
In 1972, at the height of the Cold War, the Federal Republic of Germany hosted the 20th Olympic Games in Munich. While the West German government wanted to use the "Games of Peace and Joy" to forget the memory of the Olympic Games organised by Adolf Hitler in Berlin in 1936, terror had resurfaced on German soil.
On 5 September 1972, a commando of eight Palestinians belonging to the Black September group infiltrated the Olympic village, killing two Israeli athletes and taking nine others hostage.