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JewishHistoryעברית

Munich Olympics massacre

Date
5 September 1972 – 6 September 1972Hebrew date: 26th of Elul, 5732 – 27th of Elul, 5732
Location
31 Connollystrasse, Olympic Village, MunichGermany
Then part of
Federal Republic of Germany
Perpetrators
  • Black September (Terror organization)
Killed (estimate)
11[1]Israeli athletes, coaches and officials killed. BBC, Olympiapark München and the Jewish Museum Munich all give eleven Israelis. NPS names the two killed in the village as wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg and weightlifter Joseph Romano, and the nine later killed at Fürstenfeldbruck as Yossef Gutfreund, David Berger, Ze'ev Friedman, Eliezer Halfin, Amitzur Shapira, Kehat Shorr, Mark Slavin, Andre Spitzer and Yakov Springer. A West German police officer was also killed; five of the eight attackers died (Olympiapark München).
Locality

0.31% of the Jewish population of 31 Connollystrasse, Olympic Village, Munich[8]

Country

0.029% – 0.037% of the Jewish population of Federal Republic of Germany (c. 1979)[68]

Worldwide

0.000086% of the worldwide Jewish population (c. 1970)[9]

Category
Terror attack, Massacre
Confidence
High

Summary

In the early hours of 5 September 1972 eight members of the Palestinian group Black September entered the Israeli team's quarters at 31 Connollystrasse in the Munich Olympic Village. They killed wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg and weightlifter Joseph Romano and held nine other members of the Israeli delegation hostage, demanding the release of prisoners held in Israel. After negotiations, the attackers and hostages were flown by helicopter to Fürstenfeldbruck airbase. A West German police attempt to free the hostages failed. All nine remaining hostages were killed. BBC and DW date the killings to the night of 5–6 September. Three surviving attackers were later released in a prisoner exchange after a Lufthansa hijacking in October 1972 (DW).

Sources

  1. Barry Davies, Barry Davies' Olympic Moments: Black September, Munich 1972. BBC Sport (2012)
  2. The Munich massacre remembered. BBC News (2012)
  3. Memorial Sites of the 1972 Olympic Attack. Olympiapark München
  4. Memorial to the 1972 Munich Massacre. Jüdisches Museum München
  5. Massacre at the 1972 Olympic Games. United States National Park Service (2023)
  6. 1972 Summer Olympics: The Munich massacre. Deutsche Welle (2022)
  7. Matthias von Hein, Munich 1972: A preventable massacre?. Deutsche Welle (2017)
  8. Michael Brenner, Judentum (nach 1945). Historisches Lexikon Bayerns

Jewish population (estimates)

  • Worldwide: 12,735,000[9]c. 1970
  • Federal Republic of Germany: 30,000 – 38,000[68]c. 1979AJYB 1981: 38,000 for Germany including West Germany, East Germany and both sectors of Berlin. DellaPergola 2020 retrospective: 30,000 for Germany in 1970. Federal Republic / Cold War Germany context for 1970–72 events; not Nazi Germany or 1933 USHMM Europe totals.
  • 31 Connollystrasse, Olympic Village, Munich: 3,500[8]Registered members of the Munich Jewish community by 1970, two years before the attack. Michael Brenner, in the Historisches Lexikon Bayerns, states that the community had grown to 3,500 members by 1970 and that most of Bavaria's Jews lived in the state capital. The victims were the Israeli team, not this community.

Sources for population estimates

  1. Sergio DellaPergola, World Jewish Population, 2024. American Jewish Year Book 2024, via Berman Jewish DataBank (2025)
  2. Sergio DellaPergola, Notes toward a Demographic History of the Jews. Genealogy 8(1) (2024)
  3. Jewish Population of Europe in 1933. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia
  4. Jewish Population of the World. American Jewish Year Book 1948–1949, via Berman Jewish Policy Archive (1949)
  5. Maristella Botticini and Zvi Eckstein, Voluntary Conversions and Diaspora: A Human Capital Interpretation of Jewish History. American Economic Association annual meeting paper (2007)
  6. Jews in the USSR (1926–1959). Demographic Changes. JewishGen Belarus SIG (table compiled from the 1939 All-Union census)
  7. Mandate for Palestine. Report of the Mandatory to the League of Nations (Palestine Administration, 1922). United Nations UNISPAL (British mandatory report) (1922)
  8. José Hinojosa Montalvo, La sociedad y la economía de los judíos en Castilla y la Corona de Aragón durante la Baja Edad Media. Espacio, Tiempo y Forma, Serie III, Historia Medieval (1993)
  9. The Contagion of Violence. 1391 and the Jews of the Spanish Kingdoms. Palgrave / Springer chapter (preview) (2021)
  10. Maristella Botticini and Zvi Eckstein, Religious Norms, Human Capital, and Money Lending in Jewish European History. Handbook chapter PDF via zvi-eckstein.com
  11. Sergio DellaPergola, Some Fundamentals of Jewish Demographic History. Berman Jewish Policy Archive (PDF) (2001)
  12. Maristella Botticini and Zvi Eckstein, THE CHOSEN FEW: HOW EDUCATION SHAPED JEWISH HISTORY, 70–1492 (book summary). Bar-Ilan University Economics seminar PDF (Princeton University Press forthcoming summary)
  13. Joseph Jacobs, Statistics. Jewish Encyclopedia (1906)
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  19. Игорь Виленский, Оценка сокращения численности еврейского населения Российской Империи и СССР (1897–1926). Еврейская Старина (2024)
  20. Sergio DellaPergola, World Jewish Population, 2024. American Jewish Year Book 2024, via Berman Jewish DataBank / Israel CBS host (2025)
  21. Sergio DellaPergola, Demographic Trends in Israel and Palestine: Prospects and Policy Implications. American Jewish Year Book 2003, via Berman Jewish DataBank (2003)
  22. Population of Israel/Palestine by Religion (1553–Present). Jewish Virtual Library (citing CBS, British Mandate publications, Bachi and others)
  23. US Jewish Population Pocket Demographics 2.0. Berman Jewish DataBank / Jewish Federations of North America (2018)
  24. H. S. Linfield, The Jews of the United States: Preliminary Figures for 1937 (Linfield) / Statistics of Jews. American Jewish Year Book 1939–40, via Berman Jewish DataBank (1939)
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  26. American Jewry, 1970 (NJPS 1971 article). American Jewish Year Book, via Berman Jewish DataBank
  27. Germany: Jewish Population in 1933. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia
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  29. Robin R. Mundill, The Jews under Edward I (PhD thesis). University of St Andrews
  30. Stéphane Mechoulan, The Expulsion of the Jews from France in 1306: a modern fiscal analysis. University of Toronto Department of Economics working paper (2004)
  31. Maristella Botticini and Zvi Eckstein, Appendix A: Sources and Methodology for Section 2 (Jewish and total population in Germany-Austria and Poland-Lithuania). Authors' appendix PDF (citing Weinryb, Stampfer, Kupovetsky, Guggenheim, Toch, Battenberg, Israel) (2018)
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  46. France. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia
  47. Belgium. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia
  48. Norway. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia
  49. Denmark. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia
  50. Greece. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia
  51. Lithuania. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia
  52. German Jews during the Holocaust, 1939–1945. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia
  53. Statistics of Jews (World and US Jewish Population). American Jewish Year Book 1946–1947, via Berman Jewish DataBank (1947)
  54. Jacqueline Shields, Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries. Jewish Virtual Library
  55. Lebanon Virtual Jewish History Tour. Jewish Virtual Library
  56. Jewish Populations in the Arab World. Jewish Virtual Library (citing Sergio DellaPergola, World Jewish Population, 2021 / AJYB 2023)
  57. Algeria (Vital Statistics). Jewish Encyclopedia (1906)
  58. Archives juives n°45/2 — Les Juifs d'Algérie. Archives Juives / Les Belles Lettres (2012)
  59. EHRI Country Report — Tunisia. European Holocaust Research Infrastructure
  60. Leon Shapiro, World Jewish Population. American Jewish Year Book 1981 (estimates for 1979), via Berman Jewish DataBank (1981)
  61. Sergio DellaPergola, World Jewish Population, 2020. American Jewish Year Book 2020, via Berman Jewish DataBank (2022)
  62. Sara Koplik, The Demise of the Jewish Community in Afghanistan, 1933–1952. SOAS University of London (PhD thesis abstract / deposit page) (2001)
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  64. All-Union 1959 census — ethnic composition of the USSR. Demoscope Weekly (РГАЭ РФ fond 1562)
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