Terror at the 1972 Munich Summer Olympic Games

                                     

Co Rentmeester, 1972 Munich Summer Olympics, Munich Massacre, Originally published in LIFE magazine September 15, 1972.

  
The Munich Massacre at the 1972 Munich Olympic Summer Games is touted as the first act of terrorism to be reported and covered in real time. Co Rentmeester's photograph of one of the Palestinian terrorists is a lasting legacy of this event and has become the first iconic image of a terrorist. Tension was high going into the 1972 Summer Olympics, Germany had not hosted the games since the Berlin games in 1936 while Hitler was in power. West Germany was hoping to reinvent itself and portray a new Germany to the world. The games opened and the first few days proceeded smoothly. Then in the early hours of September 5, eight members of the Palestinian terrorist group, Black September, entered the Olympic Village and killed two and took nine Israeli athletes and coaches hostage. The stand off continued through the day as the demands of the terrorists were not met. German police tactics for rescuing the victims were thwarted after the terrorists viewed the TV broadcasts which led to multiple failed attempts for rescue. In the end, the terrorists killed all nine hostages while trying to escape capture.

During the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Rentmeester, a LIFE magazine staff photographer, like many other journalists and photographers was sent to cover the Olympic Games. Co Rentmeester is a Dutch photographer who emigrated to the U.S. in 1960. He trained in photography at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles. He started working for LIFE magazine in 1965 as freelance photographer, and in 1966 became a LIFE staff photographer. Rentmeester spent the next several years covering the war in Vietnam. He was injured when hit by a sniper in Saigon, but his work won him a World Press Photo Grand Prize in 1967. In many ways Rentmeester's experience covering war torn areas made him an ideal photographer for this assignment. Rentmeester was accustomed to being in dangerous situations, and he did not shy away from getting into the heart of the conflict. The irony is that covering the Olympics was not intended to be a dangerous mission, and Rentmeester had himself rowed on the Dutch Olympic team in Rome in 1960. So he was not only a seasoned photographer, but also a former Olympic athlete.

The photo spread on the “Munich Massacre” was published in the September 15, 1972 issue of LIFE. LIFE magazine was a weekly magazine and had been covering hard issues like war and the civil rights movement for years. LIFE was known for its daring photo essays and the magazine did not shy away from reporting graphic and terrifying images and the reporting of this story was no different. (To watch a great BBC documentary on LIFE magazine photographers go to: http://vimeo.com/33132931) This event is still one of the most tragic events to take place during an Olympic games and impacts implementation of security at the games even today. This was also a defining moment for worldwide reporting on terrorist acts. The terrorists knew the games would draw worldwide attention and took advantage of the opportunity to put this event on the worldwide media stage. 

 

Rentmeester's photograph was taken in black and white, although Rentmeester worked in color too. The black and white format adds to the weight of the image, and also helps simplify the image and creates the contrast needed to make the image more powerful. A color photo of the same scene would have provided a strikingly different image. The lack of color makes one truly focus on the lone figure in the scene. The concrete building and modern style of architecture provide a stark contrast to the lone figure. The man is captured wearing a mask. The image conjures up a fear in the viewer and also creates an image of the “terrorist.” The simplicity of the image is part of its strength. As a culture we fear the unknown masked man, a boogie man if you will, and this photo encapsulates that very fear. In Susan Sontag's article, “Looking at War,” in The New Yorker, she states photographs of victims of war have an impact: “They reiterate. They simplify. They agitate.”¹ While this image is not of war, it does these same things. It reiterates the event, it simplifies the event to one masked man, and then it agitates the public when published in LIFE and its subsequent printings. In addition to the striking visual elements of the photograph, part of the poignancy and enduring value of this image is due to the continued conflict between Palestine and Israel.

The 40^th anniversary of the massacre was this past September, and to recount the tragedy Co Rentmeester's photograph has reemerged once again. There was some controversy at the 2012 London games for not holding an official moment of silence for the victims of the massacre, but a moment of silence was observed in the Athlete’s village. Rentmeester's striking photograph encapsulates the horror of the events in Munich, and yet, is timeless enough to strike fear into modern viewers. 

Sources:

Co Rentmeester's website: http://www.co-rentmeester.com/

LIFE magazine: http://life.time.com/history/the-best-of-life-37-years-in-pictures/#37

Events of the Massacre: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2012/may/02/50-stunning-olympic-moments-munich-72

Sontag, Susan. "Looking at War", The New Yorker. Dec. 9, 2002.

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1Sontag, p 2.