Beginning in summer 2023, an international commission of historians and the Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History have been working together on a project to “examine and reappraise the attack on the Israeli Olympic team of 5 September 1972, during the Olympic Games in Munich, including its background and aftermath.”
Open questions remain, for example, regarding the exchange of intelligence during the period leading up to the attack, the perpetrators’ background and networks, and possible support on the part of German left- and right-wing extremists. Information on the course of events and the police operation in Fürstenfeldbruck continues to be inconclusive so that the events in both the olympic village and the airfield need to be examined in detail. This includes the work of the crisis team and its communications with the hostage-takers and with the Israeli government. Additional investigation is necessary to understand the reasons behind the rejection of the Israeli government’s proposal to deploy an elite unit to free the hostages. There has been considerable speculation concerning the hijacking of a Lufthansa airplane in October 1972, which led to the release of the surviving perpetrators. A pivotal objective of the project is to attain the most comprehensive understanding possible of these events. The perspective of the victims’ bereaved relatives also forms part of the project’s focus, as well as their communications with authorities and politicians, and subsequent efforts to obtain information and compensation.
The complete disclosure of sources is necessary for any comprehensive and transparent research, and yet documents still continue to be classified over five decades after the attack. This applies to the relevant Bavarian authorities and archives as well as to federal ministries and agencies, and intelligence services in particular. The Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community has pledged its full support to the project to this end.