Cause And Consequences Of The Munich Olympics

The causes and consequences of the hostage situation at the Munich Olympics can be related back to their claims to the area now known as Israel. The short term cause was the Palestinian’s desire to draw the world’s attention to this situation. This ultimate resulted in the deaths of 17 people, including freedom fighters and athletes, that night due to a bungled response from the German authorities. This greatly increased the tension in Israel, which still continues today.

The Palestinians struggle to regain their homeland has resulted in excessive tension between the Jews and the Palestinians which led up to the hostage taking at the Munich Olympics in 1972. The tension between the Palestinians and the Jews originated in World War I when the

Mohammed Oudeh- also known as Abu Daoud, the main planner of the hostage taking- shows no signs of regret: “There was nothing we weren’t prepared to do to keep the Palestinian cause in the public eye. Before Munich, we were simply terrorists. After Munich, at least people started asking who are these terrorists? … Before Munich, nobody had the slightest idea about Palestine.” The freedom fighters considered the Israelis as ‘bargaining chips’ to help free the Palestinian prisoners. There was no intent to kill the Israelis. Millions of people would be watching the Olympic games from all over the world, this made it the perfect stage for their freedom

11 athletes and 6 others including 5 perpetrators and a German officer who was killed in the crossfire between the Freedom Fighters and the police. An aircraft was supposed to be parked in the space where a sniper was meant to be firing from, he stayed there as he wasn’t given a new position from the Germans, and ended up being killed as he was stuck behind the Palestinians in poor lighting as the Germans open fired. The athletes were also killed, as one of the Freedom fighters threw a grenade into the aircraft they were staying in as soon as things started making a turn for the worse. Some of the freedom fighters were also killed, leaving just 3 alive by the end of the shooting. After the shooting, the Olympics was postponed for a memorial service for the athletes, and security was tightened straight away. After the shooting, the Olympics grounds were immediately fenced in with barbed wire, and the security became better equipped to handle the situation. The shooting had made the Germans realise that the best way to get people to forget about the Nazi Olympics was by keeping them safe, not letting proper security