Terrorists
TerroristsIsrael news photo: Flash 90

The German government maintained contact with the "Black September" terrorist organization after the members of the group murdered 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972, the German weekly Der Spiegel reported on Sunday.

The report said that the purpose of the contact with the terrorists was to prevent further attacks on German soil.

The investigative report said that a few months after the Munich Massacre, then Foreign Minister Walter Scheel held a secret meeting with representatives of the terrorist organization in order to create what was termed a “new basis of trust.”

The German government, according to classified documents obtained by Der Spiegel, did not demand that the terrorists completely stop terrorist activities, but only asked that they avoid attacking in Germany. In return, said the report, the terrorists sought to upgrade the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) political status.

German authorities also avoided prosecuting those involved in the terror attack on the Israeli athletes, the report said. Three of the terrorists who were captured alive were released after two months, after terrorists from "Black September" hijacked a Lufthansa plane.

In July, Der Spiegel reported that the German government had advance warning of the 1972 Munich Olympic massacre.

German intelligence and the German foreign ministry reportedly received information indicating that a terror attack was being planned at the Olympics, but decided not to take precautions or preventive measures against the threats.

In June, the same magazine reported that the terrorists who murdered the 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics were aided by a neo-Nazi who provided them with weapons and forged documents.

For more information about the relationship between "Black September" and the German government, click here for an edition of A7 Radio's "News & Call-In with Tamar Yonah" with Tamar Yonah that dealt with the issue.