Last Friday, Dan Alon, one of five members of the Israeli Olympic team to survive the Palestinian terrorist attack during the 1972 Munich Olympics, spoke before a packed crowd in the Rockefeller Center in a speech entitled, "Reliving Munich '72: A Survivor's Tale."
Alon only recently began speaking publicly about his experience because of emotional difficulties and overwhelming media attention following the attacks, he said.
"For the first 33 years since Munich, I was silent," Alon said. "I didn't talk about what happened to me. It's a very emotional story."
The former champion fencer described his experience growing up in Tel Aviv and serving in the Israeli Army before trying to make the Olympic team.
"I was lucky I was good, I came in eighth [in an international competition]. That gave me my ticket to the Olympic team," he said.
Alon was one of two Israeli fencers who intended to compete as part of the Israeli team before the attack. He remembered fondly his experiences in the Olympic village leading up to the Games.
"We started fencing with the Germans. It was beautiful," Alon said.
Alon also briefly described competing in the games.
"My first game was against the German champion. The German republic president was there. It was broadcast in all Germany, which I liked very much, because I won," he said. "I won them all, I was very good."
After being eliminated for losing a match before making the final rounds, Alon spent some time relaxing in the village before the terrorist attack on Sept. 4. He then continued his speech by talking about his initial experience during the attacks.
"At 4:30 in the morning I woke up listening to very big explosions. My wall was shaking," he said. "Fifteen minutes later we heard very strong noise and machine guns."
Alon described how he saw the Palestinian terrorists from the group Black September deliver the demands to the German officials in the village. The demands centered on the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the lives of the Israeli athletes.
Alon and four other athletes collaborated to develop a plan to escape from their housing complex. Sneaking out of their complex, the five athletes safely reached the German police.
After killing two Israelis, the terrorists continued to hold nine other athletes hostage. The German authorities agreed to fly the terrorists and Israelis to another airfield, where the group would board a plane and fly to Libya. When the terrorists' escape plan went wrong at the second airfield, the Palestinians killed the remaining nine Israelis. Initially, German authorities told the five surviving athletes that the others had escaped before reversing the report approximately three hours later.
Alon later talked about the emotions he faced going back to the complex to collect the belongings of the murdered Israelis.
"It was a very sad moment for me. Most of the athletes were young husbands and fathers," he said.
Alon also spoke about his experiences during the aftermath of the attacks.
"I couldn't fence. I was shocked," Alon said. "For me, the Olympics mean peace."
In closing, the attack survivor talked about the need to find an end to the cycle of violence currently gripping the Middle East.
"I think there is a linkage between what happened in Munich and Sept. 11. We have to stop the bloodshed; we have to stop the terror," he said.
Chabad at Dartmouth, The Office of Institutional Diversity and Equity and the Rockefeller Center co-sponsored the event.
