The German government said on Friday it has set up an international commission of experts to review the events surrounding the 1972 attack on the Munich Olympics, in which 11 members of the Israeli team were murdered, The Associated Press reported.
The panel was part of an agreement reached last year with relatives of the 11 Israelis who were murdered.
The Interior Ministry named an eight-member panel of historians, most of them based in Israel or Germany. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser underlined Germany’s commitment to “a thorough reappraisal of what happened.”
The commission will also “rigorously examine the period before and after” the attack, Faeser said in a statement quoted by AP. “It is particularly important to me for their work to also thoroughly address the treatment of the family members after the attack.”
In September, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier apologized for multiple failures by his country before, during and after the attack as he joined President Isaac Herzog and relatives of the slain athletes at a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary.
The agreement stipulates that the relatives would receive a total of $30.7 million in compensation — a sum that includes much smaller payments made earlier. Germany also agreed to acknowledge failures by authorities at the time and to set up the review by historians.
Friday’s statement by Germany said that the research project’s work and findings “will be documented transparently for the public” and that other experts with “additional expertise on various topics” also will be included in the panel’s work.
Ankie Spitzer, widow of fencing coach Andre Spitzer who was murdered in the massacre, said in the statement that the victims’ families “are very pleased that our request to open the archives and establish a commission of historians has been honored.”
“We are grateful to the distinguished members of the commission that they are willing to re-examine the murderous attack and its aftermath,” she added. “This is of the utmost importance to the families and hopefully will bring justice to history.”
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)