The German government has appointed a commission to re-examine the attack on Israeli athletes and team members at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in a statement on Friday.
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"For too many years, there was a lack of understanding or reappraisal of the events, transparency about them or acceptance of responsibility for them," she said.
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The project is part of an agreement Germany reached with the victims' families last year, including a compensation offer of €28 million ($30.6 million).
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The deal was an attempt to bring closure to the events of September 1972, when the Summer Olympic Games in Munich took a tragic turn — and led to a bitter 50-year long dispute between the bereaved Israeli families and the German government.
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On September 5, 1972, Palestinians from the Black September militant group broke into the Israeli Olympic team's quarters in the Bavarian capital.
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They shot and killed weightlifter Yossef Romano and wrestling coach Mosche Weinberg and took nine other Israelis as hostages.
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In exchange for their release, the hostage-takers demanded the release of 234 prisoners held in Israel and West Germany.
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A botched rescue operation by the West German authorities left all nine hostages dead. Five hostage-takers and a German police officer were also killed.
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The terror attack caused a deep rift between Germany and Israel, just 27 years after the Holocaust, during which Nazi Germany murdered over 6 million Jews.
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It also shattered the West German government's hope to use the international sporting event to present the country and its people in a new, friendlier light.
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Family members of the victims had long demanded that the German state take responsibility and pay them a fair compensation.
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Last year, Germany agreed to an increased €28 million payout for relatives.
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At a ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary of the attack last year, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier asked for forgiveness from the families.
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Over the past decade, efforts have been made to remember and confront the events — for example, by setting up a memorial in Munich's Olympic Park.
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sri/nm (AFP, Reuters, EPD)
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