Toytown Germany

As the global War-on-Terror™ continues, memories persist of the tragic events which occured at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

On 5th September 1972 the entire world's media was focused on the Munich Olympic village as the story of the hostage situation unfolded. Below is the one defining photo of the event. This photograph is so imprinted in the public memory that even a Google image search on the words munich olympics returns this very photo as the first result. But where exactly was the photo taken? Read on for a reconstruction...

[img]http://www.toytowngermany.com/munich/munich-olympic-massacre-1972.jpg[/img]

The Israeli athletes were housed in an apartment in Munich's olympic village (locally known as the "Olydorf"). The address was Connolystrasse 31. Below is a modern photo of that very apartment taken in Summer 2004. The image of the Palestinian terrorist has been superimposed using Photoshop. Note that the recent photo of this apartment block was taken from a lower angle than that of the historic photo. This is why the neighbouring building appears lower than in the original. Also, the tree between the two buildings was not so tall 32 years ago.

[img]http://www.toytowngermany.com/munich/reconstruction_05_sep_1972_2.jpg[/img]
Photoshopping by Bob

And below is a similar superimposition, but this time using a photo of the apartment taken from the other side.

[img]http://www.toytowngermany.com/munich/reconstruction_05_sep_1972_3.jpg[/img]
More photoshopping by Bob

If you look closely at the above photo, in the lower middle, to the right of the blue doorway, you'll see a plaque. This is in remembrance to the 11 athletes killed. A close up photo of the plaque is shown below. Note the pebbles placed on top of the plaque - a customary Jewish way of paying respect to the dead.

[img]http://www.toytowngermany.com/munich/rememberance_plaque.jpg[/img]

Translated into English, the plaque reads:

The Israeli team lived in this building during the 20th Olympic games from 21st August until 5th September 1972. On 5th September the following were brutally killed...

David Berger, Seew Friedman, Josef Gutfreund, Elieser Halfin, Josef Romano, Amizur Shapira, Kehat Shorr, Mark Slavin, Andre Spitzer, Jaakow Springer, Mosche Weinberger

To their remembrance.

If you are intested in learning the full story of this incident, you should get hold of the documentary film One Day in September directed by Kevin Macdonald. This fascinating film is an absolute must for anyone even remotely interested in modern Munich history.

Alternatively you can wait for the new Steven Spielberg film which will document the event and it's aftermath.

Let's just hope that nothing similar happens in Athens this Summer. The games open in Greece on Friday 13th August 2004. Hmmm, Friday 13th? That's not a good sign already!

The BBC is claiming that Athens will be "The greatest security show on Earth". They reckon you'd be safer here than anywhere else in the world this month. $1.2bn has been spent on security (3x what was spent at Sydney) and they have a Nato force on standby. This is in stark contrast to 1972 when the Palestinian terrorists "just jumped over the small fence and in".

'memories of the 1972 Munich Olympics are increasingly on everyone's minds' is a bit of an exaggeration

I think the first thought people have is - will Athens be ready for the Olympics? and the second thought is about possible terrorist threats. (IMHO)
Security is a huge issue though. The terrorists have succeeded in their aim with a lot of people, not only those living in NYC and Washington.

Does someone live in that apartment today? I've always wondered.

The nameplate on the door reads "Gästehaus der Max-Plank-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e.V.".

So I'd guess nobody lives there permanently. It's a guest house.

The nameplate also says, "Please respect the privacy of our guests". So I suppose they frequently get "terror tourists" showing up at the door.

how can one go about arranging a stay at this place? i would like to stay in Olympiapark for a holiday.

I don't suppose the guest house is open to the public. It looks more like it's reserved for visiting academics only.

ah ok.

is there an accommodation office that i could check just in case do you know of?

Try:
http://www.arabellasheraton.com/?pid=100940&lid=de

It is near Olympiapark.

Strayed into this old thread as a result of looking at info on Spielberg's film.

There is a hotel in the Olympiapark, not quite the same as an apartment, but the closest you'll get without renting.

http://www.hotel-rates.com/germany/munich/...lympiapark.html

Cheers.

Mark

i think it was highly irresponsible on part of the the german government to handle the moment with an inexperienced para-military force and not letting or allowing the trrained army men from isreal.it shall all ways be one of the darkest chapters of the german history.

"it shall all ways be one of the darkest chapters of the german history." As opposed to those happy years from 1933 to 1945? Read a little more into German history, it's full of almost nothing but dark and sinful acts that reflect upon Europe as a whole.

If you were a overseas tourist, could you go inside and have a look?

hind sight is always different that fore thought. in other words its always better to say we should DO this rather than we should have DONE that. who would have thought the Olympics would have been attacked or 9-11 or London/Madrid subways. We have to change our mind the way we think. If you throw a terrorist in jail or he/she blows themselves up, theyre happier than any thing. they dont mind dying.