How much does forgiveness cost? 28 million euros for the families of those murdered in Munich and the German conscience is (again) cleared. 50 years after the terror in Munich, the failure of the authorities there, the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes by terrorists, a special ceremony will be held in which the families of the murdered will participate. The families and the German government have reached a compromise – they will receive 28 million euros and in this they are essentially accepting the participation in the memorial ceremony and the “normalization” of relations between them and the German authorities. In fact, money bought forgiveness. The truth – that’s what’s left. The dead won’t come back to life, so at least there is compensation, but it’s a little disturbing, and it reminds me of Germany’s payments to Holocaust survivors. There was no choice, the country was in a deep recession, and the payments from Germany put the economy on the high road. But these payments are for clearing the conscience of the Germans. And the question of whether the dead-murdered have a price? Those murdered in the Holocaust and those murdered in Munich 50 years ago.
The agreement is an achievement for German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who said today: “In my speech at the state ceremony in Munich tomorrow, I will point out the incorrect assessments made by the authorities and the omissions during the Olympic Games. I will also refer to the suppression and forgetting of the last 50 years, it took 50 years to get to this and it is embarrassing and shameful.” . Steinmeier said in a joint press conference with the country’s President Yitzhak Herzog, that there were omissions and incorrect and insufficient assessments by the authorities at the Olympic Games in Munich 1972. Omissions that resulted in a murderous terrorist attack and the murder of 11 Israeli athletes. “It took us 50 years to reach these conclusions and it’s embarrassing and shameful,” said Steinmeier.
Tomorrow during the state ceremony on the 50th anniversary of the massacre in Munich, Steinmeier will announce that Germany takes responsibility for the omissions that led to the massacre of the athletes and will also establish a joint commission of historians to investigate the events and for the first time receive full access to all the archival materials that were hidden from the families for years.
The families’ participation in the ceremony was made possible thanks to compensation that Germany will pay to the families of the murdered. The German government will pay 28 million euros to the families of the murdered who initially demanded compensation of 100 million euros.
“The agreement on the compensation did not manage to heal all the wounds, but we can be optimistic because of it,” said Steinmeier, “we can get closer to each other again, we will do everything so that it will not be a burden on the relations between the countries in the future.”
President Herzog said at the joint press conference that the families tried to raise this issue again and again, for many years, also in front of the International Olympic Committee, and ran into a wall. “The more I sat with the families, I saw and heard about inhumane cases, including hostages being taken to the slaughter while the games were going on. This is documented,” said President Herzog, “”This is a human phenomenon that they didn’t want to talk about and in my opinion it’s a shame, that’s why the agreement is very important. It makes it possible to deal with a human phenomenon, with the pain, the failures, the tragedy, the mistakes. teach future generations. I want us to teach them how terrible terrorism is. How can the Olympic spirit be violated? I know that the families were very much looking forward to it.”
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