The Munich Massacre
Fifty years ago, the world watched as Palestinian terrorists killed 11 Israelis at the Olympic Games in Munich. The photographs became the "face of terrorism."
On September 6, 1972, Palestinian terrorists killed 11 Israeli athletes and coaches at the Olympic Games in Munich. Associated Press photographer Kurt Strumpf captured this haunting photo of one of the “Black September” terrorists.
While Strumpf’s photo for the AP is the most widely-seen, Syndey Morning Herald photographer Russell McPhedran has a nearly-identical image. In 2017 McPhedran told Deadspin’s David Davis that the photo (taken with a 400 with 2 converters) conveyed “a menacing blackness.”
LIFE magazine’s Co Rentmeester captured a looser version of the same moment. Rentmeester was covering the Olympics with Rich Clarkson and Neil Leifer (they were shooting from the other side of the building and missed this moment).
LIFE published a UPI photo of the Israeli Olympic team on the cover and Rentmeester's images inside.
Magnum Photos photographer Raymond Depardon was, according to LIFE, positioned near Rentmeester on a on a hillside 300 meters from where the Israeli hostages were being held. Depardon shot the following two photos.
Depardon is credited as "Special Stills Photographer" in the Academy Award Winning Documentary film, “One Day in September.” One of Depardon’s photos is featured on the movie poster.
The following version was taken by German newspaper photographer Sven Simon. Simon, born Axel Springer Jr., was the son of a famous German publisher.
I found three more versions of this scene but am unable to confirm the photographer's names.
There’s also color film footage of the moment the masked terrorist walks onto the balcony. This still is from German public-service television broadcaster ZDF.
John Schlesinger (Academy Award-winning director of Midnight Cowboy) also featured the infamous moment on the balcony in the Olympics documentary, “Visions of Eight.”
I assumed that Kurt Strumpf's photo appeared on newspaper and magazine covers everywhere the next day. But that didn't really happen. The New York Times published Strumpf’s photo small and heavily cropped inside (see below). However, The Los Angeles Times did run it, paired with another uncredited Associated Press photo of the negotiations.
TIME didn’t publish Strumpf’s photo either, instead they went with a German Press Agency image of a different masked terrorist. But TIME eventually did publish Strumpf’s photo in 2005, uncredited, next to a portrait of Steven Spielberg by Michael Grecco.
Several photos from the Munich massacre appeared in the documentary series, "Photos That Changed The World." British commentator Barry Davies on Strumpf's photo: "You couldn't see a face, but it became the face of terrorism."
