 00:33:10.884
Now you're making me fucking say it wrong, sorry, but yeah, it's an airline, if I'm not mistaken.

00:33:11.309 --> 00:33:12.973
Okay, like a Delta or a Southwest.

00:33:12.973 --> 00:33:15.800
Yeah, okay, yeah, lufthansa.

00:33:16.060 --> 00:33:16.501
There it is.

00:33:17.009 --> 00:33:18.656
Flight number 727.

00:33:18.656 --> 00:33:21.438
Oh, good number, with Cairo as their destination.

00:33:21.438 --> 00:33:21.679
Okay.

00:33:21.950 --> 00:33:23.056
Going to go see some pyramids.

00:33:23.056 --> 00:33:27.471
Their new deadline was 7 pm.

00:33:27.471 --> 00:33:28.112
Moved it back again.

00:33:28.132 --> 00:33:34.742
Okay, so the 727 had flown to a west german air base about 60 miles from munich.

00:33:34.742 --> 00:33:39.077
Yeah, there, no crew was willing to fly this plane well, can you blame?

00:33:39.097 --> 00:33:42.215
them, they didn't want to be a part of this that didn't matter.

00:33:42.215 --> 00:33:47.634
The germans never intended them to leave anyway no, they were just basically doing it for show, right?

00:33:47.634 --> 00:33:47.913
Yeah?

00:33:48.596 --> 00:33:59.392
so plans were underway to just deploy sharpshooters to the air base, hoping a sniper could eliminate the leader, sure prompting the others to surrender yeah, I guess.

00:33:59.592 --> 00:34:02.175
I mean, I see the logic, but probably poor, poor.

00:34:02.977 --> 00:34:09.686
Yes, so Black September also misled everyone about their destination.

00:34:09.686 --> 00:34:18.384
Upon reaching the airfield, they demanded an eight-person crew revealing their final destination after takeoff.

00:34:18.384 --> 00:34:20.617
So we don't actually know where they were going to go.

00:34:20.769 --> 00:34:22.175
We don't know where they actually wanted to go.

00:34:22.175 --> 00:34:22.777
Yeah, gotcha.

00:34:23.610 --> 00:34:24.514
At 10 pm.

00:34:24.795 --> 00:34:28.230
Yeah go.

00:34:28.250 --> 00:34:29.092
We don't know where they actually wanted.

00:34:29.092 --> 00:34:29.655
Yeah, gotcha at 10 pm.

00:34:29.655 --> 00:34:42.394
Yeah, nearly 18 hours after the assault began, the eight terrorists, with their blindfolded hostages tied together, were led out of the building and onto a german army bus okay they were driven through a tunnel to a makeshift helicopter pad 275 meters away.

00:34:42.394 --> 00:34:55.342
All right, they boarded two helicopters for a 25-minute flight to the airport Gotcha, and then was preceded by a third helicopter carrying German officials and Israeli intelligence.

00:34:55.992 --> 00:34:58.199
And this was they were taking them to the Munich airport.

00:34:59.793 --> 00:35:02.664
It was a German base airport but yes, essentially.

00:35:02.664 --> 00:35:06.661
Gotcha At the airport, 500 soldiers were deployed.

00:35:06.661 --> 00:35:13.840
Oh, jesus only five sharpshooters were positioned to take out eight terrorists.

00:35:13.960 --> 00:35:17.815
They couldn't find three more I guess not that sucks.

00:35:17.815 --> 00:35:19.137
I mean, I feel like that's.

00:35:19.137 --> 00:35:23.373
I understand they're kind of trying to figure this out on the fly, but damn yeah okay.

00:35:23.373 --> 00:35:23.934
Yeah, okay.

00:35:24.815 --> 00:35:28.882
When the helicopters landed, two terrorists checked the 727.

00:35:28.882 --> 00:35:36.902
Okay, two more then ordered the helicopter crews out, violating their promise not to use Germans as hostages.

00:35:37.083 --> 00:35:37.143
Oh.

00:35:37.184 --> 00:35:37.565
Jesus.

00:35:37.565 --> 00:35:46.751
The five sharpshooters three in the control tower and two on the field were instructed to fire when the terrace presented the most targets.

00:35:46.751 --> 00:36:05.862
The terrace never exposed more than four at once, adding to the problem right the local police sharpshooters declined infrared scopes offered by the army, relying on regular scopes in a flood lit shadow field field.

00:36:05.862 --> 00:36:09.565
Shadow filled field there it is why?

00:36:09.565 --> 00:36:12.333
Why, I don't know fucking idiots.

00:36:13.275 --> 00:36:15.458
Good lord, I mean you.

00:36:15.458 --> 00:36:17.663
So because you said this is at 10 o'clock.

00:36:17.663 --> 00:36:38.083
Yes, right under the cloak of night it's nighttime, the only way you're gonna have lights is obviously artificial lights, causing a lot more shadows a lot of shadows and oh wow, pretty dumb to deny wanting, though like no, we're good, we got this, yeah, sharpshooters not so sharp, hey, oh.

00:36:39.206 --> 00:36:47.284
So moments later a sniper fired, oh shit followed by the other, so chaotic gunfire erupted.

00:36:47.284 --> 00:36:53.961
Two terrorists guarding the helicopter crews were hit and a pilot was wounded, oh dear.

00:36:53.961 --> 00:37:04.860
A third terrorist on the tarmac was killed okay the leader, in his tennis hat and blackened face, dove under a helicopter and returned fire, oh dear.

00:37:04.860 --> 00:37:08.545
And he disabled the control tower's lights and radio.

00:37:08.545 --> 00:37:14.041
Oh wow, a Munich police sergeant taking cover by the control tower was killed.

00:37:14.201 --> 00:37:14.561
Oh geez.

00:37:15.690 --> 00:37:20.981
Meanwhile, the Israeli hostages remained in the helicopter surrounded by this gunfire.

00:37:20.981 --> 00:37:29.123
Sure, a terrorist threw a hand grenade into one of the helicopters, killing five of the hostages inside.

00:37:29.570 --> 00:37:30.355
Good Lord.

00:37:31.291 --> 00:37:36.061
The remaining hostages in the second helicopter were machine gunned to death.

00:37:36.963 --> 00:37:39.574
Oh, so all the hostages were killed.

00:37:39.936 --> 00:37:41.541
Yeah, wow.

00:37:41.541 --> 00:37:49.603
And surprisingly, the battle of this gunfire continued for another hour I'm not surprised.

00:37:49.664 --> 00:37:51.541
I mean, they probably didn't know that those people are dead.

00:37:51.541 --> 00:37:56.177
Yeah, it's not like they're just gonna like, oh well, lost her shot, let's go home, folks.

00:37:56.177 --> 00:38:05.864
I mean, obviously it's not like that, so, oh, that's terrible so five terrorists, including the leader, were killed and three surrendered.

00:38:05.864 --> 00:38:07.333
Well, I would imagine.

00:38:08.818 --> 00:38:09.831
Get this False.

00:38:09.831 --> 00:38:15.222
False rumors spread that all the terrorists were captured and all the hostages were alive.

00:38:15.590 --> 00:38:16.936
Who would spread that fucking rumor?

00:38:16.936 --> 00:38:18.697
Because that's a dick move to do.

00:38:19.369 --> 00:38:24.561
And this was broadcast live, so like the constant narration of what's happening, right?

00:38:24.561 --> 00:38:35.492
So it prompted premature celebrations in israel, sure, and four hours later, german authorities admitted that the news wasn't was a mistake, right?

00:38:35.632 --> 00:38:40.811
I'm not sure how it became a mistake, but that's wild that people would allow that to get out.

00:38:40.811 --> 00:38:41.755
But they.

00:38:42.277 --> 00:38:48.153
They had captured three terrorists the ones who surrendered two of whom were wounded, but their identities were unknown.

00:38:48.153 --> 00:39:05.603
Their pictures were broadcast to identify them and trace their movements okay black september, demanded their release, threatening further attacks of course they did the morning after the murders, 80 000 people attended a memorial service in the Olympic Stadium.

00:39:05.603 --> 00:39:11.862
Wow, their surviving Israeli team, heavily guarded, sat with the other athletes.

00:39:11.862 --> 00:39:23.561
Wow, the stadium was draped in black and, for the first time in Olympic history, the flags of all 122 nations and the Olympic flag flew at half-mast.

00:39:23.742 --> 00:39:26.427
That's crazy and the Olympic flag flew at half-mast.

00:39:26.427 --> 00:39:26.827
That's crazy.

00:39:26.827 --> 00:39:31.744
Munich's Philharmonic Orchestra played the somber funeral march from Beethoven's Symphony.

00:39:31.784 --> 00:39:31.945
No 3.

00:39:31.965 --> 00:39:34.896
Okay, but a question kind of hung in the air.

00:39:35.599 --> 00:39:35.840
Yeah.

00:39:36.090 --> 00:39:37.615
Should the games continue?

00:39:38.097 --> 00:39:50.630
Well, yeah, I mean you would think like life goes on, but at the same time we kind of fucked up life goes on.

00:39:50.650 --> 00:40:00.192
But at the same time we kind of fucked up avery brundage, an 84 year old who was retiring not quite but retiring as ioc chair, the international olympic committee yep declared quote.

00:40:00.652 --> 00:40:06.083
The games must go on yeah, because he's a dick and they dick and they don't want to not make their money.

00:40:06.369 --> 00:40:07.715
The stadium crowd cheered.

00:40:08.329 --> 00:40:10.559
Of course they did, because they're like resilience.

00:40:12.250 --> 00:40:20.302
So one obvious factor was the desire to deny the terrorists the satisfaction of halting the Olympics.

00:40:21.003 --> 00:40:21.844
I understand that.

00:40:22.030 --> 00:40:24.139
Yeah, but it is kind of troubling.

00:40:24.610 --> 00:40:26.978
But that's not what the terrorists were going for.

00:40:26.978 --> 00:40:28.876
They weren't going to stop the Olympics.

00:40:28.876 --> 00:40:34.619
They were going to be like hey, look at us, we're going to fuck these people up because of the conflict we've been having forever.

00:40:35.001 --> 00:40:42.702
Basically, so the Israeli government protested that the game should be suspended, while Israeli mourned its Olympic dead.

00:40:42.702 --> 00:40:47.061
Yeah, many felt the tragedy was too immense for the games to continue.

00:40:47.061 --> 00:40:56.824
Yet with the Israeli government and the Olympic team, ioc endorsement, they continued, of course.

00:40:56.824 --> 00:41:07.092
So once the fundamental decisions were made no prisoner release in Israel, no, allowing the terrorists to leave with hostages force was the only remaining option.

00:41:07.092 --> 00:41:24.639
Sure, the decision against a prisoner exchange was israel's, while the final ambush was based on west germany's belief that the terrorists would kill the hostages elsewhere right so the terrorists had threatened to execute them the following morning if prisoners weren't released right.

00:41:25.039 --> 00:41:44.360
While this was likely black september's intent, there was some doubt they had ignored previous deadlines and the hostages were arguably more valuable alive rather than dead you would think so yeah, the true failure, however, lay in the preventable lack of security.

00:41:44.480 --> 00:41:48.085
Well, I mean that's just such a fucking misstep of whatever.

00:41:48.409 --> 00:41:51.458
And, obviously, the botched execution of the rescue plan.

00:41:51.478 --> 00:42:16.045
Well, of course, but like the fact that they were so understaffed or understaffed, whatever you want to call it for security to spend only $2 million for this Olympics and you got all these different countries they all don't get along clearly and excuse me and you have just minimal, minimal fucking security that would allow this to like.

00:42:16.045 --> 00:42:29.387
This could have been clearly preventable because, or at least it would have went a way different way different, yeah because, hey, these people that we don't know are coming in, let's get them.

00:42:29.916 --> 00:42:34.003
Bullshit, whatever you want to say, but wow hey, I've got that number.

00:42:35.786 --> 00:42:43.449
Olympic security less than two million dollars in 72 yeah is now over one billion dollars in 2021 isn't that crazy.

00:42:45.257 --> 00:42:49.065
How much is two, two uh million dollars in today money?

00:42:49.065 --> 00:43:00.726
15 million so, even so, a billion to 15 million, I mean that's holy shit delete, delete, delete, delete, delete.

00:43:01.307 --> 00:43:06.739
I had to do the the three zero and the comma yeah, okay okay, moving on.

00:43:06.759 --> 00:43:25.603
Let's not talk about that okay, we're gonna hash it out later so, a month after the munich massacre, another palestinian terrorist group hijacked lufthansa lufthansa flight 615 demanding the release of the three surviving Black September members.

00:43:25.864 --> 00:43:33.632
Oh Jesus, west government, nope, west Germany Complied, really, yeah.

00:43:35.757 --> 00:43:36.922
Fucking bitches.

00:43:37.996 --> 00:43:41.726
In response, Israel launched Operation Wrath of God.

00:43:42.476 --> 00:43:43.782
That is a cool fucking name.

00:43:44.614 --> 00:43:50.704
Authorizing to track down and eliminate those responsible for the Munich Massacre, which they did.

00:43:51.567 --> 00:43:53.449
Good, yes, because that's horseshit.

00:43:53.655 --> 00:43:59.074
So in Munich's Olympic Park there is an official memorial site dedicated to the victims.

00:43:59.153 --> 00:43:59.295
Okay.

00:43:59.815 --> 00:44:03.583
This site provides information about the events and commemorates those who lost their lives.

00:44:03.583 --> 00:44:19.496
Sure now, as mentioned early on, yeah steven spielberg's 2005 film eunuch right does portray these events okay it stars eric banna banna banna daniel craig oh, that's right, he is in there and jeff Jeffrey Rush.

00:44:19.496 --> 00:44:21.018
Oh, I like him too.

00:44:21.018 --> 00:44:30.925
Yeah, there is also a newly released movie from 2024 called September 5th, starring Peter Sarsgaard.

00:44:31.226 --> 00:44:34.608
Yes, because it's funny, because you kept bringing up the date.

00:44:34.608 --> 00:44:38.590
Yes, I saw that just came out because I go to Sarah.

00:44:38.590 --> 00:44:39.512
Hey, look it.

00:44:39.512 --> 00:44:40.572
We should see this movie.

00:44:40.572 --> 00:44:42.855
Why?

00:44:42.855 --> 00:44:44.277
Because it's our son's birthday.

00:44:45.018 --> 00:44:51.327
Well, that movie, September 5th, is about the journalist Jim McKay, who televised for 16 hours straight.

00:44:52.047 --> 00:44:54.974
Oh, it's a different perspective, then it is Gotcha.

00:44:55.436 --> 00:45:02.429
I think the majority of the film, like 95% of the film, is taking place inside the control booth the booth, yeah.

00:45:02.429 --> 00:45:12.407
So I'm going to kind of give you um a brief recap of an interview that Jim McKay did While on air.

00:45:12.588 --> 00:45:15.262
Yeah, no just an interview years later.

00:45:15.262 --> 00:45:16.244
Yeah, years later.

00:45:16.675 --> 00:45:19.903
He actually had like a three hour interview and this was just a section of it.

00:45:19.903 --> 00:45:26.121
Sure, um, and I'm'm gonna recap that section, so I will also link that video in my show notes.

00:45:26.121 --> 00:45:51.476
Sure, um, so jim mckay was not the primary host of the olympic game coverage okay, he was over there with his wife, yeah, yeah chris shankle held that role for a nightly three-hour show gotcha however, one morning his day off, of course he received a call where it was relayed to him quote terrorists had invaded the israeli team headquarters gym.

00:45:52.018 --> 00:45:53.461
They've killed one man already.

00:45:53.461 --> 00:45:55.606
They're threatened to kill one every hour.

00:45:55.606 --> 00:45:57.137
We want you to stand by.

00:45:57.137 --> 00:45:58.480
We'll be going on the air.

00:45:58.480 --> 00:45:59.782
We want you to host the show.

00:45:59.782 --> 00:46:02.487
End quote the show so he's on standby.

00:46:02.487 --> 00:46:04.784
He doesn't know what to do, so what does he do instead?

00:46:04.784 --> 00:46:09.501
He does what he does every single morning before work, he goes to the pool for laps.

00:46:10.083 --> 00:46:13.213
Wow, okay I mean, he doesn't know what to do.

00:46:13.213 --> 00:46:17.824
He doesn't know what to do in the wings at this point yeah, so then he does receive a follow-up call.

00:46:18.204 --> 00:46:20.599
Quote jim, get on your horse and get out here.

00:46:20.599 --> 00:46:25.262
We're going on the air in 45 minutes he had a horse I think it was just a figure speech.

00:46:25.262 --> 00:46:27.286
Was it a thoroughbred, maybe?

00:46:27.286 --> 00:46:29.677
A quarter horse so jim rushed to the studio.

00:46:29.677 --> 00:46:33.385
He found that the team had already set up a single camera.

00:46:33.385 --> 00:46:41.144
The only one that would have would have 16 hours of documented reels.

00:46:41.846 --> 00:46:50.367
Isn't it wild that there's like photographic whatever you want to call evidence of all this, because they like let's film it.

00:46:50.367 --> 00:46:51.898
Yeah, that's just yeah.

00:46:51.898 --> 00:46:54.804
To think about that, it's just fucking weird um.

00:46:54.864 --> 00:46:58.760
So during the broadcast he became acutely aware of david berger.

00:46:58.760 --> 00:47:02.628
He was an american, israeli weightlifter.

00:47:02.628 --> 00:47:04.954
Okay, from shaker heights, ohio.

00:47:04.954 --> 00:47:13.940
Okay, he said, quote I thought I'm going to be the guy to tell that family in shaker heights, ohio whether their son and brother is alive or dead.

00:47:13.940 --> 00:47:14.822
End quote.

00:47:16.204 --> 00:47:22.679
Ultimately, he did have to deliver that news oh, really, he was one of the ones that Yep Okay.

00:47:23.639 --> 00:47:33.331
So Jim emphasized that his background in newspaper reporting prepared him for the factual aspects of this particular broadcast, because he was in sports, sure.

00:47:33.331 --> 00:47:38.034
But he started off just as every other journalist reporting the facts.

00:47:38.034 --> 00:47:41.164
So he says quote reporting is reporting.

00:47:41.164 --> 00:47:43.559
Reporting the facts.

00:47:43.559 --> 00:47:44.623
So he says quote reporting is reporting.

00:47:44.623 --> 00:47:50.666
It's basically the same thing telling the facts of what have happened here and is happening here and also giving something of the flavor of what it feels like to be here at this point.

00:47:50.666 --> 00:47:54.358
Sure, the idea of telling these people that all these men were dead.

00:47:54.358 --> 00:47:55.420
Of course I did it.

00:47:55.961 --> 00:48:04.739
It was one of the most terrible moments of my life and I can't imagine it was it wasn't because could you imagine being there like, yep, more people are dead.

00:48:04.739 --> 00:48:06.206
Yeah, more people are dead.

00:48:06.226 --> 00:48:12.202
It's like fuck that man, that sucks the broadcast involved live reporting from peter jennings.

00:48:12.202 --> 00:48:30.628
Oh hey, yeah, he was in the olympic village at this time okay jennings was also available to provide crucial information via somewhere like complex communication setup okay yeah, um, a producer also infiltrated the village equipped with a 16 millimeter camera.

00:48:30.896 --> 00:48:32.458
Jeez, quote.

00:48:32.458 --> 00:48:36.547
I knew this one building was exactly facing the building where they were held.

00:48:36.547 --> 00:48:41.664
The producer stated, describing him coming like essentially face to face with a terrorist.

00:48:41.664 --> 00:48:56.005
Sure, so the day was filled with tension, evolving deadlines and jim says, quote when I was a kid, my father always told me that our greatest hopes and our worst fears were seldom realized.

00:48:56.005 --> 00:49:01.083
Okay, tonight, our worst feel fears have been realized sure, yeah, I.

00:49:01.846 --> 00:49:07.141
You're seeing shit unfold real time and not a great outcome.

00:49:07.141 --> 00:49:07.543
Yeah.

00:49:08.416 --> 00:49:16.704
So Jim described the chaotic aftermath, including the false report that the hostage rescue was successful.

00:49:16.724 --> 00:49:16.824
Yeah.

00:49:17.936 --> 00:49:31.590
So, upon returning to his hotel room, like they wrapped up, upon returning to his hotel room, like they wrapped up upon returning to his hotel room, his wife, who was sleeping at the time he woke up and she was like I'm just so glad that everybody made it out safe and he goes no they're all dead yeah.

00:49:31.590 --> 00:49:35.063
He got two hours of sleep that night.

00:49:35.063 --> 00:49:37.882
Then he had to prepare for the memorial service.

00:49:38.164 --> 00:49:38.405
Right.

00:49:39.635 --> 00:49:48.586
He found a note from Walter Cronkite oh good old walter and it said, quote jim, you were a credit to your network, to your medium and to yourself.

00:49:48.806 --> 00:49:52.597
End quote I mean, that's pretty good coming from walter conk.

00:49:52.597 --> 00:50:04.760
Right, he was looked at as a very uh, I don't know what the word I'm looking for prestigious yeah public figure yeah because he was on the news for ever, if I remember right.

00:50:04.760 --> 00:50:08.085
Yeah, so walter cronkite so that was the.

00:50:08.445 --> 00:50:10.617
So the september 5th movie.

00:50:10.617 --> 00:50:13.786
September 5 is really what it says, but um, it was.

00:50:13.786 --> 00:50:21.259
It's based on jim mckay's broadcasting and then munich is based on the actual I just saw that come out.

00:50:21.278 --> 00:50:26.302
Like I said, I didn't look into it, I just saw the title or something, whatever it was.

00:50:26.302 --> 00:50:30.507
I had no idea that those were linked together.

00:50:30.567 --> 00:50:39.336
So that's wild, but that is the tragic story of the 1972 Israeli Olympic massacre Way to bring down the mood.

00:50:39.336 --> 00:50:44.331
Sorry about the somberness, but this is a really interesting story.

00:50:45.293 --> 00:50:45.614
It is.

00:50:45.614 --> 00:50:49.425
Yeah, it's really sad that obviously again played out like it did.

00:50:49.425 --> 00:50:57.867
Yeah, it's sad that they and I understand why they picked the platform they did it on Is that the right word?

00:50:57.867 --> 00:51:02.242
I'm looking at Not really platform, Because more eyes were on it.

00:51:02.242 --> 00:51:03.798
So I understand that.

00:51:03.798 --> 00:51:07.023
Yeah, man, what a, what a dick move.

00:51:07.454 --> 00:51:11.519
Well, let's, let's cheers with your nearly empty gin and tonic.

00:51:11.519 --> 00:51:13.021
Nearly Cheers.

00:51:16.585 --> 00:51:19.449
Ah, water Welp, I suppose.

00:51:19.449 --> 00:51:20.550
All right, buffoons.

00:51:20.550 --> 00:51:21.940
That's it for today's episode.

00:51:22.594 --> 00:51:25.804
Buckle up, because we've got another historical adventure waiting for you.

00:51:25.804 --> 00:51:33.755
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00:51:34.076 --> 00:51:35.402
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00:51:40.126 --> 00:51:44.184
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00:51:44.184 --> 00:51:46.099
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00:51:46.099 --> 00:51:47.740
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00:51:53.115 --> 00:51:56.141
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