Olympics Revive Memories of Munich

ATLANTA —  For most of the 2 million people pouring into Atlanta for the Centennial Olympic Games, these are exciting times. Not so for Mimi Weinberg.

The Olympic Games, for her, are a somber time of remembrance: Her husband, Muni, was among the 11 people killed by Arab terrorists in Munich, Germany, in 1972.

In the wake of the bombings at New York’s World Trade Center and the Oklahoma City federal building--and the crash this week of TWA Flight 800--the fear of terrorism haunts Atlanta like a bad dream. Security is tight. Guards are everywhere.

It isn’t likely that anyone, in such an atmosphere, will forget how suddenly elation can turn to horror. But if they do, Weinberg and other family members of the athletes and coaches killed in Munich are here to remind them.

“I want America and I want Europe to know that what happened to me can happen to you tomorrow,” she said. “We must never forget.”

During the 1972 games, Arab guerrillas broke into the Israeli dormitory at the Olympic Village and murdered several Israeli athletes. The terrorists took hostages to Furstenfeldbruk Airport, where West German police opened fire on them. In all, 11 Israeli athletes and coaches, five guerrillas and one West German police officer died. Weinberg, who immigrated to the United States 10 years ago, lives in Los Angeles now. The 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles were the first she attended after the death of her husband.

“That was when I fell in love with America and decided to become an actor,” said her son, Guri, who was born three weeks before his father’s death. He is studying for that career.

“I never met him,” he said of his father, who was a wrestling coach. “The only way I know him is from pictures and belongings my mother saved.”

Mimi Weinberg said she knows that the Olympics, for most people, are a time of celebration and joy. “We don’t want to destroy that,” she said. “We just want one minute, just two seconds, to remember what happened.

“We’re here to celebrate the lives of those who were killed, not their deaths,” she added.

The delegation, which is sponsored by the Israeli Olympic Committee, said they had been promised by Olympic officials that a moment of silence would be observed during Friday night’s opening ceremonies to remember the Israelis who died.

“Then they said they’d changed their mind,” Guri Weinberg said. “They didn’t give a reason.”

Bob Brennan, spokesman for the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, said the possibility of a moment of silence was never discussed.

“That is not true,” he said of the Weinbergs’ allegation. “We’ve heard that [International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio] Samaranch made that commitment. We have not. And I do not know that Samaranch made it.”

Various commitments of official recognition have been made throughout the years, said Shlomit Romano, whose father, Joseph, was a wrestler killed in Munich. She said that the slain Israelis have never been officially recognized in an Olympic ceremony.

The family members blame it on politics. “We don’t want to talk politics,” said Romano, who lives in Israel. “All we want is to get recognition for what happened. Nobody cares anything about it.”

Their only hope of recognition, she said, was that NBC might train its cameras on them for a moment in the stands during the ceremony.

On Friday afternoon, as record numbers of people lined downtown Atlanta streets for the passage of the Olympic torch, the delegation--accompanied by Arye Mekel, Israeli consul general to the Southeast, and members of Atlanta’s Jewish community--met with former President Carter in his offices at the Carter Center.

“He was so warm and kind,” Mimi Weinberg said. “He told us he’s celebrating their lives along with us. He said he hopes nobody forgets and that he will try his best to help see that nobody forgets.”