München 72 - Das Attentat (2012)

At the beginning of the film, Essen police chief inspector Anna Gerbers is told that she will be part of the security forces at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. The scene then shifts to the training camp of the Israeli national fencing team. There, Ankie Spitzer tells her husband André that he will be attending the 1972 Olympics in Munich as the Israeli fencers’ coach. The film then shows the preparations made by the Palestinian terrorist squad of the Black September organization to take the Israeli team hostage during the Games. It also shows the disastrous security measures put in place by the German police (none of the officers known as the “Olys” is armed!) and the authorities’ complete inexperience in dealing with serious violent crime, especially international terrorism. Shortly after the Games begin, at 4:10 a.m. on September 5, the eight-member Palestinian terrorist squad, led by Issa, breaks into the Israelis’ quarters, and a struggle ensues between the hostage-takers and the hostages. The first hostage is shot dead, and another is seriously wounded and later dies of his injuries. One of the Israelis manages to escape, however, and alerts the security forces. Negotiations then begin between the crisis team and Issa, who demands the release of approximately 130 Palestinians and the German RAF terrorist Ulrike Meinhof, as well as an aircraft. After the deadline is extended several times, the Bavarian police plan a rescue operation, but it fails because the hostage-takers can see the live television broadcast—the police have not cut off the electricity—and because the Bavarian officers lack adequate training. Issa then demands that he and all the hostages be flown out immediately. Since they would have to pass through a tunnel to avoid walking through crowds and open ground, the police plan another rescue operation. That, too, fails when the terrorist leader demands an inspection tour and spots the police officers. In the evening, the terrorists and their eleven hostages are flown by helicopter to Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base, from where they are to be flown to an Arab country of their choice aboard a Boeing 727. Another rescue attempt is planned at the airport, with the terrorists to be taken out by snipers. However, due to a communications failure, no one has passed on that there are eight terrorists, not the five expected—hence only five snipers have been deployed. In the ensuing gunfight, which is later joined by armored vehicles, six terrorists and all the hostages are killed when one terrorist realizes the situation is hopeless and shoots the hostages. A German police officer is also killed by a stray bullet. At the subsequent press conference, it emerges that, contrary to what had been announced earlier, none of the hostages were rescued; they were all killed. The final scene shows the formation of GSG 9, led by General Ulrich Wegener, then a lieutenant colonel in the Federal Border Guard, and including one of the helicopter pilots.