On the 40th anniversary of the abduction and massacre of the 11 Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Munich Olympics, commemoration ceremonies will be held on Wednesday, September 5th 2012, at the Munich Olympic compound and at the military airport of Fürstenfeldbruck, scene of the massacre.
The State of Bavaria will be represented by its Minister –President, Mr. Horst Seehofer, and Head of District Mr. Thomas Karmasin. The Government of Germany will be represented by the Minister of Interior, Dr. Hans-Peter Friedrich, and the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Defence, Mr. Christian Schmidt. Speakers will include the Vice president of the IOC and President of the DOSB (German Olympic Committee) Dr. Thomas Bach, Mayor of Munich, Mr Christian Ude, the President of the Jewish Central Council, Dr. Dieter Graumann, and the President of the Jewish Community in Munich and Upper Bavaria, Mrs. Dr. Charlotte Knobloch.
Israel will be represented by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Regional Development, the Negev and Galilee, Mr. Silvan Shalom, Israel's Ambassador in Germany, Mr Yakov Hadas-Handelsmann, and Israel's Consul General in Munich, Mr Tibor Shalev-Schlosser. A special 21 member delegation, including widows and relatives of the victims, as well as survivors of the attack, was organized by Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and flown in by courtesy of Lufthansa. The delegation also includes presidents of the Israeli Olympic Committee past and present, the manager of the 1972 Olympic Delegation, Mr Shmuel Lalkin, current President of the Israeli Olympic Committee, Mr, Zvi Warshawiak, and it's Secretary General Mr Ephraim Singer.
The delegation will be hosted in Munich by the district of Fürstenfeldbruck, by the local chapter of "Maccabi", by the German Olympic Committee and by the Biography Channel.
A tree for the memory of the victims will be planted at the end of the ceremony by Minister Shalom and Minister-President Seehofer. Consequently, the Ministers will inaugurate a specially produced exhibition depicting the course of events in the day of the attack and massacre.
The ceremony will be aired live by Bavarian Television Bayerischer Rundfunk
Delegation members, relatives of victims:
Ankie Spitzer, widow of fencing coach Andre Spitzer
Ilana Romano, widow of weight-lifter Yosef Romano
Shoshona Springer, widow of weight-lifting referee Yaakov Springer
Mimi Weinberg, widow of wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg
Shoshona and Shay Shapira, widow and son of track and field coach Amitzur Shapira
Michal Shachar, daughter of shooting coach Kehat Shorr
Yael Shamam, daughter of wrestling coach Yosef Gutfreund
Rima Goldwasser, sister of wrestler Eliezer Halfin
Nina Takatch, sister of weight-lifter Zeew Friedmann
Mika Slavin, sister of wrestler Mark Slavin.
Delegation members, survivors:
Dan Alon andYehuda Weinstain,fencers
Henri Hershkovitz, and Selig Storch, sharpshooters
Gad Tsabary,wrestler
Shaul Paul Ladany, walker
Avraham Melamed, coach
Shlomit Nir Toon, swimmer.
