Germany assumes responsibility for the attack at the Munich Olympics

BERLIN, Sep. 2 (DPA/EP) –

Germany has formally assumed its responsibility on Friday in the attack against the Israeli team at the 1972 Munich Olympics, days after reaching an agreement to compensate the families of the victims.

“Germany emphasizes its own responsibility, not only for the mistakes made in 1972, but also in subsequent decades,” said government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit on behalf of Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

The families will receive compensation “in recognition of their decades of suffering.” The Ministry of the Interior has confirmed that, in total, 28 million euros will be delivered, of which 22.5 million will be assumed by the Federal Executive, 5 million by the state of Bavaria and 500,000 euros by the city of Munich.

An act in memory of the victims has been called for Monday in which, in addition to the families, the presidents of Israel and Germany, Isaac Herzog and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, respectively, will be present.

Hebestreit has stressed that, “especially on this day, Germany wants to be next to the afflicted”, although he has assumed that it will be difficult for the relatives to return to the place where everything happened.

On September 5, 1972, a group of Palestinian terrorists attacked the Israeli Olympic team in the midst of the Olympic Games. In a failed hostage rescue, eleven Israelis and a German policeman lost their sight.