Germany marks 40 years since Munich Olympics killings

Relatives of 11 Israeli victims of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre are due to join survivors and politicians to pay tribute at the site of their killings 40 years ago in Germany later Wednesday.

The ceremony is set to begin at 1400 GMT at Fuerstenfeldbruck air base, west of Munich, to mark the sombre anniversary which has prompted new questions about the tragic turn of events on German soil.

Flags are due to fly at half-mast on southern Bavarian state public buildings as an ecumenical memorial service takes place at the base, the site of the climax of the hostage-taking by members of a radical Palestinian group known as "Black September". Six survivors and 11 relatives of the Israeli athletes and coaches taken hostage and subsequently killed are due to attend the commemoration, to be addressed among others by Ankie Spitzer, widow of fencing coach Andre Spitzer.

German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich and Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom will also be among about 500 political and sports representatives.

A memorial tree will also be planted near the air base's former control tower. The 40th anniversary has given rise to new research into the horrifying chain of events at the summer Munich Games, which were meant to showcase the new face of Germany nearly three decades after World War II. On September 5, 1972, gunmen broke into the Israeli team's flat at the Olympic village, immediately killing two of the athletes and taking nine others hostage to demand the release of 232 Palestinian prisoners.

A bungled rescue operation resulted in all the hostages being killed along with a West German policeman and five of the eight hostage-takers.

The news sent shockwaves through Germany just 27 years after the Holocaust and opened a deep rift with Israel. Israeli sprinter Esther Roth-Shachamorov relived the terror in an interview with AFP this week. "I remember an exhausting and frightening day," she said. AFP