DirectorProducersCreditsProduction NotesSynopsisBlack September, terrorist groupPeople interviewedLinks about the movieOlympic GamesMovie Clips
 
1936 Berlin Olympics

1948 State of Israel formed

1964 PLO formed

1967 Six-Day War

1969 Golda Meir picked as prime minister

1970 Black September

September 5, 1972

4:40 a.m. Terrorists break in

6 a.m. Police first meet with terrorists

Noon First deadline to meet terrrorist demands. Shortly after noon, the deadline is extended to 5 p.m.

2:15 p.m. German police deliver food, with plans to subdue terrorists or at least determine their numbers

3:50 p.m. Olympic committee suspends games

5 p.m. Terrorists second deadline. Shortly before, police volunteers prepare to rush the apartment but the attack is canceled. Later, it is learned the terrorists were watching their movements on live television. Terrorists now demand a plane to take themselves and the hostages to an Arab country.

10 p.m. A bus is brought to take the terrorists and hostages to two waiting helicopters.

11:30 p.m. The helicopters arrive at Furstenfeldbruck. A German police team, posing as the flight crew inside the waiting jetliner, decide to abort their mission.

11:50 p.m. German police finally ask for the armored cars that were an essential part of their plan to free the hostages.

September 6

12:30 a.m. An erroneous German government report states that all the hostages are free and the terrorists dead.

1:00 a.m. The peak of the battle The terrorists explode one helicopter and spray a second one with gunfire, killing all the hostages. In all, five terrorists are dead, one German policeman and 11 hostages.

10 a.m. A memorial service is held at the Olympic stadium

October 1972 To end an airline hijacking, German authorities release the three remaining terrorists to Libya

1973 Egypt, Syria and six other Arab states attack Israel on Yom Kippur. Israel gains territory along the Suez Canal and from Syria. Relations between the U.S. and the Soviet Union over the issue threaten nuclear war. The United Nations brokers a ceasefire.