Esi Maman |
Anki Spitzer and Ilana Romano (Amit Shissel, courtesy of the Israel Olympic Committee)
Accelerated negotiations are underway between the German government and senior Israeli officials, in order to increase the amount of compensation for the families of the 11 victims of the massacre at the Munich 1972 Olympic Games. The Germans are ready to increase the amount of compensation, which until now was only 5.5 million dollars, which most of the families rejected and were not ready to receive it.
The families’ demand is a compensation of at least 23 million dollars. Israel’s ambassador to Germany, Ron Proschauer, even met with the German finance minister. The entire German top brass is busy and efforts are being made around the clock to reach an understanding. This must be cut in the next day.
The German government is holding a memorial ceremony in Munich next week on the 50th anniversary of the massacre, in which the families of the murdered, the country’s president Yitzhak Herzog, and other Israeli officials were supposed to participate. After the families rejected the German offer and announced that they would not take part in the ceremony, the Olympic Committee also announced that they would boycott the ceremony.
Ilana, the widow of Yosef Romano, told ONE at the time: “This is an insulting offer that is unacceptable to us, because it is not even according to the German compensation standard. The Germans screwed up all along. It’s a scam and they lied all along. Germany was not interested in anything, it was only interested in how to get away with the murder of 11 Israelis. Let them take responsibility now.”
The President of Germany, Frank Walter Steinmeier, even wanted to come to Israel last week to meet with the families, as we first published in ONE, but because in Germany itself they were unable to reach an agreement regarding the amount of compensation, the German President postponed the arrival.
Now, in Germany, they understand that they must increase the amount of compensation for the families in order to end this crisis, when the goal is for the families and senior Israeli officials to attend the ceremony at the beginning of next week. The parties are expected to continue negotiations today with the aim of reaching an agreement acceptable to the families and the German government.
