Adolf Hitler proudly hosted the 1936 Olympics in Berlin as a demonstration of German racial superiority. Jews were not allowed to compete for Germany, and Jewish athletes from other countries boycotted the games or were barred by their countries to avoid upsetting Hitler. It was another 36 years before Germany got another chance to host the Olympics, this time as West Germany. The 1972 Munich Olympics gave us global sports stars Mark Spitz and Olga Korbut, and the German authorities were very determined to not resemble a police state. This led to a certain lack of security, and suddenly, a Palestinian militant group called Black September set upon the Israeli athletic team.
With the entire world watching, West Germany was thrust into the ongoing struggle between the Israelis and the Palestinians, and the games were halted -but only for a short time. German police were ill-equipped to deal with the situation, which went from bad to worse to a complete disaster. Tom Blank of Weird History explains what really happened at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
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