Lecture 16 Munich (1)

The 1972 Munich Olympics, events happened which showcased the relationship between
Israel and Palestine on the world stage.

The main enemies of Israel were obviously the Germans the Nazis. The Jeweish authorities
would have tracked down the Nazis. The Mossad agents since WW2 were keeping tracks of
things. Hitler had 2 plans, one being a back up, the back up plan politically if Hitler was
assassinated was code names Valkyrie. This was a plan of Hitlers succession considering
that Nazism would prevail even if Hitler would die. The bigger back up plan was that what if
Nazism crumbles, is it possible for the Nazi top officials to escape absolutely secretly and
live new lives in new places. But these people were known by name and face, where could
they hide? Where could they escape to in case things went wrong.

Nazi officials had created a network of spies and smugglers called the Edessa network. These
people were German officials who were loyal to Hitler and has bought huge territory of land
in Argentina, South America. They also had created fake identities in Argentina. The idea was
these were rich German industrialists who were buying land for the future in case things
dont work out, and top Nazi officials had their alternative identities already planned out.
They could escape Europe reach Argentina and live their new lives. Hitler, Hess, Ghorring
all had these identities ready but they got caught. However, a lot of Nazis also got away, and
Europe did not know they got away.

One such person who escaped was somebody who signed death documents at Auschwitz and
The Gas chambers. His name was Adolf Eichmann. He made his way to Argentina, and
successfully escaped. 20 years went by and nobody suspected him to be connected to all that
happened. Mossad agents, since its birth however were keeping track of who all escaped and
who all did not get what they deserved. Adolf Eichmann was called Richard Clement. This
identity obviously was never connected to the holocaust.

Mossad agents began to find out about him in the year 195, 5 years after he settled down
here. In Germany, to escape, Adolf Eichmann had grown a beard. Nazi officials were
supposed to be clean shaven. He had appeared to be a derelict to bypass authority. He broke
the Nazi conduct and this helped him escape. Mossad suspected him to be connected to the
holocaust. They had a picture of him from the Auschwitz. Unless there were any distinct
features, it was difficult to be sure, and one could be mistaken for another. They took 10
years to actually understand and they did it in an unusual fashion.

The street where he used to live was called Elm Street. They purchased a house on this street
in 1950. They befriended him his personality of Richard Clement. On agent was following
him day and night for 10 years to find a pattern in his routine. He was too trained to give
anything away. He portrayed his new personality to perfection and he could be very easily
passed off as a German business man. Mossad agents found that he was a routine freak, and
he couldnt shake off this routine. This made them feel he had a military background and that
kind of discipline. But he had never mentioned anything related to the military? There was
something amiss. They shadowed him for another 10 years, making the total 20. This spy
mission wasnt even known of. Argentina has no idea this was happening.

VIDEO
Some question about spies and spy agencies Each country in its spy systems has to take the
risk of counter intelligence within their own spy systems. This does happen.

In 1979, the American Ally in Iran the Shah Of Persia was a man called Mohammad Reza
Shah Pahlavi. He was probably Americas closest and truest ally. In 1979, a hard lined cleric
came up with a revolution in Iran Ayotollah Khomeini. When this revolution took place, US
had an embassy in Tehran. Iranian revolutionary guards were camped outside the US
embassy for 3 days. On the third day, the guards storm the embassy and take the American
staff hostage.

The embassy has physical data of reports gathered by the CIA. The CIA has been spying on
the Mossad. On paper however, USA and Israel were allies. The disclosing of this
information would have been very very controversial. The people inside the embassy were
told to shred all these physical files and documents. There were almost 40 million individual
pieces, and by now they were all mixed up. The guards stormed in, and they knew these
documents would have been important.

The guards called in 100 illiterate carpet weavers and showed them all 26 letters of the
alphabet. They asked them to join these documents back together, and it took a month, but
they managed to do it. They just formed patterns. After this, all documents are to be burnt.

VIDEO

In 1972 was the year when the Olympic games happened at Munich and they were
considered deeply symbolic for Israel. Since WW2, obviously sports wasnt high up on
Israels list. But, because these games were in Munich, UN insisted that the Isarelis coming
in would be a remarkable display of friendship. It would be a way of saying, Jews coming
into Germany signified all that happened was in the past and they could all now move on
from it.

Israel didnt really have a team as such, hence it made a declaration that no matter what part
of the world you were in, you could come and play for Israel if you were Jewish. A team of
11 athletes were sent from Israel to Munich. All athletes live in the Olympic apartments.
Security was supposed to be very tight. The Olympic village was fenced. There were curfew
hours for the athletes.

VIDEO

A chaotic attack happens on 4/09/2016. Moshe Weinburg overpowered the two gunmen who
burst into his room. He rushes out with one of their AK47. He doesnt understand how many
of them are there. He doesnt raise an alarm, and tries to fight them, and ends up getting shot
and dying. Moshe had a fan, a 10 year old kid. This boy was sleeping in Moshes room, as
Moshe knew him personally. His father has an intuition and he drags him away.

VIDEO

Israeli athletes were taken hostage. The gunman wanted Israel to surrender, but Israel as a
government wouldnt have done this. This decision was supposedly in the hands of police
chief, Schriber. He couldnt have taken any calls without the consent of the Israeli
government. If no conclusion would be reached, he would have had to see these people being
gunned down without any fault of his own. Schrieber has had an episode wherein he was
sued of man slaughter. The case was still going on during the Munich event, hence he just
wouldnt have been able to take hard liner decisions. The two other people who could have
taken this decision were politicians, with state elections coming up. None of them wanted to
take too much of a risk. 2 politicians and 1 compromised police chief. Now if Israel said no to
surrender, the lives of all these hostages were really not safe.

VIDEO

Unclear Cannot hear sagar sir.

Schrieber did not know who to contact. The terrorists wanted all their demands fulfilled.
Even Russia couldnt be approached because Stalin wouldnt help in the western zone. They
decide to go via the US. In the meanwhile, Israel demands Germany to allow access to a
group of special Mossad agents who will be taking over. US and British authorities tell
Schriber that Germany should tackle this militarily. For the sake of their pride. Also,
Germany rescuing a group of 9 Jewish athletes would have been brilliant image building. US
tells Germany to use their snipers which were very famous.

VIDEO

Check With Somebody, everything is in the video, cannot understand just voice, too broken.