Free Striking Back: The 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and Israel's Deadly Response by Aaron J. Klein

The Bavarian officials assumed that Issa and his deputy, Tony, would inspect the plane and the crew that would fly them to Cairo. Thirteen officers of the police special task command force, dressed as stewards and cabin crew of the Lufthansa Boeing 727, would ambush the terrorists as soon as they boarded.
    A second squad of five sharpshooters would act once Issa and Tony were caught inside the plane, neutralizing the terrorists and liberating the hostages. Armored personnel carriers would then swoop in and pick up the weary Israeli athletes. Georg Wolf, police chief Manfred Schreiber’s deputy, was selected to command the rescue operation. The men at his disposal were novices, entirely lacking experience in counterterrorist maneuvers.

    Zvi Zamir and Victor Cohen arrived in Munich as Troeger, Schreiber, and Merck were discussing the final details of the Cairo transfer with Issa. They met with Ambassador Eliashiv Ben-Horin, who introduced them to Genscher and Franz Joseph Strauss, a senior Bavarian politician. Genscher and Strauss took the Israeli officials to meet Schreiber and Merck. The Bavarian officials were outspoken in their opposition to Israeli interference in the hostage crisis. “My presence bothered them,” Zamir later recalled. “My very arrival bothered them. It was so bad that they actually tried to bar us from the Olympic Village and were unwilling to speak with us.”
    Complex internal German politics were putting the hostages at even greater risk. Zamir, an introvert with an inexpressive face and tight lips, was bounced from one German administrator to the next. He began to comprehend the complexity of the relations between the West German government agents and the Bavarian officials. “During the rescue [the federal agents] didn’t say a word,” Zamir recalled. “They didn’t intervene, even once. They sat where they were told to sit and they stood where they were told to stand.”
    Initially, Schreiber and Merck refused even to discuss the details of the rescue mission with the Israeli representatives. “I remember, to this day, the police commander’s answer,” Zamir said. “It still rings in my ears. He said, ‘This is what we want: to get them to the airport. There everything is prepared for the release of the athletes.’ As I understood it, they already had a comprehensive plan.” Though Schreiber’s and Merck’s cold and aloof attitude did not make a favorable personal impression, Zamir felt a great sense of relief when they at last announced they had a plan. “I thought: a miracle is happening. There is a plan, preparations are being made. There are snipers. West Germany’s reputation preceded them, this was not a developing country. We were encouraged.”
    In the evening hours, fervent plans were being discussed at 31 Connollystrasse. One final hitch remained: how would the captors and the hostages be transported to Fürstenfeldbruck airfield? Issa wanted a bus to deliver them. Schreiber and Merck insisted they fly by helicopter. Despite their differences, the Bavarian and West German officials had come to agree on one basic principle: the captors could not be allowed to leave the country with the hostages. As Troeger explained in a later interview, “We tried to give the terrorists the impression that we’d let them fly out but then tried everything to kill them or capture them before they could leave the country.”
    Shortly after 1830 hours , Issa, who began to see traps behind every twist in the plan, agreed to travel by helicopter to the airport. He had been told that the Olympic Village was surrounded by thousands of angry protesters who were blocking the roads, and that he and his men would probably be overwhelmed and lynched if he attempted to make the twelve-mile journey to the airport by bus. Genscher told Issa the helicopters could be readied in two hours. Departure from the Olympic Village was scheduled for 2100 hours . Issa’s behavior made it clear that his