The depressing documentary series describes the hostage-taking at the Munich Olympic Games alternately from the point of view of the perpetrators and the victims.
Frankfurt – 27 years after the end of the Second World War, the Federal Republic of Germany wanted to show itself from its best side during the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. When a Palestinian terrorist commando murdered eleven Israelis, the dream burst like a soap bubble. For the fiftieth anniversary on September 5, various articles, books and documentaries deal with the topic. Mostly it is also about the West German spirit of optimism of the early seventies. Even without the attack, which is considered the birth of international terrorism, the games of the XX. Olympiad marks a turning point: East Germany competed with its own team and anthem for the first time, East and West then misused sport as a stage for the Cold War, the IOC discovered Olympia as a gold mine, and for the first time in the history of the competitions a gold medal was won disqualified for doping.
“Death and Games – Munich ’72” (ARD): Sport plays a supporting role
All of this is only marginally mentioned in “Death and Games”. Bence Máté and Lucio Mollica focus almost exclusively on the day of terror and its history before and after it. Although German participants also have their say, sport only plays a minor role. The central figures are the survivors and the relatives of the victims, on both sides. This makes the documentary particularly depressing: the killers show no remorse whatsoever. One of the hostage-takers says he is proud of what he has done. The author duo – the Hungarian Mátá is a Middle East expert, the Italian Mollica a respected filmmaker – has refrained from any form of comment, which is why the statements remain unchallenged.
The German-French co-production, for which RBB and SWR are responsible, is naturally treading on thin ice. Since Máté and Mollica also tell the story of the founding of the State of Israel after the Second World War and thus the history of the Middle East, they possibly arouse at least understanding, if not sympathy, for the cause of the Palestinians: because they not only support the victims but also the perpetrators give a vote.
“Death and Games – Munich ’72” (ARD): Exciting like a thriller
On the other hand, there is the dismay of the survivors and the suffering of the bereaved. If the title were not forbidden in this context for reasons of piety, “Death and Games” would be as exciting as a thriller, especially since the male eyewitnesses in particular describe their memories in a captivating way. Contemporary footage, news and special program excerpts, and interviews from the period serve as illustrations, but the heart of Death and Games is the contemporary narrative. The walker Shaul Ladany was in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp as a child.
After the attack, the newspapers wrote that he had survived the Holocaust, only to die in Germany 27 years later when he returned; luckily a hoax. Marksman Zelig Shtorch even had his sights set on the leader of the terrorists and still wonders today whether the events of September 5 would have turned out differently if he had pulled the trigger. He didn’t do it because he suspected it would have been certain death for his comrades.
“Death and Games – Munich ’72” (ARD): Impressive diversity
With all due understanding for the alleged joy of the authors at their coup, to get two of the Palestinians in front of a camera for the first time: their descriptions give the project a similarly morbid and therefore questionable fascination as a “first-person shooter” video game. When one of the two reports how the group quickly climbed over the fence around the Olympic village because many athletes would have done the same thing, it is all too easy to forget that it was a cold-blooded killer troop; even when a Fatah official asserts that no one was meant to be killed. However, the Palestinians must have been aware of the Israeli doctrine not to be blackmailed by terrorists.
To the broadcast
5.9., 8.15 p.m. (ARD): “Death and Games – Munich ’72”. The show in the media library.
Nevertheless, it is precisely the constant changes in perspective that give the documentary an impressive wealth of facets, especially since the British terrorism expert Gerald Seymour supplements the descriptions as an eyewitness. The complete failure of the German security authorities is as shocking today as it was then: taking hostages was simply not planned in their simulation games; the amateurish attempt at liberation ended in disaster. “Death and Games” is a four-part series, ARD shows a ninety-minute summary in “First”; the original is in the media library. The epilogue (episode four) describes the dubious circumstances under which the hostage-takers were released and the Israeli retaliation. (Tilman P. Gangloff)
