André Spitzer

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André Spitzer (born July 4, 1945 in Timișoara , Romania ; † September 6, 1972 in Fürstenfeldbruck ) was fencing master and coach of the Israeli fencing team at the 1972 Summer Olympics . He was one of the eleven athletes and coaches who were taken hostage by Palestinian terrorists in the Munich Olympic attack and then murdered.

Spitzer was born in Romania and emigrated to the Netherlands in 1964 to work as a fencing trainer. He fell in love with one of his students, Ankie, and they married in 1971. They moved to Israel, where André founded a national fencing academy. His daughter Anouk was born just a few months before the Olympics. The Spitzers moved to Munich with the Israeli team and left their daughter with her grandparents in the Netherlands.

During the Games, the Spitzers had to return to the Netherlands because their daughter had to be hospitalized. André missed his train back to Munich, but his wife drove him to Eindhoven fast enough so that he could still be at the games.

About four hours after Spitzer arrived, the terrorists entered the quarters of the Israeli team and killed the trainer Mosche Weinberg and the weightlifter Josef Romano . Spitzer was taken hostage with eight of his teammates. He was seen once during the hostage-taking, standing by the window talking to the negotiators.

After 20 hours of negotiations, the hostages and hostages were flown to Fürstenfeldbruck by helicopter. There should be a plane ready to fly the terrorists to Egypt. Instead, the Bavarian border police and the Munich police undertook a poorly prepared and chaotic attempt to rescue the hostages. After two hours of bombardment, Spitzer had to watch helplessly as four of his teammates were shot in the helicopter and then burned by the detonation of a terrorist grenade. Shortly afterwards, Spitzer and the other four hostages were shot by the terrorists. Five terrorists and a Munich police officer were also killed in the exchange of fire.

Burial site in the Kiryat Shaul cemetery in Tel Aviv; Israel. (first grave from left)

André Spitzer was buried with four of his teammates in the Kiryat Shaul cemetery in Tel Aviv . Ankie Spitzer led an initiative to get the German government to admit guilt for the failed liberation campaign. In 2003, a compensation agreement was signed between the German government and the victims' families. Ankie Spitzer later remarried and is a correspondent for Dutch television in Israel. Along with Ilana Romano, Josef Romano's widow, she was the driving force behind the erection of a memorial to the victims of the Olympic attack in September 2017.

See also

literature

  • Reeve, Simon: One Day in September: the full story of the 1972 Munich Olympic massacre and Israeli revenge operation 'Wrath of God'. New York 2000, ISBN 1-55970-547-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stroh, Kassian: "It's the first time that I laugh in Munich" at sueddeutsche.de, September 6, 2017 (accessed on September 7, 2017).
personal data
SURNAME Spitzer, André
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Israeli fencer and trainer, murder victim of Palestinian terrorists
DATE OF BIRTH 4th July 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH Romania
DATE OF DEATH September 6, 1972
Place of death Fürstenfeldbruck