Family members of the 11 Israeli athletes and officials killed at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich are calling the German government’s latest compensation offer “degrading” and “insulting.”
It’s been almost 50 years since members of the Palestinian group Black September took Israeli athletes hostage from the Olympic village in hopes of securing the release of prisoners held by Israel and two left-wing extremists in West German jails.
The failed rescue attempt resulted in the death of all the hostages and five of the eight Black September members. A month later, the three surviving perpetrators were released from a West German prison in a hostage exchange following the hijacking of Lufthansa Flight 615.
With the anniversary of the massacre approaching, Germany’s Interior Ministry has been in discussions with the victims’ relatives regarding how the “serious consequences for the surviving dependents of the victims in immaterial and material terms” should be re-examined.
Germany paid about 2 million euros to relatives of the victims soon after the attack, adding another 3 million euros to surviving family members in 2002. The country’s latest offer reportedly stands at 10 million euros, a number that includes past payments.
Ankie Spitzer, the widow of Andre Spitzer, a fencing coach with the Israeli Olympic team who died in the attack, was part of the group that turned down Germany’s latest offer.
“The sum we have been offered is insulting,” Spitzer told RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland newspaper group on Wednesday. “We are angry and disappointed.”
If the current offer stands, Spitzer said the victims’ relatives will not attend a planned memorial event for the 50th anniversary of the attack in Munich in early September.
A claim for compensation payments totaling more than $20 million cited mistakes made by German police, but it was dismissed due to the statute of limitations. Ilana Romano, the widow of Yossef Romano, a weightlifter who was one of the first Israelis killed, said that the current reparations offer is too little, too late.
“The offer is degrading, and we are standing by our stance that we are boycotting the (anniversary) ceremony,” she said, adding that Germany “threw us to the dogs. They mistreated us for 50 years.
“They decided to take responsibility — very nice after 50 years,” Romano said, calling for proper compensation for the families, “not pennies.”
Germany shouldn’t have to pay a thing, the greediness of the family members is astonishing, we want money, more money, money is all we care about!!!
Greed?
These families lost everything.
They just now rejected a compensation offer, saying “take your money and shove it”. Not knowing if there will be another, and not agreeing to partake in commemoration events in Munich.
No, the only “greed” these families have, is to have has their husbands/sons/father, still alive.
“The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.” These words, spoken by Marc Antony in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, seem particularly apt here.
Will Israel compensate Palestine for the Balfour agreement ?
For what?
Belfour was an agreement to divide a British territory and who to allocate sovereignty to and later they cancelled it when WW2 started?
Or do you mean land past the green line that was governed and part of Jordan and Egypt before 1967 which neither state wanted back?
It was an extreme case to decide if sport should be involved in political life. To continue Olympic Games after terrorist attack and death of eleven Olympians or not to. Decided that not all lives matter.
I am wondering what is it behind German government’s desire to pay some money to relatives of victims of this terrible event. I don’t think there are any legal obligations. And if it isn’t then how they determined what would be appropriate.