Ok. This is horrible. This week we talk the Olympics from 1950 - 1980. Some fun stuff happens, some records are broken. Mark Spitz wins 7 gold medals in swimming, with a mustache! We really feel like that might have slowed him down. But, the big horrible story is the Massacre at Connollystraße 31 on September 5, 1972. Eleven Israeli athletes were taken hostage by members of "Black September," a Palestinian terrorist group. Two are killed in the Olympic Village and the rest are killed in a gun/grenade battle on an airfield later. They were husbands, fathers, sons, and brothers. Trapped in a constant cycle of revenge that sees no sign of stopping.
Ok. This is horrible. This week we talk the Olympics from 1950 - 1980. Some fun stuff happens, some records are broken. Mark Spitz wins 7 gold medals in swimming, with a mustache! We really feel like that might have slowed him down.
But, the big horrible story is the Massacre at Connollystraße 31 on September 5, 1972. Eleven Israeli athletes were taken hostage by members of "Black September," a Palestinian terrorist group. Two are killed in the Olympic Village and the rest are killed in a gun/grenade battle on an airfield later. They were husbands, fathers, sons, and brothers. Trapped in a constant cycle of revenge that sees no sign of stopping.
Sources:
Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed the World - https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/rome-1960-the-olympics-that-changed-the-world_david-maraniss/1025440
Striking Back: The 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and Israel's Deadly Response - https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/striking-back-the-1972-munich-olympics-massacre-and-israels-deadly-response_aaron-j-klein/323563/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVzDVsUjRsw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3K9VJ6dhNQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSJuiOHrI5w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2Z3FmGLVU0
Hi Friends! Our transcripts aren't perfect, but I wanted to make sure you had something - if you'd like an edited transcript, I'd be happy to prioritize one for you - please email doomedtofailpod@gmail.com - Thanks! - Taylor
Taylor: Hi, fellow Americans. How are you doing this weekend
>> Taylor: In the matter of the people of state of California v. Orenthal James Simpson, case number ba zero nine. And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.
>> Farz: There we go. We are back, up and running. My audio is probably gonna be kind of crappy because I'm in Dallas, but that's the way it goes. Hi, Taylor. How are you?
>> Taylor: I'm good.
>> Farz: How are you?
>> Taylor: You're also, like, laying in bed, like, very relaxed.
>> Farz: I know, I just, like, what's the point? Why am I going to get up and go sit in an office? I'm just going to be holding the laptop one this way instead of on a, on a desk. So that's. Anyways.
>> Taylor: That's right.
>> Farz: How's your weekend?
>> Taylor: Pretty good. I slept all day yesterday, and then today my family's going to see Planet of the apes, and I'm jealous, but I couldn't make it because I had to do this. Womp womp.
>> Farz: That would have been fun.
>> Taylor: I know. Happy to be here with you.
>> Farz: Yeah, I'm sure. This is so much better than being in the movies.
Taylor: I'm going to be discussing presidential debates later this week
>> Taylor: all right, well, Robbie, intro us.
>> Farz: Yes, yes.
>> Taylor: Hello.
>> Farz: You decided that you're way better at this than me.
>> Taylor: Hi, everyone. Welcome to doom to fail. We are the podcast that brings you history's most notorious failures and epic disasters. Twice a week, every week. I'm Taylor, joined, as always, by Fars.
>> Farz: Hello, Fars.
>> Taylor: And I just got mad at Fars because he wants to talk about the debate, and I just don't think that it's over yet. And I just don't want to talk about it. It's like, all I've talked about for the past, like, six days with people, and I'm just like, I can't,
>> Farz: It's going to be a bit of a disappointment for you because I'm going to be discussing presidential debates later.
>> Taylor: Oh, perfect. Are you doing Nixon? Kennedy?
>> Farz: No, no, no.
>> Taylor: That's, like, all people talk about this week.
>> Farz: No, I'm kind of exaggerating. Only a little bit. I'm really talking about presidential races and, you know, the way things have worked out. I mean, I'm going to address one specific campaign. but I'm not going to spoil it, because I think you're first this week.
>> Taylor: I do, I do. And I'm going to continue talking about the Olympics. if you log into our instagram as us, all of. All of our algorithm is just Olympics, and it's very, very fun. There's, like, trials happening right now. There's divers. There's videos of, like, divers parents crying because they're so excited. There's people breaking records. Everyone's really fit. It's just. It's very exciting. so everyone's in trials right now getting ready to go to Paris. I bought. Well, I had to buy two pairs of new jeans, so I bought new jeans for old Navy because I'm, I don't know. I still feel like that is wear by jeans. And I bought a Team USA sweatshirt, and then I was like, I have too many sweatshirts, but I was like, I would literally never wear one of those old Navy 4 july t shirts. But I was like, I will 100% wear an old Navy team USA sweatshirt for no reason. So that's coming because I'm very olympic out right now.
>> Farz: Isn't it, like, 100 degrees where you were?
>> Taylor: It is, yes.
>> Farz: Okay.
>> Taylor: So keep it cold in here. Cold and expensive in this. In this house. Got it. I don't care. My, friend at work, we have, like, weekly presentations, and sometimes it's about work. It's about, like, data and the Internet or whatever, but then sometimes it's about fun stuff. So I actually did our able Archer 83 episode on, I did it for my work. I had a presentation and did it. Did it again. And then my friend Taylor at work, she did one this week about Mothman and other cryptids. And to support, I made a tinfoil hat. So my husband walked by the office, and it's, like, pitch dark in here because I keep it really dark. And I have my satanic temple candle lit, and I'm staring at the computer, and I have a tinfoil hat on. So it's a great picture. It really encapsulates what's going on.
>> Farz: There's a lot going on there. Yeah.
>> Taylor: He said to my family, he was like, I don't. I don't know.
>> Farz: We'll keep this door closed from now on.
>> Taylor: Yeah. So, Yeah, it's a lot, I don't know how I got there. Oh. Because it's cold in here, and I bought a sweatshirt.
Last week we talked about Hitler's 1936 Olympics and Olympics up to 1950
But anyway, let's talk about the Olympics again. And this story is fucking horrible, so I apologize to literally everyone that I have to tell you this. we talked about the origins of the Olympics. We talked about ancient and the modern. Last week, we talked about Hitler's 1936 Olympics and Olympics up to 1950. So today we're going to do olympics from 1950 to 1980. There's some fun things there are some bad things, and there's a very, very, very bad thing. And I've been, like, kind of sick to my stomach for the past couple days.
>> Farz: I'm kind of nervous. You're kind of setting this up the way I set up the family murders.
>> Taylor: Like, it's really fucking, honestly, the most terrible thing. One of the most terrible things I've ever heard. So I watched a bunch of videos. I couldn't find, like, a really, like, the book that I wanted to read. Like, I wanted a book about this, and I couldn't really figure it out. I couldn't get vengeance, which is the book that the movie Munich was based off of. it didn't come in audiobook. And, like, I don't have time to actually, like, sit down and read a book with my eyes. So I listened to another book, and then a book about the 1960 Olympics, and then a bunch of videos that I will, I'll share in the notes.
Every Olympics has a political undertone, which we know
Oh, my first thing is, okay, this has been an awful week for me. I think this may be why. I've been, like, depressed and sad all week, and this might very, very well be why. But let's talk about some fun things or other things that happened in the Olympics before we get to Munich in 1972. every Olympics or every Olympics, and I'm sure I'm going to miss some of the highlights, has, like, really heroic, exciting things. Everything has a political undertone, which we know. I think that, like, the. The dream of Pierre Cupertin was like, this will be something that, that transcends politics, you know, just athletes and the beauty of sport. And it's not that. And it can never be that. It's always going to be something political happening. But a couple fun things. I'm going to list where the Olympics were and then some, one, some things that happened that, were fun. So, in the fifties, the Winter Olympics were in Oslo, Norway. and in those games, Emil Zapodek of Czechoslovakia won the gold in the 5000 meters, 10,000 metre, and the marathon, which has never been repeated before. So he's like a runner, which is cool. Or, again, then, they were in Finland and they were in Italy. In 1956, the Summer Olympics were in Melbourne. The equestrian events were in Stockholm, Sweden, which led me to search, how the fuck do the horses get to Paris? And the answer is very, very fancy planes. And, yeah, so for all of the equestrian events, like, I think I mentioned this, in the first episode on the Olympics, but they're going to be at Versailles, which is like, real cool. So, like, in front of Versailles in the gardens, they're making the whatever for the horses to like, jump and, and shit. But the horses get there. you know, through Europe they can probably take a train, but everywhere else they have to take, like, really nice, really fancy airplanes.
>> Farz: Once again, showing that many of these Olympic sports are just for the everyman to do.
>> Taylor: I actually also, just like, my husband was sharing me a story of a man who had, like, taken a little boat across the Pacific. And he was like, oh, he did it. He got there in like, 46 days. And I said, that sounds like some rich kid shit. And he said, it looks like his parents are rich. And I was like, yeah, poor people aren't doing that. Like, that's. The guy was like, was a, interview with him and he was like, yeah, dude. I was like, worried. And I was like, I just hate that. Right?
>> Farz: People get, like, sponsorships. I mean, I don't think Greta Thunberg is like a millionaire, but, like, she takes like a private yacht everywhere or sailing yacht or something. She doesn't want. She wants to do carbon neutral. So I think that she just gets sponsored by a bunch of, like, sale everywhere.
>> Taylor: Yeah, I love that about her. so anyway, exactly, equestrian events for the everyday folk in Melbourne also, a couple countries had boycotted that due to political reasons. There was a Suez canal crisis, and the soviet invasion of Hungary. So things were happening in the fifties and sixties. Obviously, the sixties is going to be the cold War. The Winter Olympics in 1960 were in Squaw Valley, United States. And in the summer they were in Rome. So I read a book called 1960 Rome, the Olympics that changed the world. And after I was done reading it, I realized that I read the abridged version. And I was like, did they abridge the world changing out of it? Because I didn't really see it changing out of.
>> Farz: Changing out of what?
>> Taylor: Out of the book. I didn't see any world changing in the book. It was just a typical Olympics, but whatever. I read the whole book and I learned a lot about the 1960 Olympics.
>> Farz: But the curiosity added, to, like, this feat of m. It's probably one of those things.
>> Taylor: It's fine. Like, they, one thing that is fair, the USSR. They hosted the trials in 1960, and they were calling out the racism in the United States, which is absolutely fair because it was the 1960s. Cassius Clay was there for the first time. He's obviously going to become Muhammad Ali. And, as all accounts are, he was very full of himself and, like, very excited. Another fun story is that he screamed the entire flight there because he didn't want to do it, and he was scared.
>> Farz: Oh, he didn't want to fly. Okay.
>> Taylor: Yeah, you want to fly? it's a cold war.
One of the big things that happened at the 1960 Olympics was doping
I'm not going to talk about doping at all, I think, during this series. But one of the big things that happened at the very first day of the 1960 Olympics. Knud. Knud. Knud Yensen. he was, must have been from Sweden or Norway. He, was competing in the 100 kilometer team trial on his bicycle, and he passed out and died. And he had traces of amphetamines in his blood. So that was, like, one of the. It happened before, but it was like, a first, like, really high profile thing where someone had died and potentially had died because they were. Cause they were doping. And I know that, like, there's also, like, you know, when Lance Armstrong was doing it, they were, like, getting new blood every day, you know?
>> Farz: Oh, yeah.
>> Taylor: Like, really weird. Like, really weird shit. So that happened in 1960. Ethiopia was there, and that was a big deal because they had been invaded by Italy, but they were there in Italy for the, for the games. And Ethiopian Abibe Bicula won the marathon with no shoes on, which is incredible because Rome is very cobble. And he did it again in Tokyo the next year, which is super cool. Or the next time, why do we.
>> Farz: Invade Ethiopia for, land. Weird. Do you know that? Are you just saying that?
>> Taylor: Resources, probably. I don't know. Weird. Okay, I can look up later. there are the boxing finals where the US versus Italy and the Italians were getting really rowdy, and everybody was kind of mad. And Bing Crosby stood up and sang the star spangled Banner to calm everybody down, which would totally work. And I love that because he has such a beautiful voice. So I love that. And then also in 1960, there's a lovely story about, a track team of black women called the Tiger Bells. And Wilma Rudolph was the first american woman to win three gold medals, and she won it in track and field during 1960. So that was really fun. I feel like it was world changing. But, like, fun stuff happened in 1960 in Rome. 1964, they were in Tokyo. That was the first in Asia and the first televised via satellite. So that was the first time you could actually see it. you know, not live, but, like, near live for, like, the same day in 1968. It was in Mexico City, Mexico, where there were also a bunch of high altitude records were broken because Mexico City is high. It's also. I think it's also a mile high, just like Denver.
>> Farz: It is. Could you tell me that? Yeah, it's one of those things. I watch a lot of, like, fighting stuff, and anybody who goes to Mexico city when they have an event, like, they always just gas out immediately. It's like, what just happens? Oh, they're in Mexico City.
>> Taylor: Oh, it totally makes sense. Yeah. you can talk about how Barack Obama did that shitty debate in Denver.
>> Farz: Was it the Mitt Romney one? Yes, I should. I should.
>> Taylor: so another thing that happened in 1968, the summer was a black power salute. Do you remember that?
>> Farz: Yes. Yes.
>> Taylor: So Tommy Smith and John Carlos, they won the 200 meters. They were gold and bronze. They raised their fist in a black power salute. The other guy who won silver was an Australian named Peter Norman. He obviously, he seems. He got it. He was like, I'm not going to do that because I'm a white guy. But they all wore human rights badges. He was definitely in solidarity with them. Tommy Smith said later, quote, we were concerned about the lack of black assistant coaches, about how Muhammad Ali got stripped of his title, the lack of access to good housing, and our kids not being able to attend the top colleges. You know, it was. It kind of brought that to the forefront, and that was a big deal as well. into the 1970s, in, 1972, the Winter Olympics were in Sapporo, Japan. In the summer, they were in Munich, which we'll talk about in length in a second. But two other or one other fun thing that happened in Munich. Nope. The only not other a fun thing that happened in Munich in 1972 was recovery. Yeah. No. Mark Spitz was the american swimmer. He won seven gold medals, and he set world records with each one. And I just want to note that he had a mustache.
>> Farz: Yeah, I know, Mark. I actually do know what Mark Spitz.
>> Taylor: Looks like, but, like, don't you feel funny that he had a mustache? Like, isn't the idea. Idea now to be as hairless as possible?
>> Farz: If I could have won?
>> Taylor: He was like, I have to have a mustache. It's seventies.
>> Farz: My identifying characteristic and trait, all my m powers. What if his power is in the mustache?
>> Taylor: I think it is in the mustache. I think that maybe that was it. Maybe it was, like, pulling him forward somehow. so I thought that was lovely.
The 1976 Winter Olympics were relocated from Denver to Innsbruck, Austria
The 1976 Winter Olympics were relocated from Denver. Denver. They ended up being in Innsbruck, Austria, a couple years before. Denver was like, no, no, no. We can't do this, because it was just, like, too fucking expensive. And the people were like, stop doing this. So they stopped. In Austria was like, well, take it. the 1976 Summer Olympics for. In Montreal, Canada, romanian gymnast Nadia Comanche Komenici scored the first perfect ten in olympic gymnastics, and she won three gold medals, which is fun. And this is also where Caitlyn Jenner won the gold. And the decathlon.
>> Farz: No way.
>> Taylor: And yes, And the decathlon is fucking insane. So I read about it a little bit in 1960 book, and just to tell you what the decathlon is, it's a two day event and it's a point system, so you could have, like, something you're really good at and something that you're not very good at. But you. Day one, you do the hundred meters, the long jump, the shot put, the high jump and the 400 meters. On day two, you do 110 meters hurdles, discus throw, pole vault, javelin throw, and 1500 meters. It's just like the two most exhausting days you could possibly think of.
>> Farz: It kind of reminds me of field day in elementary school, which is like the funnest day.
>> Taylor: Yeah. Ever. Hopefully you get popsicles at the end of it.
>> Farz: Oh, yeah, we did.
>> Taylor: Oh, no, I mean. I mean, the dick athletes. I know you do. the last Olympics of, like, this time period, the eighties, the eighties Summer Olympics were in Moscow, and several countries, including the United States, did not attend, which led the Soviet Union to win most of the medal, which makes sense, if you think about that. So next week we'll talk about 19, 84. Because there's a lot of stuff with Los Angeles in 1984 that, resulted in the way that LA is policed. That kind of ties sort of set the stage for, like, race riots of the 1990s. So we'll talk about that. And then also the Atlanta bombing. So I will. That's where we'll end, I think, next week. because it's a lot. I feel like I'm really.
>> Farz: That's a lot. Yeah.
>> Taylor: I'm overwhelmed by this. By these stories.
This is a revenge story. There was huge errors on behalf of anyone
So, let's talk about Munich and what happened.
>> Farz: Is Munich the thing you were prefacing this with?
>> Taylor: Yes.
>> Farz: Okay.
>> Taylor: This is the bad thing. this is. Okay, ultimately, this is a revenge story. This is a story of revenge for all sorts of wrongs and revenge after revenge after revenge. We have not talked about.
>> Farz: Still happening right now.
>> Taylor: Exactly. So we have not talked about Israel and Palestine because, like, this is a fun podcast, and who cares what we think? It seems to me that anti terrorism, becomes terrorism very, very quickly. And an eye for an eye for an eye for a thousand eyes is always going to lead to innocent people dying, and that's what this does. Innocent people are going to die all over this story, the families of the murdered athletes in 1972. They wanted the truth, they wanted justice, and they wanted help. They wanted to be compensated for their loss. There were huge.
>> Farz: Well, are you gonna get into what happened, though?
>> Taylor: Like, okay, I mean, I'm just prefacing. Like, what? Okay, I wanna share about, like, this. Like, they didn't want revenge. They wanted justice. They wanted to know what happened. And they wanted money because, like, the. Their husbands were. Had been killed, and it was ton of people's fault, and they didn't get any of that. Eventually they would get a little settlement in 2004, I think, but they didn't get what they deserve out of this, but they did not want revenge. They were like, that will only lead to more innocent people dying. And it did. So I just wanted to start with that. There was huge errors on behalf of anyone, but this is just revenge is for revenge, and there are absolutely no winners. So the 1970s sounds fucking terrifying. There are so many terror groups around the Middle east and Europe, and they're, like, very, very active. There's the Red army from Asia. There's Abater Beinhof from Germany, the Muslim Brotherhood, which is the predecessor to Hamas, the IRA. It's like a fucking scary time. In the fifties and the 1970s, there was a plane hijacking one every five days. Like, would you. what? Like, there are. There have been zero for many, many years now.
>> Farz: Yeah, but that's probably not, like in the US, right? Like, that's probably.
>> Taylor: But all around Europe.
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: So in 1969, there were 86 hijackings. In 1970, there were 78. So your IdI Amin story with the hijacking is part of the, like, revenge part of us story that I won't even get into, but, like, that kind of shit was happening all the time, which is, like, crazy. So there's, like, a lot going on, like, a lot of tension in Europe and in the Middle east. Like, in part of their event story, people are going to get shot in, like, cafes in Italy, you know, like, there's tons of. Tons of going on.
There was almost zero security at the 1972 Munich Olympics
So to preface, which is, like, not at all doing it justice, but a lot is going on here. Yes. Yasser Arafat is the president of the. Of the PLO, which is a palestinian liberate, liberation organization. He would lead a nationalist party that he founded in 1959. Their goal was destroy Israel. They still exist, although in 1993, they said their goal was for arab statehood for Palestine. The prime minister of Israel was a woman, which I find interesting, named Golda Meir. And in 1970 to 1971, so in the immediate prelude to the Olympics, there was a jordanian civil war that was led by the PLO. And this is a long story, but, like, Jordan's involved, Gaddafi is there, Egypt's involved, Israel's involved. One day they hijack a swiss air flight, a TWa flight and a Pan am flight, and they bring them all to one, airstrip and blow them all up. And there's a really dramatic thing. No one died, no one was in the planes, but they blew them all up after the hijackings. So just like a wild time to be alive. And in September of that year, the worst of it, and that became known as black September. And a whole bunch of stuff happened during black September. But just remember those words together and we'll talk about them in a second. So all that stuff is happening, as always, in the background. But think about the Germans in 1972. They are like, everything is fucking fine. We are great. Look how fucking nice we are. So the german Olympics in Munich, they called them the Olympics of peace and joy. They were like, do you remember the last Olympics? We do nothing. No, no. They were like, everything is wonderful. Everything is fine. So because of that. And then far as you'll remember, last time that we talked, in 1936, in the Winter Olympics, like, everyone wore their, like, SS uniforms and people were like, that's a little much. So in the summer, they were, like, trying not to show that they were, like, ss people, but they were, like, very clearly the ss, you know?
>> Farz: Yeah, of course. Can't really hide that.
>> Taylor: Hide that. So in 1972, there is almost zero security. The cops and the Olympic security do not have guns. They, like, they have nothing. They wear these, like, powder blue suits and they're like, everything's fine. And there's not very many of them. So some people had the assumption that, like, behind the scenes there was more security and they were just hiding, but that wasn't true. There was really, like, almost no security at the Olympics.
>> Farz: It literally just dawned on me that this is Germany, like, 30 years after.
>> Taylor: It's so not that long ago. So not that long ago from it, exactly. So, yeah, it's 1972. Like, I mean, they're, like, barely repairing. You know, it's just like, not even 30 years ago.
>> Farz: It's like 23, four years ago or something.
>> Taylor: So there's, like, everything's fine.
>> Taylor: So they are. That is, you know, that's the mood in Germany. Is that. They are okay. So it's 36 years. 30. It's in 36 years since 1936.
>> Farz: Got it.
>> Taylor: I just did the math because I think that doesn't sound right.
>> Farz: I'm gonna have to fill this out.
>> Taylor: So, They're like, everything's fine. We're fine. Every country did have their own, like, security team that would go beforehand and be like, everything seems fine. The israeli security, they seem to be more worried about the security of their press than the athletes themselves. And they seemed not concerned either. One of the coaches did go early and he said, this is not safe for our athletes. The israeli team, the women, were somewhere else, but the men's team was in an apartment on 31 Connolly Strasse. They're in apartments one through five in the Olympic village. So they had five apartments. They were all first floor apartments, but they were two story apartments. and they housed some, wrestlers, some fencers, and a lot of coaches as well. So one thing that was, If you look this up, you're going to see pictures of someone looking over a balcony. And that was confusing to me for a second, because I also. Because the first thing you also see is that it was a first floor apartment, which seems very, very unsafe, but they were two story apartments.
>> Farz: Got it.
>> Taylor: I was confused.
>> Farz: Yeah. That is a scary picture of the.
>> Taylor: Guy with the mask on. Yeah.
>> Farz: It looks like straight. The strangers.
>> Taylor: I know. I'll tell you what he was doing in a second. You'll be like, jesus fucking Christ. That's what you'll say when we get there. So there was no security, like I said.
It is a long operation to get the PLO people from Munich
And the door to this part of the apartment block was always left open because it also led to the apartment garage. Or, I'm sorry, the. The car garage. The parking garage. So you would. You could always get in, like, you'd always get up to the door of the. Of the apartment. So this is terrible. It is a long operation to get the people from the PLO, who are a group called Black September. That's the name that this specific terrorist cell gives themselves as black September in relation to the war that had happened the year before. They had spent some time, like, faking passports and getting into the country. At one point, in one of the airports in Germany, there was a couple. And they had five bags, and they got pulled over by security. And security was like, what's in your bags? Open them. And they were like, no, we don't want to. Whatever. And then they opened up the. He's like, which bag do you want to open? And then the guy pointed to one, opened it up, and it was full of lingerie, you know, so the Germans were like kind of embarrassed and they like, closed it and they're like, fine, you can go. The other four suitcases were full of AK 47s. So like, they just were shit. Lucky that those weren't the ones that they saw. And that's like. And then they took the four suitcases, put them in, lockers in the train station in Munich, and then they like, went on to the next person. So it was like one thing after a thing to get the guns, to get the people there. And it all culminated on September 4, 1972. So the athletes, who, I will tell you all of their names, they were out in Munich seeing fiddler on the roof, which is fun. They went to a show. They, they saw, ah, a very famous person who played like the lead role. they. It was a mix of athletes and coaches. one of the doctors that was a teen doctor, his 13 year old son had asked to stay in the, in the Olympic village with the athletes. And he said no. And the son was really mad and he, he didn't stay there, which is like, obviously saved his life, but is really just like a gross side story, you know?
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: so at 04:30 a.m. m, eight members of black September scaled the fence, which was only 6ft high, and gotten pause.
>> Farz: Can I pause? How do they know? Were they trying still? I saw the movie Munich, but I saw it like I was in college. I remember only that Steven Spielberg corrected it.
>> Taylor: Yes.
>> Farz: And Eric Bana was in it.
>> Taylor: They knew who they were going after. They wanted to go after the Israelis. That was the point.
>> Farz: And they knew they were there.
>> Taylor: Yes. They had spent a lot of time, like, sneaking around. They didn't really have to sneak around. They could just kind of like walk in and see. And they knew exactly what they were saying. They had a, set of copied keys to the room. They were like, ready. They're dressed in track suits and they had all of their, excuse me, all of their stuff, like their weapons. So they specifically wanted to target the Israelis. And I'll tell you what they wanted, what their demands were, but they scaled the thing to drunk Canadians, helped them. Isn't their fault. They were like helping them get over it because it was like, just imagined that everybody couldn't get in. And it was 430 in the morning. They, had stolen keys and they opened the door. So one of the, wrestling referee named Josef Gutfreund, he heard a noise, and you might remember this from the movie he. Cause one of the clips that I saw, I just couldn't watch it because I'm just so upset. But he heard the noise, went to the door, saw them opening it, saw men behind the door wearing, like, ski masks and threw his body against the door to try to stop them from coming in. Guttfreund was 300 pounds, like a really big guy. And he was. Tried his best to keep them out. He doing that a lot of enough time for his roommate, wait, coach Tuviakovsky, to escape through a window. So he went running out to start to try to tell people what was going on. and tried to. I think he ended up at a hotel calling people, tried to figure out, like, what to do. But there was no, like, security patrol that could have helped him. There's like, no one there that should have been there. coach, Moisha Weinberg fought them. As soon as they got in, he. He started fighting the terrorists. They shot him in the cheek. And he lived from that shot. It was a terrible, obviously, like, through his. Through it went through his face. and then he did a very brave thing that, like, makes me want to cry. The. The terrorists asked him where the next group of israeli athletes were. And he said, because they were in apartment one. And he said, they're not in apartment two, they're in apartment three. And he walked them past apartment two to apartment three because apartment three was where the bigger guys were. That's where the wrestlers and the weightlifters were. So they think that's what his thought was. Like, hopefully these guys can stop them, which is like, I don't know, it just, like, gives me the chills and makes me want to die.
>> Farz: He got shot in the face with an AK 47.
>> Taylor: Yeah. Or some sort of gun.
The terrorists wanted something that was, like, nearly impossible
Probably not.
>> Farz: Yeah, his head would explode.
>> Taylor: Yeah. because he was able to do that and kind of like, at least the big guys in apartment three, they were startled awake. So they weren't really ready to, like, help. It was very confusing. the last guy to escape was weight coach Tuvia Skakovsky. Wait, he escaped? Wait, one more person escaped. gad Tosabari, a wrestler. He actually, he got to escape as well. So two guys escaped. he was the last person to escape. Weinberg is going to be shot and killed almost immediately after this, after they gather everybody together in an apartment. and I think that this is the body that they show the press and show people to be like, we're serious. About this. We're actually killing people in here. Weinberg's son, Guri, plays him in the movie Munich.
>> Farz: Oh, wow.
>> Taylor: He was born on August 1, 1972. So he never met his father. His father died when he was a month old.
>> Farz: That's crazy.
>> Taylor: Isn't that crazy?
>> Farz: Sad.
>> Taylor: It's so sad. I don't know what to do. Another person that was killed in the apartments, weightlifter Josef Romano, was so cute. He's just, like, cute. He's big. He has curly hair and these biggest fun seventies, mutton chaps. And he had three little girls. And he was killed trying to fight. He was on crutches because he had just hurt, like, a ligament in his leg during one of his, like, last waitlisting competitions. But he tried to fight. He ended up being. His body was mutilated. He was castrated. And his body was, like, put at the feet of everybody else and had to sit next to his dead body all day long. So the people that were there, the terrorists, I think there were eight or nine of them. some of them. The guy who was in charge, his name was, Lutif Afif, but they called him Issa. So their names are Isa, Tony, Paolo, Saleh and Abu Hala. Those are their fake, names that they used. So you saw they wore a lot of ski masks and face masks so that people couldn't see who they were. they were kind of stand outside on the balcony with their guns, and they knew that they were there. And they were trying to negotiate with the german police. What they wanted was the release of 200 palestinian prisoners, prisoners as well as some Red army prisoners, from different jails around the world. This was going to be something that was, like, really hard to do. They were in a bunch of different places.
>> Farz: You know, it's like Air force one.
>> Taylor: Yeah. They wanted something that was, like, nearly impossible. they said the first deadline was like, 09:00 a.m. but that was impossible. And they kept moving it and moving it, and they ended up being there kind of all day long. the Germans fucked up so hard during this entire thing. even though this was a huge deal, they didn't get the federal german government to help. Bavaria didn't necessarily have to do that based on the rules. So they used the bavarian government and law enforcement to negotiate. But nobody was really a hostage negotiation person. They didn't have anyone who was actually qualified to be doing these things.
Gianna Issa writes about the hostage crisis during the 2008 Olympics
Things, one thing that they do. And so the picture that you see on the COVID of the book one day in September. And the one that you just looked up with, the person on the balcony, with the guy in the tracksuit with the mask and his gun.
>> Farz: Ah.
>> Taylor: On the balcony looking up was because the freaking Germans, in the afternoon, they had an operation called Operation Sunshine, which was to have snipers, at different places all around the. Around the apartment to try to shoot them. But this is literally being broadcast live across the world, and they had tv in the apartment. So what that guy is looking at is. He's looking at the balcony being like, are, You guys fucking kidding me? I know there's a sniper up there. I can see him on tv.
>> Farz: That's the guy in the hoodie or whatever it is. Yeah, the mask.
>> Taylor: Yeah. He's saying, like, I know they're there. I can see them on tv. Like, they didn't turn the tv off for any reason. So, like, they knew. So that was a total blumber. Blumber. But didn't work at all. They tried to sneak cops in with the food, but they're like, no, we're not gonna let you do that. Obviously, I'm gonna have you, like, drop the food, and then we're gonna bring it in. Like, they're not gonna, like, do a thing. for some reason, Walter Trogher, who's the mayor of the Olympic village, got to go in the apartment and see the hostages. And he was like, are you guys okay? And he was like, they seemed very resigned to their fate, and I'm like, help them. Like, what is happening? You know what I mean?
>> Farz: Like, what's that guy supposed to do, Gianna?
>> Taylor: I don't know. Like, why was he even, like, allowed in there? It was just such a weird thing to have. Have happened. and meanwhile, the Olympics are going on. There will be a 36 hours break, but eventually, Avery Brundage, who is the president of the IOC, asks them to continue, which I feel like makes sense, you know? Like, I don't.
>> Farz: I don't agree with that. I think, like, this is a big deal. Like, there's athletes. Like, can't.
>> Taylor: I mean, I know everyone's already there. I mean, obviously, the rest of Israelis went home, but, like, I don't know. But. But I think even worse than that is, like, while it's happening, you can see in, like, the news reports that, like, 200 yards away, there's a, like, a green area with, like, a fake pond where athletes are, like, playing ping pong and sunbathing, you know, like, life is going on. Even in the Olympic village, while this is happening, which is pretty wild.
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: So the Germans do things like, we're going to get them a helicopter. They were like, fine, we want to be taken to an airfield to be taken to an arab country to continue these negotiations, you know? And the Germans were like, that's fine. You can definitely do that. That sounds great. So they wanted at first to get them there through the parking garage that was below. But then the guys were like, obviously, you're going to try to shoot us in this parking garage. So they, like, ended up getting on a bus and going to a smaller airfield that had helicopters and taking those helicopters to a larger airfield. The helicopters didn't have to go very far, but they, made them. They were full of gas. They filled them up with gasoline. They didn't have to do that, but they did. So they were, like, very flammable. Keep that in mind. So there's four hostages now left alive. They're on each of the different helicopters. they are taken to. It's 10:00 p.m. so it's dark. they're taken to the first in Fieldbrook, air base. It's a NATO air base. They're taken there in helicopters. When they get there, the Germans have a 747 that's ready to take them, like, wherever they want to go. 747 has cops dressed like flight attendants, but it's, like, very clear that they're cops. Like, they don't even change their pants. They just put on a flight attendant jacket and try to do it, and in the middle of it, they give up. Nothing even happens. But the cops in the plane quit and, like, leave. So at the time the terrorists get there, Issa, the main terrorist, gets there, and he goes into the plane. He's like, this plane is empty. Like, this is weird. We can tell that you all are lying to us. They also had snipers that were, obviously, like, around the air base, but none of them were actually snipers. They were guys who, like, maybe you knew how to shoot a gun, but none of them were trained. None of them were snipers. They didn't know the thing to, like, coordinate with each other. Like, there was, like, nothing. They were never, ever going to shoot these guys. So now that. Now that they know that they're duped, it's chaos. Everyone starts shooting. So the terrorists are shooting, the, Germans are shooting, and they end up throwing a grenade into one of the helicopters, blowing up half of the hostages, and the other half, Issa, the main terrorist guy, goes in and, shoots them all point blank, really close. And kills them all with the AK 47. And they all die in the helicopter. So all of the hostages died, just to go through who they are, again. And everyone who died in this, during the initial break in, Moeshe Weinberg and Josef Romano. They were both killed later, killed by a grenade in the helicopter. they were seated from left to right.
Nine hostages were killed during the gunfight at Israel's air force base
Zev Friedman, David Berger, Yakov Springer and Elisai Hoflan. David Berger was actually an american, but he was, competing, as a weightlifter for, the israeli team. He was so young, he died of smoke inhalation. He didn't even die in the grenade, blast. The next day, President Nixon called his parents and said, what can I do for you? And they said, can you bring him home? And his body was flown to America and everybody else was flown back to Israel, which is so sad. shot the people who were shot on the other helicopter, seated from left to right, Josef Gutfrend, Tahat Shore, Mark Slavin, Andrei Spitzer, Amit sir Shapira. they were a wrestling referee, a shooting coach, a wrestler, a fencing coach and a track coach. during the gunfight, a west german police officer named Anton Fliegerbauer, Washington, killed, And then five of the terrorists were killed, in the fight at the air force base. Like, in all of the chaos of the air force base, including Issa, who was the leader. Andre Spitzer's wife. He's a fencing coach. She is dope as shit. She's in one of those documentaries I watched. And she speaks seven languages, is wildly smart, wildly on all of this. And she's the one who's going to fight for the families to have, you know, any sort of justice, to get to know anything that actually happened. They don't tell them anything. And the saddest thing, I think that happened is, I mean, one of the saddest things ever is that they were live on ABC. And they had said that everyone was okay. That they had gotten all of the. All of the remaining hostages out, at the airfield. And that was the last thing they said before they ended broadcast for the night, like the night before. So they said that. And some of the people celebrated, like, the families across Israel and across the world were celebrating that the hostages had been let go. And some of the wives were like, I will believe it when I hear his voice. He will call me as soon as he's okay. Like, that will be the first thing that he does. I know he will call me. And then in the morning, Jim McKay on ABC, he. I don't know why this, like, really this has upset me so much this week. I don't even know what to do. But, in the morning, when they found out that everybody had died, Jim McKay on ABC said, when I was a kid, my father used to say, our greatest hopes and our worst fears are seldom realized. Our worst feels fears have been realized tonight. They've now said there were eleven hostages. Two were killed in their rooms yesterday morning. Nine were killed at the airport tonight. They're all gone. And that's how the world found out that they were all, they had all died of, right away. Israel wants to avenge them. And like I said, the families don't want that. They want compensation for the shit job everybody did keeping them safe. They want to know what happened and, they want justice. They want to know what happened in the last hours of the lives of these guys. and they will fight for decades for this. Misses Spitzer will end up, M bavarian government tells her that they have no information about this, that they don't know anything that happened. And she, will have like, some person calls her like an informant says this information is in the archives in Munich. And then. So she's on the news talking to someone about it. Someone's saying that it's not true. We don't have it. She starts reading them some of the documentation that she got sent by this person. And they're like, fine, we have it. And they had like 50 boxes of stuff that was just like talking about what had happened. That was all she wanted to know, what had happened. And then in the aftermath of all of this, some of the terrorists are still in jail in Germany for a few months. They end up being, taken back to Palestine because there's a hijacked Lufthansa flight. And they want to trade, the three terrorists or in jail in Germany for, the Lufthansa flight. But the Lufthansa flight only has twelve people on it and they're all dudes. That, ah, was just like very suspicious and. Doesn't make any sense. So it's pretty, pretty clear that Germany was like, we don't want to deal with this anymore. Get them the fuck out of here. You know?
>> Farz: So, so they, they weren't arrested? They were, they were arrested. Okay.
>> Taylor: Yeah, they were in jail in Germany. Like, one of them ran away. They found him like 40 minutes later. Some of them, the rest of them were taken into custody.
>> Farz: They're being extradited. They're being extra. Germany wanted them extradited to get this whole mess out of their hands.
>> Taylor: Yeah. And they did it through this ruse of this, like, fake hijacking. You know, they, like, had to do it, you know, got it. And, like, traded Lufthansa plane for that. So they went back. eventually, though, the, the thing to avenge these deaths is called Operation Wrath of God by the israeli government. And they will go all over Europe. They will kill people who they think were like ten dent entirely involved. they kill historians and professors who talk about this in ways that they don't like. They kill, at one point, a thing called the Lilyhammer affair. They go to Lillyhammer, Norway, which is a really small town, and they think that they found one of the guys who's involved. They follow him around, they find that he works at this small shop. He has a pregnant wife. And him and his wife seem totally normal. They go to the movies one night, they take the bus home. They're holding hands, she's very pregnant. And someone jumps out of a car and kills him, shoots him in the head.
Mandev writes about Iranian citizens being punished for government actions
And he was totally the wrong person. He wasn't even the guy at all. And, like, so many things would have been, like, that guy was married and had kids. Like, why would he also have this pregnant wife there? Why wouldn't he have any security? All these things. there are people who are like, who know that they're targets and they will like, you know, move every day and like, try to do all these things. And one of the ways that they, that they kill people and they did it. Several people in the book that I read, they would put a bomb on their telephone in their apartment. They go to their apartment, break in, put a bomb on their phone and then call them. They had a weird time when they knew they were home. So they'd pick up the phone and go, hello? And they would know that they were there. And then they blow up their phone and kill them, which is wild. So a lot of, like, car bombs, a lot of being like, mafia style, shot in restaurants, shot on the street. many, many people will die for this. and I think that's the end of that, which is. I mean, I think there's, like, a lot more to the operation wrath of God and, like, the justice and all of that, but Mandev. And it's just a tragedy of so many levels.
>> Farz: It shows, like, how we get to where we are and why, you know, I was. It was, I was talking to someone, like a strategist in politics. and someone was, like, in the weeds on this stuff, and, like, listen, like, the reality is this never. You can't. You can't unwind the tape that's already there because there's way too much water under that bridge to ever get unraveled, and I don't.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: and the thing is, like, how far back do you go to identify who was right and who was wrong?
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: Like, do you punish the people, their grandparents, their great grandparents, their great great grandparents. Do you punish the allied forces?
>> Taylor: Do you.
>> Farz: Punish. Like, Germany is still. I mean, what do you. There's no answer.
>> Taylor: Yeah. I don't know. It's such a long story. This is such a fucking sad, sad story. Like, those poor men, they were. Just had to sit there all day, you know, knowing that they were going to die, knowing that no one was going to help them.
>> Farz: And Yosef Romano, the weightlifter, his mom and brother apparently committed suicide after this.
>> Taylor: So sad. This is such. Such a horrible. A horrible way to die and a horrible, you know, anything, I guess, as we'll see in, like, other stories, like, even though it wasn't a safe space in many ways, because, like, it was the seventies and there were no. There was no security and all these things, like, it was supposed to be a safe space, you know, it felt like a safe space.
>> Farz: So there's a thing around how citizens, like, when average people are being punished for their government's actions, you know, it kind of touches on some things that we talk about every now and then. It's like, the people aren't the government. Like, Iranians aren't. Like, you talk to the average Iranian. They don't agree with any of the stuff that goes on Iran, but they can't vocalize that. They can't say that. All they can look at is. Is, again, who do you punish? It was their great grandparents who ended up getting these people into office. Right. And so how do you punish the kids of that? So, yeah, touchy, touch your own subject. But I'm glad you covered it because it's a. Again, I saw the movie, but I saw it so long ago that I didn't really recall all the nuances. I forgot about the helicopter situation. yeah, there's a lot to it.
>> Taylor: there's also.
Morgan: The only thing we talk about is presidential debates
This just reminded me, like, really quickly, and I'm reading this, so, in. Did you watch Derry girls? It's like, with. It's a. It's on Netflix. It's like a show about these, sweet girls in Derry, Northern Ireland, and they talk about a lot of Northern Ireland during the time when, like, all of their tons of terrorism in Northern Ireland and all these, like, terrible things were happening, and they're catholic and then there's, like, the Protestants and all these things. But at the very, very end, they do a vote to decide to, like, move on, essentially. And it's like, in the show, they show it that, like, it's. There's people that they know that were, like, in jail for being IRA terrorists, and they're going to, like, be forgiven because they want. The country needs to move on, you know? And it was like 71% of the people. People voted and they chose to move on. They're like, we need to get past this. You know? I don't know if that, like, worked, but it's like, that reminded me of that, you saying that.
>> Farz: I think that until we get to the point where, I mean, we can probably get there if we get to the point where we have to be governed by AI, and AI is making our decisions.
>> Taylor: Honestly, I was thinking, like, the best thing would be aliens, maybe, but I don't even know if we could agree to fight in aliens together. maybe the nuclear war. When we see each other again in 10,000 years, when we can communicate across the world, we can be like, let's forget about it.
>> Farz: It says a lot about our psyche that. When you said aliens, my first thought was, I guess if, like, really smart beings landed here, we might listen to them, and they probably tell us, stop fighting. And your mind went to, how do we kill them?
>> Taylor: No, no, no. I mean, no, no, no. That's what I was thinking. I was thinking, well, yes, I, guess when we work together, because they're probably trying to kill us because we're stupid. Like, if I live on a planet full of idiots, I'd be like, you guys are idiots.
>> Farz: Yeah. Yeah.
>> Taylor: And that's what this planet is full of. So, yeah. it's just, I'm gonna do something fun after this is over. Like, I'm so excited for the Olympics, and, like, I love all the sports stuff, but I'm just like, we can't have nice things, can we?
>> Farz: You think she feels better? My episode is actually pretty fun. But given that you started this conversation by saying you don't want to hear anything about presidential debates, I don't actually think you're going to have fun. I think you're actually, a break.
>> Taylor: I have a master's degree in political communication. The only thing we talk about is presidential debates. So I'm ready. Tell me what color tie Bill Clinton was wearing in 1992. I would love to hear that. yeah, I don't know. I'm sure it was blue.
>> Farz: We'll get into it. So we'll leave it on a more upbeat note, I guess.
>> Taylor: Yeah. This is sad. It's a devastating story.
>> Farz: Yeah. Yeah. Well, m hopefully eventless.
>> Taylor: I know. I hope so, too. I mean, knock on wood. Just, like, have people just fucking run and do a great job and. And let's do it. There's a lot of videos of Simone biles in slow motion, and I still can't figure out what the fuck she's doing in the air. It's so amazing.
>> Farz: Is she competing this year? I thought she retired.
>> Taylor: No, no, she's in it. Yeah. Yeah. yeah, we. I have a. Have a listener mail.
>> Farz: Okay.
>> Taylor: From Morgan. a bushel and a peck is from the musical guys and dolls, which I didn't know, but we talked about that song.
>> Farz: Yep. Is that the male?
>> Taylor: Yeah. Because I told you I sang that song, and you were like, I don't know what you're talking about. Do you remember that?
>> Farz: No.
>> Taylor: You said the british measure things in bushels and pecks, and I said, I sing the song.
>> Farz: Oh, that's right. That's right.
Our website is up and running. Learn a little bit about us on there
>> Taylor: You did. On the neck to my kids all the time. And you were like, that sounds insane. And Morgan was like, that's from guys and dolls. So her Grammy used to sing it to her, too, so I didn't make that.
>> Farz: The correlation is that you are into. You actually know musicals and plays enough to internalize some of the dialogue, but not the musical itself. And I just don't know. But.
>> Taylor: Cool. Well, thank you, fars. thank you, friends, for listening. please continue to tell your friends about us. our website is up and running. You can go there, doomtofailpod.com. do sign up for our newsletter to our merch to, see all of our episodes and different places to listen. Learn a little bit about us on there as well. And then if you have any questions or suggestions, we're at doomtofailpodmail.com. and we also had someone ask if we ever have a call out to ask people about their own doomed to fail stories.
Please tell us if you have a doomed to fail relationship
So please tell us if you have a doomed to fail. And that happened, like, maybe in your family, like, a weird thing that happened to, like, get to you all to where you are. we'd love to know.
>> Farz: This all started with the, idea we were going to cover some of this, then we're going to ask people to call in with their own relationship, doomed to fail. Like when they started dating someone who was red flaggy. What would I think of that? And never vocalized it to you?
>> Taylor: I don't know. We had a lot of ideas.
>> Farz: We have a lot of ideas. We're very smart people.
>> Taylor: I am going to go get a drink before you go and hope for a much less horrifying week this week.
>> Farz: Than I did last week. Okay, we'll go ahead and cut it off and.