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Opening Ceremony
The Olympic opening ceremony happens in Munich on August 26, 1972. The Olympic Flame is lit by Gunter Zahn. The official opening of the games was by President Gustav Heinemann. -
Fiddler on the Roof
The Israeli team went out together and saw the play "Fiddler on the Roof" and then went back and slept. They were staying at 31 Connollystrasse in the Olympic Village. -
Infiltration and Taking Hostage
At 4:00 AM, eight members of the Palestinian terrorist organization called "Black September" snuck into the Olympic Village by climbing over a six-foot wall.
At 4:30 AM, the eight Black September group members entered Aparments 1 & 3 where the Israeli team was staying. The Israelis fought back. Two Israelis were killed, some escaped by jumping out of the window, and nine were taken hostage. -
Operation Sunshine
Police officers create the plan Operation Sunshine to try and storm the apartment and catch the terrorists by surprise. However, the entire procedure of police officers setting up to attack was filmed and aired live on TV. The Black September group was watching the entire time and yelled out at the police officers to stop or they would kill the hostages. -
Negotiation
At 5:10, the police and media are aware of the attack and the news starts to spread around the world. Black September drops a ransom note out of the window: 234 prisoners released from Israeli prisons and 2 from a German prison by 9:00 AM.
Over the next several hours, negotiators are able to move the deadline until noon, then 1:00 PM, then 3:00 PM, then 5:00 PM. The terrorists start to realize that their demands wern't going to be met. They request for two planes to fly to Cairo, Egypt. -
Ambush at the Airport
At around 10:30, the Black September group along with their hostages were transported to the Furstenfeldbruck airport. A squad of German policemen and snipers were waiting to ambush them. At the last minute, the policemen make a decision to leave, and left five German snipers. They shot and killed 5 of the terrorists, and captured 3. During the action, one terrorist gunned down half of the Israelis, and another tossed a grenade in the helicopter that the rest of the Israelis were bound in. -
Memorial Service
On Septmeber 6, 1972, the Olympics, being postponed, held a memorial service for the Israeli hostages. It was attended by around 80,000 spectators and 3,000 athletes. -
Hijacked
On October 26, 1972, the Lufthansa Flight 615 was hijacked by terrorists and they threatened to blow up the plane if Germany did not release the three Black September group members captured after being involved in the Munich Massacre.