142-624: GSG 9 der Bundespolizei , formerly Grenzschutzgruppe 9 ( German for 'Border Protection Group 9'), is the police tactical unit of the German Federal Police (Bundespolizei). The unit is responsible for combatting terrorism and violent crime , including organized crime . In addition to its headquarters location in Sankt Augustin -Hangelar near Bonn , it also has a base in Berlin . Since 1 August 2017, it has been subordinate to
284-657: A critical juncture , prompting governments to recognise terrorism as a lasting security challenge and to address it with diverse resources. By 4:30 pm, a hastily improvised team of 13 West German police officers, who had signed a declaration to willingly participate in a bold and risky hostage rescue operation, could be seen scaling the building in the Olympic Village. Awkwardly disguised in Olympic training suits, wearing heavy bulletproof vests beneath, and carrying Walther MP submachine guns, they were thought to be members of
426-460: A de facto official language of Namibia after the end of German colonial rule alongside English and Afrikaans , and had de jure co-official status from 1984 until its independence from South Africa in 1990. However, the Namibian government perceived Afrikaans and German as symbols of apartheid and colonialism, and decided English would be the sole official language upon independence, stating that it
568-402: A second language , and 75–100 million as a foreign language . This would imply the existence of approximately 175–220 million German speakers worldwide. German sociolinguist Ulrich Ammon estimated a number of 289 million German foreign language speakers without clarifying the criteria by which he classified a speaker. As of 2012 , about 90 million people, or 16% of
710-587: A "commonly used" language and the Pan South African Language Board is obligated to promote and ensure respect for it. Cameroon was also a colony of the German Empire from the same period (1884 to 1916). However, German was replaced by French and English, the languages of the two successor colonial powers, after its loss in World War I . Nevertheless, since the 21st century, German has become
852-593: A federal level, can only conduct operations within a state's jurisdiction with the state's consent. Operations on a federal level outside the Federal Republic of Germany require the foreign nation's consent, such as in a rescue operation of German citizens in a foreign country. Despite the paramilitary nature of the unit, GSG 9 officers are strictly limited to policing and tactical intervention operations and cannot engage in military conflict, as they are considered non-combatants under international law. Until 2009, GSG 9
994-556: A greater need for regularity in written conventions. While the major changes of the MHG period were socio-cultural, High German was still undergoing significant linguistic changes in syntax, phonetics, and morphology as well (e.g. diphthongization of certain vowel sounds: hus (OHG & MHG "house") → haus (regionally in later MHG)→ Haus (NHG), and weakening of unstressed short vowels to schwa [ə]: taga (OHG "days")→ tage (MHG)). A great wealth of texts survives from
1136-744: A moment of silence was observed in the opening ceremony. Ahead of the 1972 Olympics, the West German Olympic Organizing Committee aimed to discard Germany's military image, wary of the propaganda portrayed by the 1936 Summer Olympics under Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler . The IOC President at the time, Avery Brundage , had been involved in the 1936 Olympics and had lived through the experience of those games. Security personnel, known as OLYs, were inconspicuous and primarily prepared to handle ticket fraud and drunkenness. The documentary film One Day in September claims that security in
1278-453: A native tongue today, mostly descendants of German colonial settlers . The period of German colonialism in Namibia also led to the evolution of a Standard German-based pidgin language called " Namibian Black German ", which became a second language for parts of the indigenous population. Although it is nearly extinct today, some older Namibians still have some knowledge of it. German remained
1420-679: A popular foreign language among pupils and students, with 300,000 people learning or speaking German in Cameroon in 2010 and over 230,000 in 2020. Today Cameroon is one of the African countries outside Namibia with the highest number of people learning German. In the United States, German is the fifth most spoken language in terms of native and second language speakers after English, Spanish , French , and Chinese (with figures for Cantonese and Mandarin combined), with over 1 million total speakers. In
1562-486: A question, he was clubbed with the butt of an AK-47 in full view of international television cameras and pulled away from the window. At 3:25 pm, the ultimatum was postponed to 5 pm. By 3:38 pm, the Olympic Games were suspended, after allowing ongoing competitions to be completed. The terrorists repeatedly changed their clothes and appeared on the balcony, with their number estimated at five. Meanwhile,
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#17328760143431704-475: A result, the surviving texts are written in highly disparate regional dialects and exhibit significant Latin influence, particularly in vocabulary. At this point monasteries, where most written works were produced, were dominated by Latin, and German saw only occasional use in official and ecclesiastical writing. While there is no complete agreement over the dates of the Middle High German (MHG) period, it
1846-705: A tip-off from a Palestinian informant in Beirut three weeks before the massacre. The informant warned that Palestinians were planning an "incident" at the Olympic Games, and the Federal Foreign Office in Bonn took the tip-off seriously enough to pass it to the Bavarian State Secret Service in Munich, urging that "all possible security measures" be taken. According to Der Spiegel , the authorities failed to act on
1988-500: A unit specialised in handling hostage crises. In West Germany, since there were no specialised units in the modern sense—only special military combat units, which could not be deployed internally during peacetime due to their " combatant " status according to the German constitution —all such duties fell under the remit of ordinary law enforcement , specifically the regional state and municipal police . The ensuing events in Munich would mark
2130-401: A while.' How long could you stand that?" Shortly before 5:00 am, the Munich police, the organising committee, and paramedics were alerted. Ambulances arrived, and the blood-soaked body of Weinberg, who had been thrown in front of the apartment building entrance (Connollystraße 31) by the terrorists and could not be saved, was recovered. The paramedics also tried in vain to negotiate with
2272-580: Is a recognized minority language in the following countries: In France, the High German varieties of Alsatian and Moselle Franconian are identified as " regional languages ", but the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of 1998 has not yet been ratified by the government. Namibia also was a colony of the German Empire, from 1884 to 1915. About 30,000 people still speak German as
2414-596: Is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects , with many varieties existing in Europe and other parts of the world. Some of these non-standard varieties have become recognized and protected by regional or national governments. Since 2004, heads of state of the German-speaking countries have met every year, and the Council for German Orthography has been the main international body regulating German orthography . German
2556-546: Is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages . The Germanic languages are traditionally subdivided into three branches: North Germanic , East Germanic , and West Germanic . The first of these branches survives in modern Danish , Swedish , Norwegian , Faroese , and Icelandic , all of which are descended from Old Norse . The East Germanic languages are now extinct, and Gothic
2698-472: Is called the "German Sprachraum ". German is the official language of the following countries: German is a co-official language of the following countries: Although expulsions and (forced) assimilation after the two World wars greatly diminished them, minority communities of mostly bilingual German native speakers exist in areas both adjacent to and detached from the Sprachraum. Within Europe, German
2840-430: Is complicated by the existence of several varieties whose status as separate "languages" or "dialects" is disputed for political and linguistic reasons, including quantitatively strong varieties like certain forms of Alemannic and Low German . With the inclusion or exclusion of certain varieties, it is estimated that approximately 90–95 million people speak German as a first language , 10–25 million speak it as
2982-520: Is generally seen as ending when the 1346–53 Black Death decimated Europe's population. Modern High German begins with the Early New High German (ENHG) period, which Wilhelm Scherer dates 1350–1650, terminating with the end of the Thirty Years' War . This period saw the further displacement of Latin by German as the primary language of courtly proceedings and, increasingly, of literature in
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#17328760143433124-595: Is generally seen as lasting from 1050 to 1350. This was a period of significant expansion of the geographical territory occupied by Germanic tribes, and consequently of the number of German speakers. Whereas during the Old High German period the Germanic tribes extended only as far east as the Elbe and Saale rivers, the MHG period saw a number of these tribes expanding beyond this eastern boundary into Slavic territory (known as
3266-559: Is less closely related to languages based on Low Franconian dialects (e.g., Dutch and Afrikaans), Low German or Low Saxon dialects (spoken in northern Germany and southern Denmark ), neither of which underwent the High German consonant shift. As has been noted, the former of these dialect types is Istvaeonic and the latter Ingvaeonic, whereas the High German dialects are all Irminonic; the differences between these languages and standard German are therefore considerable. Also related to German are
3408-435: Is one of the major languages of the world . German is the second-most widely spoken Germanic language , after English, both as a first and as a second language . German is also widely taught as a foreign language , especially in continental Europe (where it is the third most taught foreign language after English and French), and in the United States. Overall, German is the fourth most commonly learned second language, and
3550-587: Is one of the three biggest newspapers in Namibia and the only German-language daily in Africa. An estimated 12,000 people speak German or a German variety as a first language in South Africa, mostly originating from different waves of immigration during the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the largest communities consists of the speakers of "Nataler Deutsch", a variety of Low German concentrated in and around Wartburg . The South African constitution identifies German as
3692-401: Is partly derived from Latin and Greek , along with fewer words borrowed from French and Modern English . English, however, is the main source of more recent loanwords . German is a pluricentric language ; the three standardized variants are German , Austrian , and Swiss Standard German . Standard German is sometimes called High German , which refers to its regional origin. German
3834-510: Is the Sachsenspiegel , the first book of laws written in Middle Low German ( c. 1220 ). The abundance and especially the secular character of the literature of the MHG period demonstrate the beginnings of a standardized written form of German, as well as the desire of poets and authors to be understood by individuals on supra-dialectal terms. The Middle High German period
3976-750: Is the most spoken native language within the European Union . It is the most widely spoken and official (or co-official) language in Germany , Austria , Switzerland , Liechtenstein , and the Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol . It is also an official language of Luxembourg , Belgium and the Italian autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia , as well as a recognized national language in Namibia . There are also notable German-speaking communities in France ( Alsace ),
4118-566: Is the only language in this branch which survives in written texts. The West Germanic languages, however, have undergone extensive dialectal subdivision and are now represented in modern languages such as English, German, Dutch , Yiddish , Afrikaans , and others. Within the West Germanic language dialect continuum, the Benrath and Uerdingen lines (running through Düsseldorf - Benrath and Krefeld - Uerdingen , respectively) serve to distinguish
4260-568: Is there anything I can do for you?" to which the terrorist replied, "No, thank you," and let them go. The hostage-takers demanded the release of a significant number of Palestinians and non-Arabs imprisoned in Israel, including Kōzō Okamoto of the Japanese Red Army , along with one West German insurgent held by the West German penitentiary system, Ulrike Meinhof , who was one of the founders of
4402-1005: Is under the control of the Federal Ministry of the Interior. The Bundespolizei also provides aerial transportation for GSG 9. On August 1, 2017, GSG 9 was transferred to the Federal Police Directorate 11 , which was established as the supreme command for all special operations units of the German Federal Police. After undergoing a reorganization process, GSG 9's operational section is divided into four sub-groups called Einsatzeinheiten (Operational Units). All groups are capable of conducting regular operations, which may involve responding to terrorism, hostage-taking, serious crimes, defusing bombs, kidnapping, or extortion. The groups may also be used to secure locations, neutralize targets, perform sniping, and track fugitives. Three of
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4544-433: Is understood in all areas where German is spoken. Approximate distribution of native German speakers (assuming a rounded total of 95 million) worldwide: As a result of the German diaspora , as well as the popularity of German taught as a foreign language , the geographical distribution of German speakers (or "Germanophones") spans all inhabited continents. However, an exact, global number of native German speakers
4686-673: The Ostsiedlung ). With the increasing wealth and geographic spread of the Germanic groups came greater use of German in the courts of nobles as the standard language of official proceedings and literature. A clear example of this is the mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache employed in the Hohenstaufen court in Swabia as a standardized supra-dialectal written language. While these efforts were still regionally bound, German began to be used in place of Latin for certain official purposes, leading to
4828-627: The Alamanni , Bavarian, and Thuringian groups, all belonging to the Elbe Germanic group ( Irminones ), which had settled in what is now southern-central Germany and Austria between the second and sixth centuries, during the great migration. In general, the surviving texts of Old High German (OHG) show a wide range of dialectal diversity with very little written uniformity. The early written tradition of OHG survived mostly through monasteries and scriptoria as local translations of Latin originals; as
4970-603: The Arab League , and Ahmed El Demerdash Touny, an Egyptian member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), also helped try to win concessions from the kidnappers but to no avail. However, the German negotiators were able to convince the terrorists that their demands were being considered, as "Issa" granted several deadline extensions. Elsewhere in the village, athletes carried on as normal, seemingly oblivious to
5112-600: The Bundesgrenzschutz to Bundespolizei in 2005, the abbreviation "GSG 9" was retained due to the unit's fame, reflecting the name change rather than any functional obsolescence. The contemporary official designation for the unit is GSG 9 der Bundespolizei (abbreviated GSG 9 BPOL or simply GSG 9 ). GSG 9 is deployed for counter-terrorism, hostage rescue, and high-risk law enforcement operations, including responses to kidnapping, extortion, and serious organized crime. An increasing number of arrests by GSG 9 are conducted in
5254-557: The Czech Republic ( North Bohemia ), Poland ( Upper Silesia ), Slovakia ( Košice Region , Spiš , and Hauerland ), Denmark ( North Schleswig ), Romania and Hungary ( Sopron ). Overseas, sizeable communities of German-speakers are found in Brazil ( Blumenau and Pomerode ), South Africa ( Kroondal ), Namibia , among others, some communities have decidedly Austrian German or Swiss German characters (e.g. Pozuzo , Peru). German
5396-522: The Early Middle Ages . German is an inflected language , with four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative); three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, plural). It has strong and weak verbs . The majority of its vocabulary derives from the ancient Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, while a smaller share
5538-417: The European Union 's population, spoke German as their mother tongue, making it the second most widely spoken language on the continent after Russian and the second biggest language in terms of overall speakers (after English), as well as the most spoken native language. The area in central Europe where the majority of the population speaks German as a first language and has German as a (co-)official language
5680-635: The Federal Bureau of Investigation 's Hostage Rescue Team from the United States . GSG 9 won the 2012 Annual Warrior Competition , defeating the defending 2011 champion, EKO Cobra . German language German (German: Deutsch , pronounced [dɔʏtʃ] ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family , mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe . It
5822-513: The Federal Police Directorate 11 . The state police ( Landespolizei ) maintain their own regional tactical units known as the Spezialeinsatzkommando (SEK). GSG 9 is made up of approximately 400 highly trained police officers, whose identities are classified. The specialized unit operates not only within Germany on a federal level, but also safeguards German interests located worldwide, such as embassy property and personnel. Alongside
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5964-545: The German Army . This approach differed from Israel's military special operations unit, Sayeret Matkal , which was the only known comparable unit with some experience specifically in counter-terrorism and hostage-rescue at the time. Since German federal law also expressly forbid the use of military forces against the civilian population or domestic threats, creating a police tactical unit composed of highly trained and skilled police personnel avoided this issue. Two weeks after
6106-531: The German Constitution did not permit the use of the German Armed Forces on German soil during peacetime. The police rescue attempt failed , resulting in the deaths of one police officer, five of the eight terrorists, and all nine of the remaining hostages. As a consequence of the overwhelmed Bavarian State Police's mismanagement of the 1972 Olympic tragedy, the West German government established
6248-556: The German Federal Border Guard ; according to former Munich police officer Heinz Hohensinn, who was a lead officer ( Einsatzleiter ) and part of the police assault operation on the ground, they were regular Munich police officers from the Bavarian State Police , with no experience in counter-terrorism or hostage rescue. Quoting Hohensinn, they realised from the onset that the bulletproof vests would not withstand
6390-514: The German states . While these states were still part of the Holy Roman Empire , and far from any form of unification, the desire for a cohesive written language that would be understandable across the many German-speaking principalities and kingdoms was stronger than ever. As a spoken language German remained highly fractured throughout this period, with a vast number of often mutually incomprehensible regional dialects being spoken throughout
6532-724: The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I , and the other being Meißner Deutsch , used in the Electorate of Saxony in the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg . Alongside these courtly written standards, the invention of the printing press led to the development of a number of printers' languages ( Druckersprachen ) aimed at making printed material readable and understandable across as many diverse dialects of German as possible. The greater ease of production and increased availability of written texts brought about increased standardisation in
6674-482: The Israeli cabinet had decided not to accept the demands of the hostage-takers. Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir rejected the blackmail in order not to risk the lives of its citizens abroad for all time. Ambassador Ben Horin underscored Israel's faith in the German authorities' ability to save the hostages and demanded that the sporting competitions be halted until the hostage-taking was concluded. At one point during
6816-667: The KSK and KSM military special forces of the German Armed Forces ( Bundeswehr ), the GSG 9 can also be authorized to rescue citizens abroad in hostage situations. On 5 September 1972, Palestinian terrorists affiliated with Black September infiltrated the Summer Olympic Games in Munich , West Germany . They kidnapped 11 Israeli athletes, murdering two during the initial assault on
6958-725: The Munich Olympic massacre , the GSG 9 unit was officially established on 26 September 1972. By April 1973, Wegener reported that the first two sub-units ( Teileinheiten ) were operationally ready. At the time, the GSG 9 was part of the Bundesgrenzschutz (BGS; Federal Border Protection), which was renamed Bundespolizei (Federal Police) in 2005. The then-BGS had a paramilitary nature, using military ranks until 1976. BGS officers had combatant status, being de facto classified as combatants before 1965, with this status expressly regulated by law from 1965 to 1994. Additionally, conscripts could fulfill their military service obligation by serving in
7100-604: The National Security Guard , the primary Indian counter-terrorism unit. Further assistance was provided to the Mumbai Police to help them establish a police tactical unit. The suspected involvement of retired GSG 9 operators in training Libyan security forces in 2008 led to harsh criticism in German media coverage. Additionally, GSG 9's assistance in training Belarusian security forces from 2008 to 2011 has also been heavily criticized. In 2015, GSG 9 commenced training
7242-644: The Old High German language in several Elder Futhark inscriptions from as early as the sixth century AD (such as the Pforzen buckle ), the Old High German period is generally seen as beginning with the Abrogans (written c. 765–775 ), a Latin-German glossary supplying over 3,000 Old High German words with their Latin equivalents. After the Abrogans , the first coherent works written in Old High German appear in
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#17328760143437384-528: The Olympic Park in Munich . On the return trip in the team bus, Lalkin denied his 13-year-old son—who had befriended weightlifter Yossef Romano and wrestler Eliezer Halfin —permission to spend the night in their Olympic Village apartment at Connollystraße 31, a decision that may have saved the boy's life. The hostages were taken during the second week of the Games. At 4:10 am local time on 5 September, as
7526-441: The Olympic Village , killed two members of the Israeli Olympic team , and took nine others hostage, who were later killed in a failed rescue attempt. Black September commander and negotiator Luttif Afif named the operation " Iqrit and Biram ", after two Palestinian Christian villages whose inhabitants were expelled by Israel during the 1948 Palestine war . West German neo-Nazis provided logistical assistance to
7668-427: The Sprachraum in Europe. German is used in a wide variety of spheres throughout the country, especially in business, tourism, and public signage, as well as in education, churches (most notably the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (GELK) ), other cultural spheres such as music, and media (such as German language radio programs by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation ). The Allgemeine Zeitung
7810-422: The Standard German language in its written form, and the Duden Handbook was declared its standard definition. Punctuation and compound spelling (joined or isolated compounds) were not standardized in the process. The Deutsche Bühnensprache ( lit. ' German stage language ' ) by Theodor Siebs had established conventions for German pronunciation in theatres , three years earlier; however, this
7952-400: The Upper German dialects spoken in the southern German-speaking countries , such as Swiss German ( Alemannic dialects ) and the various Germanic dialects spoken in the French region of Grand Est , such as Alsatian (mainly Alemannic, but also Central–and Upper Franconian dialects) and Lorraine Franconian (Central Franconian). After these High German dialects, standard German
8094-408: The pagan Germanic tradition. Of particular interest to scholars, however, has been the Hildebrandslied , a secular epic poem telling the tale of an estranged father and son unknowingly meeting each other in battle. Linguistically, this text is highly interesting due to the mixed use of Old Saxon and Old High German dialects in its composition. The written works of this period stem mainly from
8236-633: The 1967 Six-Day War , also attacked and wounded one of the intruders before being shot and later succumbed to his wounds. According to a report by The New York Times on 1 December 2015, Romano, after he was shot, was slowly left to bleed to death and, at some point over many hours, was castrated. The gunmen were left with nine hostages: in addition to Gutfreund, they had shooting coach Kehat Shorr , track and field coach Amitzur Shapira , fencing master Andre Spitzer , weightlifting judge Yakov Springer , wrestlers Eliezer Halfin and Mark Slavin , and weightlifters David Berger and Ze'ev Friedman . Berger
8378-430: The 2003 Iraq War ). These occasions include Mogadishu in 1977, Bad Kleinen in 1993, Aachen in 1999, and two more missions where firearms were discharged to neutralize dogs of the persons being arrested. The unit is part of the German Bundespolizei ( Federal Police , formerly Bundesgrenzschutz ) and thus has normal police powers, including the power of arrest. The Federal Police of Germany, and therefore GSG 9,
8520-579: The Airborne and Air Transport School), or EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) techniques. Individual GSG 9 officers have also participated in training courses conducted by the German Army's Special Operations Forces Command (KSK). These courses, held between 2007 and 2012, included specialized training in parachuting and demolition. Further training often involves cooperation with other allied counter-terrorism units, such as Israel 's Yamam , France ’s Groupe d'intervention de la Gendarmerie nationale (GIGN) or National Gendarmerie Intervention Group, and
8662-540: The BGS. The designation GSG 9 is derived from the structure of the Federal Border Protection (BGS, Bundesgrenzschutz ), which, at the time of the unit's founding, consisted of four border protection commands with a total of eight border protection groups (GSG 1 to 7 and Sea). Since the GSG 9 was not integrated into any of the existing structures, it was designated Border Protection Group 9 ( Grenzschutzgruppe 9 , GSG 9). Since its inception, many other countries have developed counter-terrorism units trained by and modeled on
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#17328760143438804-614: The Empire. Its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Prague (German: Prag ) and Budapest ( Buda , German: Ofen ), to name two examples, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain; others, like Pressburg ( Pozsony , now Bratislava), were originally settled during the Habsburg period and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, and cities like Zagreb (German: Agram ) or Ljubljana (German: Laibach ), contained significant German minorities. In
8946-414: The Frisian languages— North Frisian (spoken in Nordfriesland ), Saterland Frisian (spoken in Saterland ), and West Frisian (spoken in Friesland )—as well as the Anglic languages of English and Scots. These Anglo-Frisian dialects did not take part in the High German consonant shift, and the Anglic languages also adopted much vocabulary from both Old Norse and the Norman language . The history of
9088-443: The GSG 9 police tactical unit in September 1972. This unit was formed under the command of Lieutenant Colonel ( Oberstleutnant ) Ulrich Wegener of the Federal Border Protection ( Bundesgrenzschutz ), who proposed the creation of the tactical unit. The Federal Ministry of the Interior , under Federal Interior Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher , to whom Wegener also served as adjutant , sanctioned and directed its formation. The goal
9230-408: The GSG 9. For example, Spain's Unidad Especial de Intervención (UEI) ( Civil Guard ) and India's National Security Guard (NSG), which was trained and upgraded with the help of GSG 9 after the 2008 Mumbai attacks . Additionally, many other countries have adopted various tactics, training methods, and operational strategies from GSG 9 to enhance their counter-terrorism capabilities. After renaming
9372-439: The German Red Army Faction in exchange for the passengers and crew. The aircraft was flown to several destinations throughout the Middle East . During this time, the Lufthansa captain Jürgen Schumann was murdered by the leader of the hijackers in Aden . However, West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt negotiated an agreement with Somali President Siad Barre , allowing the West German tactical unit GSG 9 to take control of
9514-456: The German authorities had rejected his repeated offer to deploy the IDF 's Sayeret Matkal , insisting instead the Bavarian State Police would handle the crisis. The Bavarian interior minister , Bruno Merk, who headed the crisis centre jointly with Genscher and Munich's police chief Manfred Schreiber, denies that such an Israeli offer ever existed. Furthermore, such an offer of foreign military intervention could never be entertained due to
9656-417: The German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the Migration Period , which separated Old High German dialects from Old Saxon . This sound shift involved a drastic change in the pronunciation of both voiced and voiceless stop consonants ( b , d , g , and p , t , k , respectively). The primary effects of the shift were the following below. While there is written evidence of
9798-399: The German states; the invention of the printing press c. 1440 and the publication of Luther's vernacular translation of the Bible in 1534, however, had an immense effect on standardizing German as a supra-dialectal written language. The ENHG period saw the rise of several important cross-regional forms of chancery German, one being gemeine tiutsch , used in the court of
9940-623: The Germanic dialects that were affected by the High German consonant shift (south of Benrath) from those that were not (north of Uerdingen). The various regional dialects spoken south of these lines are grouped as High German dialects, while those spoken to the north comprise the Low German and Low Franconian dialects. As members of the West Germanic language family, High German, Low German, and Low Franconian have been proposed to be further distinguished historically as Irminonic , Ingvaeonic , and Istvaeonic , respectively. This classification indicates their historical descent from dialects spoken by
10082-547: The Irminones (also known as the Elbe group), Ingvaeones (or North Sea Germanic group), and Istvaeones (or Weser–Rhine group). Standard German is based on a combination of Thuringian - Upper Saxon and Upper Franconian dialects, which are Central German and Upper German dialects belonging to the High German dialect group. German is therefore closely related to the other languages based on High German dialects, such as Luxembourgish (based on Central Franconian dialects ) and Yiddish . Also closely related to Standard German are
10224-457: The Israeli government had launched an assassination campaign , which authorised Mossad to track down and kill anyone who had played a role in the attack. Two days before the start of the 2016 Summer Olympics , Brazilian and Israeli officials led a ceremony where the International Olympic Committee honoured the eleven Israelis and one German killed at Munich. During the 2020 Summer Olympics ,
10366-649: The Japanese Red Army, one of the perpetrators of the massacre at Lod Airport on 30 May 1972. Various news reports and television documentaries had also claimed that the Red Army Faction founder Baader was listed along with Meinhof, but the original communiqué held in the Munich State Archives issued by the Black September group to the West German government only listed Meinhof, not Baader. . A copy of
10508-507: The MHG period. Significantly, these texts include a number of impressive secular works, such as the Nibelungenlied , an epic poem telling the story of the dragon -slayer Siegfried ( c. thirteenth century ), and the Iwein , an Arthurian verse poem by Hartmann von Aue ( c. 1203 ), lyric poems , and courtly romances such as Parzival and Tristan . Also noteworthy
10650-634: The Munich Police President and the head of security for the Games of the XX Olympiad, Bavarian Minister of the Interior Bruno Merk, and Federal Minister of the Interior and Vice President of the German NOC, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, offered themselves to the terrorists as replacement hostages, but to no avail. The Israeli ambassador to Germany, Eliashiv Ben-Horin , announced around midday that
10792-565: The Olympic Village. However, the organizers did not forward the document to the West German authorities, as guarding the Games against such threats conflicted with their goal of hosting "Carefree Games" without heavy security. Despite having clear intelligence from multiple sources and technically considering the possibility of such an attack, the Bavarian State police were still taken by surprise. The German news magazine Der Spiegel reported in 2012 that West German authorities had received
10934-463: The Olympic team), and Minister of Defence Moshe Dayan . As the ultimatum neared its expiry, the crisis team resumed negotiations with the German-speaking leader of the terrorists, "Issa", who hid his face under a mask and wore a white hat. With the assistance of an envoy from the Arab League and the head of the Egyptian IOC delegation, they managed to extend the ultimatum. At 9:30 am, there
11076-466: The Russian ammunition the terrorists were using. The police officers were also informed and had signed a declaration that they had to return the Olympic training suits the next day, washed and cleaned, despite not knowing if they would survive or what was about to confront them. They planned to crawl down from the ventilation shafts and overpower the terrorists. The police officers took up positions awaiting
11218-551: The West German Red Army Faction . Evidence uncovered in later years from the Munich Public Prosecutor's Office, held in the Munich State Archives, revealed that the original typewritten English-language communiqués of Black September contained a list of 328 names. The hostage-takers threw the body of Weinberg out of the front door of the apartment building to demonstrate their resolve. Israel's response
11360-478: The apartment building's roof. In the desperate scramble, the judo and swimming coaches, due to their age and reduced physical capability, were unable to climb out and became stranded. Once Wong, Chan, and Mok had fled, they did a headcount and realized that the judo and swimming coaches were missing. Sales, who was staying at a hotel, rushed to the scene. As the deadline given by the terrorists approached, Sales knew he had to act. He spoke to some German officials and
11502-566: The area of cybercrime , which often requires quick action to preserve evidence. The number of deployments in cases of threats to public safety has also increased. The unit is very active in developing and testing methods and tactics for these missions. In total, the GSG 9 completes around 50-60 missions every year. In contrast to the Spezialeinsatzkommandos (SEK) units in each of the regional states of Germany , which are trained and equipped for similar missions, GSG 9, which operates on
11644-406: The athletes from Apartment 3 were marched back to the coaches' apartment, the wounded Weinberg attacked the gunmen again, allowing one of his wrestlers, Gad Tsobari , to escape via the underground parking garage. Weinberg knocked one of the intruders unconscious and slashed at another with a fruit knife but failed to draw blood before being shot to death. Weightlifter Yossef Romano , a veteran of
11786-623: The athletes slept, eight tracksuit-clad members of the Black September faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization , carrying duffel bags loaded with AKM assault rifles, Tokarev pistols , and hand grenades , scaled a 2-metre ( 6 + 1 ⁄ 2 ft) chain-link fence with the assistance of unsuspecting athletes who were also sneaking into the Olympic Village. The athletes were originally identified as Americans but were later claimed to be Canadians. They entered
11928-500: The athletes' Village was inadequate for the Games. Athletes could bypass security and enter other countries' rooms by climbing over the 2 m (6 ft 7 in)-high chain-link fence surrounding the Olympic Village, rather than using the official entrances. The absence of armed personnel worried Israeli delegation head Shmuel Lalkin even before his team arrived in Munich. In later interviews with journalists Serge Groussard and Aaron J. Klein, Lalkin said he had expressed concerns to
12070-456: The athletes' rooms in the Olympic Village . The unprecedented incident culminated when the regular Bavarian State Police , who were neither trained nor equipped for counter-terrorism operations and had underestimated the number of militants involved, attempted to rescue the athletes. The Police did not have a specialized tactical sniper team at that time. The German army had snipers , but
12212-533: The attack. However, since Nazzal was recognized as a worker in the Village, nothing was thought of it at the time. The other members of the group entered Munich via train and plane in the days leading up to the attack. On Monday evening, 4 September, the Israeli athletes enjoyed a night out, watching a performance of Fiddler on the Roof and dining with the star of the play, Israeli actor Shmuel Rodensky , before returning to
12354-490: The attackers at the building entrance to attend to the injured person inside, Romano. Despite their efforts, the attackers would not allow them to enter the building, and he eventually succumbed to his gunshot injuries. The terrorists demanded by 9 am, the release of Palestinians and non-Arabs held captive in Israel, as well as Meinhof, who was imprisoned in West Germany. They also requested safe passage for themselves and
12496-521: The author Simon Reeve , Afif (the son of a Jewish mother and Christian father), Nazzal, and one of their confidantes had all worked in various capacities in the Olympic Village and had spent a couple of weeks scouting for their potential target. A member of the Uruguay Olympic delegation , which shared housing with the Israelis, claimed that he found Nazzal inside 31 Connollystraße less than 24 hours before
12638-432: The basic training section, candidates undergo vigorous preparation for their tasks as operators in GSG 9. The training includes marksmanship, tactical courses, close-quarter combat, land navigation, climbing, rappelling, and medical training. The basic training concludes with a final week of rigorous testing, where candidates must demonstrate their skills under enormous stress. On successful completion of all training stages,
12780-634: The cabinet met in Bonn . The crisis team was given full authorisation by Chancellor Willy Brandt and the German Federal Government to do whatever was needed to rescue the hostages. At 8:45 am, the Israeli Foreign Ministry received the initial news about the attack from the Israeli embassy in Bonn. This information was then forwarded to Prime Minister Golda Meir , Minister of Education and Culture Yigal Allon (who had responsibility for
12922-538: The candidate is awarded the GSG 9 badge and assigned to one of the operational units as a "Special Operations Officer". Upon successful completion of basic training, candidates undergo various additional qualifications tailored to their specializations for special operational situations. These may include parachuting, maritime operations, advanced marksmanship, advanced medical skills, surveillance (police investigation), operational diving , diving and skydiving in military freefall (training and further education take place at
13064-486: The codeword "Sunshine", which, upon hearing, they were to begin the assault. In the meantime, camera crews filmed the actions of the police officers from nearby apartments in the Olympic Village and broadcast the images live on television. This allowed the terrorists to watch the police prepare for the attack and hear it on the radio. A press image shows one of the terrorists peering from the balcony door—an image that became world-famous—while an armed police officer stood on
13206-486: The crisis and storm the plane. Special envoy Hans-Jürgen Wischnewski and GSG 9 commander Ulrich Wegener traveled to Mogadishu with approximately 60 GSG 9 commandos, organized into two units. Following a four-day odyssey, the hijackers directed the Boeing 737 to Mogadishu , Somalia , where they waited for the arrival of the Red Army Faction members after the German government had (falsely) signaled they would be released. On
13348-459: The crisis, the German negotiators demanded direct contact with the hostages to satisfy themselves the Israelis were still alive. Fencing coach Andre Spitzer , who spoke fluent German, and shooting coach Kehat Shorr , the senior member of the Israeli delegation, had a brief conversation with West German officials while standing at the second-floor window of the besieged building, with two kidnappers holding guns on them. When Spitzer attempted to answer
13490-478: The development of non-local forms of language and exposed all speakers to forms of German from outside their own area. With Luther's rendering of the Bible in the vernacular, German asserted itself against the dominance of Latin as a legitimate language for courtly, literary, and now ecclesiastical subject-matter. His Bible was ubiquitous in the German states: nearly every household possessed a copy. Nevertheless, even with
13632-452: The dialect so as to make the work as natural and accessible to German speakers as possible. Copies of Luther's Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region, translating words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Luther said the following concerning his translation method: One who would talk German does not ask the Latin how he shall do it; he must ask the mother in
13774-507: The eastern provinces of Banat , Bukovina , and Transylvania (German: Banat, Buchenland, Siebenbürgen ), German was the predominant language not only in the larger towns—like Temeschburg ( Timișoara ), Hermannstadt ( Sibiu ), and Kronstadt ( Brașov )—but also in many smaller localities in the surrounding areas. In 1901, the Second Orthographic Conference ended with a (nearly) complete standardization of
13916-494: The events unfolding nearby. The Games continued until mounting pressure on the IOC forced a suspension 12 hours after the first athlete had been murdered. United States marathon runner Frank Shorter , observing the unfolding events from the balcony of his nearby lodging, was quoted as saying, "Imagine those poor guys over there. Every five minutes a psycho with a machine gun says, 'Let's kill 'em now,' and someone else says, 'No, let's wait
14058-547: The following year and placed fifth in 2007. Following the successful rescue operation of Lufthansa Flight 181 , GSG 9 received numerous requests from various countries to help train their special operations units. One example is when GSG 9 was consulted, among other units, during the creation of the US Army's Delta Force . Germany offered to assist India in the wake of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks . GSG 9 helped train and upgrade
14200-470: The four units are further specialized in the following fields: The operational units are supported by various support units which include: The GSG 9 is based in Sankt Augustin-Hangelar near Bonn . Since 2018, a second base has been established for one of the four GSG 9 operational units in Berlin to reduce response times for missions in or near Berlin. The respective commanders of GSG 9 are
14342-607: The group. Shortly after the hostages were taken, Afif demanded the release of a significant number of Palestinians and non-Arab prisoners held in Israel, as well as one of the West German–imprisoned founders of the Red Army Faction , Ulrike Meinhof . The list included 328 detainees. West German police from the Bavarian State Police ambushed the terrorists, killing five of the eight Black September members, but
14484-435: The home, the children on the streets, the common man in the market-place and note carefully how they talk, then translate accordingly. They will then understand what is said to them because it is German. When Christ says ' ex abundantia cordis os loquitur ,' I would translate, if I followed the papists, aus dem Überflusz des Herzens redet der Mund . But tell me is this talking German? What German understands such stuff? No,
14626-476: The hostages to an Arab capital, using a plane provided for this purpose, where the hostage exchange would take place. The terrorists warned that they would shoot the hostages immediately if their demands were not met. There are different reports about the exact number of people to be released and whether non-Arab terrorists were included. For a long time, there was talk of two hundred Palestinians. In non-fiction books by Simon Reeve, Luis Palme, and Kay Schiller, it
14768-474: The influence of Luther's Bible as an unofficial written standard, a widely accepted standard for written German did not appear until the middle of the eighteenth century. German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire , which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe . Until the mid-nineteenth century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of
14910-615: The initial communiqué shown in the movie One Day in September shows Meinhof, Baader and Okamoto listed. Between 5:40 am and 9 am, the crisis team was set up on-site and met with Federal Minister of the Interior Hans-Dietrich Genscher , Bavarian Minister of the Interior Bruno Merk, Munich Police President Manfred Schreiber, State Secretary Erich Kiesl, German National Olympic Committee President Willi Daume, and IOC President Avery Brundage , while
15052-456: The intruders past Apartment 2, Weinberg lied, telling them that the residents were not Israelis. Instead, he directed them to Apartment 3, where the gunmen corralled six wrestlers and weightlifters as additional hostages. Weinberg might have hoped that the stronger men would have a better chance of fighting off the attackers than those in Apartment 2, but they were all surprised in their sleep. As
15194-514: The largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch developed), Santa Catarina , and Espírito Santo . Munich Olympic massacre International incidents The Munich massacre was a terrorist attack during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany , carried out by eight members of the Palestinian militant organisation Black September . The militants infiltrated
15336-402: The mother in the home and the plain man would say, Wesz das Herz voll ist, des gehet der Mund über . Luther's translation of the Bible into High German was also decisive for the German language and its evolution from Early New High German to modern Standard German. The publication of Luther's Bible was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy in early modern Germany , and promoted
15478-453: The night between October 17 and 18, Somali ranger units created a distraction while members of GSG 9 stormed the plane. The operation lasted seven minutes and was successful, with all hostages rescued. Three hijackers were killed, and the fourth was critically wounded. Only one GSG 9 member and one flight attendant were slightly injured. The international counter-terrorism community applauded GSG 9 for their excellent and professional handling of
15620-630: The ninth century, chief among them being the Muspilli , Merseburg charms , and Hildebrandslied , and other religious texts (the Georgslied , Ludwigslied , Evangelienbuch , and translated hymns and prayers). The Muspilli is a Christian poem written in a Bavarian dialect offering an account of the soul after the Last Judgment , and the Merseburg charms are transcriptions of spells and charms from
15762-473: The only members who appear publicly with their identities. All commanders have previously served as active operators: Members of the Bundespolizei and other German police services under the age of 34 with at least two years of service can apply for the GSG 9 selection process. However, members can serve in GSG 9 only until the age of 45. Candidates for GSG 9 undergo a five-day assessment to be accepted into
15904-487: The other side. Shouting a warning to his sleeping roommates, he threw his 135 kg (300 lb) weight against the door in an attempt to stop the intruders from forcing their way in. Gutfreund's actions gave his roommate, weightlifting coach Tuvia Sokolovsky, enough time to escape through a window. Meanwhile, wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg , known as "Muni", fought the intruders, who shot him through his cheek and then forced him to help them find more hostages. Leading
16046-462: The pronunciation of the ending -ig as [ɪk] instead of [ɪç]. In Northern Germany, High German was a foreign language to most inhabitants, whose native dialects were subsets of Low German. It was usually encountered only in writing or formal speech; in fact, most of High German was a written language, not identical to any spoken dialect, throughout the German-speaking area until well into the 19th century. However, wider standardization of pronunciation
16188-543: The rear second-story balcony. He then ran to the American dormitory, woke up US track coach Bill Bowerman , and informed him of the attack. Ladany, a survivor of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp , was the first person to spread the alert. The remaining four residents of Apartment 2—shooters Henry Hershkowitz and Zelig Shtroch, and fencers Dan Alon and Yehuda Weisenstein —along with chef de mission Shmuel Lalkin and
16330-703: The relevant authorities about his team's lodgings. The team was housed in a relatively isolated part of the Olympic Village, on the ground floor of a small building close to a gate, which Lalkin felt made them particularly vulnerable to an outside assault. The West German authorities assured Lalkin that extra security would be provided for the Israeli team, but Lalkin doubts that any additional measures were taken. Olympic organisers asked West German forensic psychologist Georg Sieber [ de ] to present some threat scenarios to aid in planning security, and he presented 26 scenarios. His "Situation 21" scenario accurately predicted an incursion of Palestinian elements into
16472-506: The reply was that "money means nothing to us; our lives mean nothing to us." The Germans also offered the Palestinians the substitution of high-ranking German officials. The kidnappers refused both offers. Meanwhile, the Olympic committee's refusal to suspend the games amid the emerging crisis intensified the pressure on the West German authorities and police to find a resolution. Magdi Gohary and Mohammad Khadif, both Egyptian advisers to
16614-401: The rescue attempt failed, resulting in the deaths of all the hostages. A West German police officer was also killed in the crossfire. The West German government faced criticism for the rescue attempt and its handling of the incident. The three surviving perpetrators were arrested but were released the following month in a hostage exchange after the hijacking of Lufthansa Flight 615 . By then
16756-429: The roof less than 12 m (40 ft) away. After "Issa" threatened to kill some of the hostages and the police cover had been blown by the television coverage, the police were forced to suspend the rescue operation to avoid a bloodbath and retreated from the premises. The press were also removed from the Olympic Village. Shortly before the 5 pm deadline, the terrorists demanded safe passage for themselves and
16898-572: The situation, as assaults on planes are considered to be one of the most difficult operations a hostage rescue force can attempt. To support the GSG 9 action, two accompanying British SAS advisers provided some newly developed flash bang grenades , but these were ultimately not used due to the fire risk inside the aircraft cabin. The majority of GSG 9's missions are classified , with limited public information available. Since its inception, GSG 9 has participated in over 1,500 missions, yet reportedly fired shots on only five occasions (official count before
17040-461: The sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Germany. According to journalist John K. Cooley , the hostage situation presented an extremely difficult political situation for the Germans because the hostages were Jewish. Munich police chief Manfred Schreiber and Bruno Merk, the interior minister of Bavaria, negotiated directly with the kidnappers, repeatedly offering an unlimited ransom. According to Cooley,
17182-529: The specialized " BFE+ " operators of the Arrest units of the German Federal Police. Its first mission, " Operation Feuerzauber " (Operation "Magic Fire"), immediately established GSG 9's reputation as an elite unit. This mission took place in 1977 when Palestinian militants hijacked the Landshut , a Lufthansa plane traveling from Palma de Mallorca to Frankfurt . They demanded the release of imprisoned members of
17324-541: The states of North Dakota and South Dakota , German is the most common language spoken at home after English. As a legacy of significant German immigration to the country , German geographical names can be found throughout the Midwest region , such as New Ulm and Bismarck (North Dakota's state capital), plus many other regions. A number of German varieties have developed in the country and are still spoken today, such as Pennsylvania Dutch and Texas German . In Brazil,
17466-409: The terrorists learned from radio and television broadcasts that the police were approaching and had planned a rescue operation. The authorities had failed to cut off the terrorists' electricity and remove the press from the Olympic Village. In the early 1970s, counter-terrorism and tactical policing were still relatively unheard-of methods for combating terrorism , and no military in the world had
17608-496: The third most commonly learned second language in the United States in K-12 education. The language has been influential in the fields of philosophy, theology, science, and technology. It is the second most commonly used language in science and the third most widely used language on websites . The German-speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of annual publication of new books, with one-tenth of all books (including e-books) in
17750-804: The tip and never acknowledged it in the following 40 years. The magazine claimed this was part of a 40-year cover-up by German authorities regarding their mishandling of the response to the massacre. The attackers were reported to be Palestinian terrorists from refugee camps in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. They were identified as Luttif Afif ( code name Issa), the leader (three of Issa's brothers were also reportedly members of Black September, with two in Israeli jails), his deputy Yusuf Nazzal ("Tony"), and junior members Afif Ahmed Hamid ("Paolo"), Khalid Jawad ("Salah"), Ahmed Chic Thaa ("Abu Halla"), Mohammed Safady ("Badran"), Adnan Al-Gashey ("Denawi"), and Al-Gashey's cousin, Jamal Al-Gashey ("Samir"). According to
17892-407: The training cycle. The tests include medical examinations, psychological assessments, marksmanship training with a pistol and submachine gun, oral interviews, and a physical test which includes: Approximately 10-15% of all candidates pass the selection phase and are accepted into the basic training section. The subsequent 4.5-month training period includes both basic and specialized training. During
18034-443: The two team doctors, were also able to flee the besieged building. The two female members of Israel's Olympic team, sprinter and hurdler Esther Shahamorov and swimmer Shlomit Nir, were housed in a separate part of the Olympic Village. Hong Kong Olympic swimmer Ronnie Wong Man-chiu recalled the courage of Hong Kong NOC president Arnaldo de Oliveira Sales , who helped bring two stranded Hong Kong coaches to safety. The Hong Kong team
18176-407: The two-story apartment building at Connollystraße 31, which housed the Israeli , Hong Kong , and Uruguay Olympic delegations , through an unlocked front door. Yossef Gutfreund , a wrestling referee, was awakened by a faint scratching noise at the door of Apartment 1, which housed the Israeli coaches and officials. Investigating the noise, he saw the door begin to open and masked men with guns on
18318-543: The world being published in German. German is most closely related to other West Germanic languages, namely Afrikaans , Dutch , English , the Frisian languages , and Scots . It also contains close similarities in vocabulary to some languages in the North Germanic group , such as Danish , Norwegian , and Swedish . Modern German gradually developed from Old High German , which in turn developed from Proto-Germanic during
18460-488: The wrists and ankles, and then to each other. Romano's bullet-riddled corpse was left at his bound comrades' feet as a warning. Several of the hostages were beaten during the standoff, with some suffering broken bones as a result. Of the other members of the Israeli team in Apartment 2, racewalker Shaul Ladany was abruptly awakened by sports shooter Zelig Shtroch , who said something like, "Arabs have shot Muni," referring to Moshe Weinberg. Ladany escaped by jumping from
18602-579: The written form of German. One of the central events in the development of ENHG was the publication of Luther's translation of the Bible into High German (the New Testament was published in 1522; the Old Testament was published in parts and completed in 1534). Luther based his translation primarily on the Meißner Deutsch of Saxony , spending much time among the population of Saxony researching
18744-429: Was a "neutral" language as there were virtually no English native speakers in Namibia at that time. German, Afrikaans, and several indigenous languages thus became "national languages" by law, identifying them as elements of the cultural heritage of the nation and ensuring that the state acknowledged and supported their presence in the country. Today, Namibia is considered to be the only German-speaking country outside of
18886-458: Was a mass rush in the press centre, but the press conference focused on the successes of swimming star Mark Spitz . Spitz, himself of Jewish origin, requested an escort and left Munich the same day. A quarter of an hour before the noon ultimatum expired, an extension of three hours, until 3 pm, was negotiated with the terrorists. During the negotiations, the mayor of the Olympic Village, Walther Tröger, along with Willi Daume, Manfred Schreiber,
19028-530: Was an artificial standard that did not correspond to any traditional spoken dialect. Rather, it was based on the pronunciation of German in Northern Germany, although it was subsequently regarded often as a general prescriptive norm, despite differing pronunciation traditions especially in the Upper-German-speaking regions that still characterise the dialect of the area today – especially
19170-523: Was an expatriate American with dual citizenship, while Slavin, the youngest of the hostages at 18, had only arrived in Israel from the Soviet Union four months before the Olympic Games began. Gutfreund, physically the largest of the hostages, was bound to a chair (Groussard describes him as being tied up like a mummy); the rest were lined up four apiece on the two beds in Springer and Shapira's room, and bound at
19312-453: Was escorted to the apartment building, where he was allowed inside. In several reports, Sales said he encountered the leader of the Black September group, who told him that he thought the entire Hong Kong delegation had already left the building. Led by one of the terrorists to the Hong Kong room, Sales brought the two Hong Kong coaches out. On the way out, Sales said to the terrorist, "Thank you,
19454-485: Was established on the basis of public speaking in theatres and the media during the 20th century and documented in pronouncing dictionaries. Official revisions of some of the rules from 1901 were not issued until the controversial German orthography reform of 1996 was made the official standard by governments of all German-speaking countries. Media and written works are now almost all produced in Standard German which
19596-466: Was housed one floor above the Israeli team. Wong, along with fencer Matthew Chan and judo athlete Mok Cheuk-wing , came face-to-face with the terrorists, who were pointing weapons at them. They told the terrorists they were Chinese from Hong Kong and wanted to leave. Chan recalls, "He spoke good English and was polite. He told us to come out of the room and we can leave. Once he said that, we felt that we were safe." Wong, Chan, and Mok fled by climbing onto
19738-415: Was immediate and absolute: there would be no negotiation. Israel's official policy at the time was to refuse to negotiate with terrorists under any circumstances, as according to the Israeli government such negotiations would give an incentive to future attacks. Under Chancellor Willy Brandt and Federal Interior Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher , Zvi Zamir , the head of Israel's Mossad , later reported
19880-542: Was regularly deployed in foreign countries as part of a security detail for German embassies in hazardous regions. Due to the workload from these deployments, the PSA BPOL was created. From 1972 to 2003, GSG 9 reportedly completed over 1,500 missions, discharging their weapons on only five occasions. At the SWAT World Challenge in 2005, GSG 9 won all eight events, beating 17 other teams. They defended their championship
20022-601: Was stated from 2006 onwards, without further source evidence, that the hostage-takers had demanded the release of 234 Palestinians from Israeli custody, as well as the German Red Army Faction terrorists Meinhof and Andreas Baader . According to historians Anna Greithanner, Dominik Aufleger, and Robert Wolff, who found the original list of the hostage-takers in the Staatsarchiv München (Munich State Archives), it contains 328 names, including Meinhof and Okamoto of
20164-628: Was to ensure that future high-risk situations could be handled adequately and professionally. Many German politicians opposed the formation of GSG 9, fearing it would rekindle memories of the Schutzstaffel (SS) and the National Socialists ' misuse of the military as an instrument of domestic power. To address these concerns, the decision was made to form the unit from the Federal Border Protection ( Bundesgrenzschutz ), rather than
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