# Canonical recap data for Munich Olympic Massacre (1972)
# Source: https://recap.at/1972/munich-olympics-massacre
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: munich-olympics-massacre
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1972/munich-olympics-massacre"
title: Munich Olympic Massacre
subtitle: Palestinian gunmen took Israeli athletes hostage during the Munich Olympics, killing 11 in a siege that shattered the Games' peaceful ideal.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1972-09-05
endDate: 1972-09-06
datePrecision: day
year: 1972
decade: 1970
country:
name: Germany
slug: germany
summaryShort: The Munich massacre was a terrorist attack during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, carried out by eight members of the Palestinian militant organisation Black September. The militants infiltrated the Olympic Village, killed two members of the Israeli Olympic team, and took nine other Israeli team membe
summaryLong: The Munich massacre was a terrorist attack during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, carried out by eight members of the Palestinian militant organisation Black September. The militants infiltrated the Olympic Village, killed two members of the Israeli Olympic team, and took nine other Israeli team members hostage. Those hostages were later also killed by the militants during a failed rescue attempt.
lede: On September 5, 1972, members of the Palestinian group Black September took Israeli athletes hostage at the Munich Olympics. The siege lasted 21 hours. By the time it ended, 11 Israelis—two killed during the initial takeover, nine during a failed rescue attempt—were dead, along with five of the eight militants.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a5/Germany_Israel_Olympics_Attack.jpg/1280px-Germany_Israel_Olympics_Attack.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "Munich massacre"
importance: 89
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts: []
timeline: []
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_massacre"
  title: Munich Olympic Massacre
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
categories:
- sports
- disaster
metaDescription: Palestinian militants seized Israeli Olympic athletes in Munich, 1972. Hostage crisis ended in bloodshed that killed 11 Israelis.
wikidataQid: Q229007
taxonomy:
domain: military
eventTypes:
- invasion
- terrorist_attack
canonicalClasses:
- conflict
impactRadius: regional
velocity: sudden
predictability: forecastable
intentionality: coordinated
domainCoupling: multi_domain
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260615133856/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_massacre"
  capturedAt: 2026-06-15
  label: Munich Olympic Massacre
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_massacre"
