The Terrorist Attack

Black and white photograph showing two men in the foreground, seen from behind, standing on a kind of tarmac with white floor markings. The ground floor of a building can be seen in the background. The large window fronts are shattered and have large holes through which one can see into the hall-like interior of the building. The two men are wearing black coats and hats. One of the men is identified as a Munich police officer by a shoulder badge on his coat and his peaked cap. They are holding a white rope in their hands, which they appear to be trying to untangle.
After the attack: Police officers investigating the crime scene on the apron; the windows of the transit hall shattered by the explosions can be seen in the background, © picture-alliance / dpa / Gerhard Rauchwetter
Black and white photograph showing the view into the destroyed waiting hall of the former Munich-Riem Airport. The hall has two levels connected by a few steps, with a wooden railing separating the sections: In the lower area there are a few objects, such as a small table and a vitrine, in the upper waiting area there are rows of upholstered chairs. The hall shows signs of severe devastation. There is a large amount of broken glass on the floor and tables, and objects such as a telephone and rubbish bin have been thrown onto the floor. Parts of the floor are also covered by water.
View of the damaged transit hall at Munich Airport (Riem) after the attack on 10.2.1970, © Werek/Süddeutsche Zeitung Photo

On 10 February 1970, Palestinian terrorists attempted to hijack an Israeli aircraft at Munich Airport, located at that time in the district of Riem – the first such attempt on German soil. A few days later, the headline in the Münchner Stadtanzeiger read ‘Middle East war on Munich soil’.

What had happened? Coming from Tel Aviv, an Israeli El Al plane landed for a planned stopover in Munich at midday on Shrove Tuesday. 18 passengers bound for London – including the businessman Heinz Katzenstein, and his son, Arie, the actors Hanna Maron and Assaf Dayan, the son of the Israeli Defence Minister, Moshe Dayan – proceeded to the airport transit area together with the crew. Waiting there were three passengers who had travelled from Baghdad with the intention of hijacking the plane in the name of the ‘Action Organisation for the Liberation of Palestine’.

The three men drew their weapons; there was a scuffle with the pilot Uriel Cohen who had confronted one of the terrorists. Things soon got out of hand: shots were fired, a hand grenade was ignited in the transit hall and another thrown into the shuttle bus on the apron. Arie Katzenstein, who recognised the danger on the bus, was fatally injured and died on board. Through his actions, however, he saved the lives of the other passengers.

Security forces succeeded in arresting the three terrorists. One of them had lost his hand from an exploding grenade; another had fled into a toilet. Heinz Katzenstein was seriously injured; Hanna Maron’s condition was extremely critical. A total of five passengers, three crew members, two security officers, one visitor and two of the three terrorists were injured.

Architectural sketch of a ground plan of a building. The lines are drawn in grey pencil on beige paper. Various parts of the building are labelled. From the inscriptions it can be deduced that the building is part of an airport building. The waiting room for international flights is in the centre of the drawing. The plan shows dashed lines in different colours, interrupted by arrows and circles, which are intended to represent walkways. The circles are labelled with numbers and figures. There are also four star-shaped markings on the map.
A detailed drawing by the Munich police shows the routes taken by the perpetrators and where the explosions took place in the attack on 10 February 1970. The bus waiting on the apron is marked in the lower part of the drawing, © Bavarian State Archives Munich, Police Directorate
Black and white photograph showing a Mercedes-Benz passenger bus in the centre. In the background, the first two storeys of an elongated building can be seen, which is the airport building of the former Munich-Riem Airport. The bus is parked at an angle on the tarmac in front of the building, its two bus doors are closed. On both sides of the bus, five men can be seen in the background, and the bus almost completely blocks the view of two cars parked behind it.
Police photo of the crime scene: View of the bus in which some of the passengers – including Arie Katzenstein – were sitting at the time of the attack, © Bavarian State Archives Munich, Police Directorate

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Close-up of a plaque commemorating the attack of 10 February 1970 and the victims.

The Victims

Schwarzweißfotografie von mehreren Personen, die in einem hallenartigen Innenraum aufgenommen wurde. Drei junge Männer arabischer Herkunft stehen nebeneinander, sie haben die Hände in den Taschen oder hinter dem Rücken gekreuzt. Hinter ihnen stehen zwei Polizeibeamte in Uniform.

The Perpetrators

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