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Family of slain weight lifter remembers...30 years later
By DOUGLAS J. GUTH Staff Reporter
It has been a year since terrorism walloped the collective consciousness of our country.
For Dr. Ben Berger, his wife, Dorothy, and their two children, a week ago Thursday was spent commemorating another dark anniversary: The Bergers' oldest son, David, a weight lifter, was killed on Sept. 5, 1972, along with 10 other Israeli athletes and coaches. They were gunned down by Palestinian terrorists at the Olympic Games in Munich, Germany.
Berger, 85, who spoke to this reporter Sept. 5 from his Shaker Heights office, says the day was spent receiving calls from his kids, Barbara and Fred, and his grandchildren, one of whom is named after David. The publicity swirling around the 30-year anniversary of the attack and the approach of 9/11 made that day even more difficult to bear. "We just try to get through it; there's no secret formula," he adds.
Even after three decades, the weight of David's death still hangs heavily on the family. "For us, terrorism began 30 years ago," says Berger. However, 9/11 "was even more of a shock to us," serving to reopen old wounds that had never completely healed.
"You never forget, but you subdue," says Berger. "Sept. 11 brought David's death to the surface."
The Bergers' 20-hour ordeal began shortly before dawn on Sept. 5, 1972. Eight members of a Palestinian terrorist group called Black September climbed an unguarded fence of the Olympic village and stormed the dormitory where the Israeli delegation was sleeping. An athlete and a coach were shot and killed immediately, and another nine Israelis were taken hostage. The terrorists threatened to murder them unless Israel released Arab prisoners from its jails.
The Israeli government would not negotiate, so the terrorists demanded that an airplane be arranged to fly them and the hostages to a Middle East country. The drama ended at Fuerstenfeldbruck airfield when German authorities botched a rescue attempt. David Berger and his teammates were killed in the ensuing firefight, along with five of the eight terrorists.
The Bergers describe David, a Shaker Heights High School graduate who moved to Israel, as an intelligent, good-humored pacifist. He possessed three degrees, including a juris doctorate from Columbia University. He wrote original poetry protesting the Vietnam War.
The elder Berger and wife, Dorothy, 81, keep David's spirit alive through scholarship programs at each of the three colleges where David received degrees. The David Berger National Memorial, David Davis' bent iron sculpture resembling a series of broken Olympic rings, sits on the front lawn of the Mayfield Jewish Community Center in Cleveland Heights.
To the disappointment of the Bergers and others, little acknowledgment of the event has been made by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). "There should be a moment of silence" for the Munich victims, as well as all victims of terrorism, Berger remarks.
IOC members have said they don't want to bring politics into the games, as some Arab countries view the massacre as part of a larger social struggle against Israel. Confidential IOC minutes from a meeting prior to the 2000 Sydney Olympics suggest the committee received "threatening letters on the issue from several different Arab Olympic committees," according to an article on espn.com.
Letters Berger wrote to the IOC over the years have not been answered, and "I don't think they'll do anything to commemorate the victims" when the games arrive in Athens, Greece, in 2004, he says.
A recent development concerning the Munich attack is the German government's announcement that relatives of the victims have accepted $2.98 million in compensation, far less than the $29 million they originally demanded.
Berger knows of no such offer. "I have not heard or accepted anything," he notes. Berger made an inquiry to the Israeli Olympic Committee about three years ago. He was contacted by a German lawyer who said he was negotiating a settlement for each family, but added that much of the money would go into legal fees. Berger has not heard a word since and does not plan to pursue the matter.
For David's sister, Barbara, 52, her well-liked brother's name lives on in her 19-year-old son. However, she regrets that her brother is remembered by the public for dying at the Olympics rather than competing in them, she told the CJN in a recent phone interview.
Barbara, a mother of two who owns a landscaping business in Portland, Maine, lit a yahrzeit candle, as she does every year, to commemorate the anniversary of David's death. She's watched recent television specials concerning the Munich attack, but will turn away, she admits, if the images are too graphic.
Barbara and middle brother Fred went to Munich in 1972 to see David compete. They said goodbye to their brother after watching him lift and left for Austria on a camping trip. They knew nothing of the attack until it was over. On Sept. 6, Barbara overhead an English-language radio broadcast stating that 11 Israeli athletes had been killed. She and Fred drove to the U.S. Embassy in Salzburg where they were told of their brother's fate.
"Our feelings were raw, it didn't seem real," Barbara recalls. Numbed and shocked, they returned to the States, eventually flying to Cleveland from New York via a private jet sent by then-President Richard Nixon.
The following weeks and months of mourning were spent responding to well-wishers who sent the Bergers hundreds of letters. "We answered every single one," Barbara claims.
The ordeal has made her more sensitive to other people's misfortunes. Barbara has also gained an unfortunate awareness that nobody is insulated from tragedy, an awareness she wishes the rest of the country possessed. "It seems we haven't learned anything from Munich, as we were so ill-prepared for what happened on 9/11," she says.
Fred, 55, admits he and David were not extremely close. David was the athlete of the family and three years Fred's senior, but the Provincetown, Mass., social worker fondly remembers his sibling's wit and independent, almost rebellious, nature.
On Sept. 5, Fred went to work and thought about his brother, but the passage of years has dulled a bit of the grief. Like his sister, Fred lit a yahrzeit candle this day. The publicity surrounding the 30-year anniversary is helping him get through it. "I'm pleased people remember David and what happened to him," he explains.
For Dr. Ben Berger, his wife, Dorothy, and their two children, a week ago Thursday was spent commemorating another dark anniversary: The Bergers' oldest son, David, a weight lifter, was killed on Sept. 5, 1972, along with 10 other Israeli athletes and coaches. They were gunned down by Palestinian terrorists at the Olympic Games in Munich, Germany.
Berger, 85, who spoke to this reporter Sept. 5 from his Shaker Heights office, says the day was spent receiving calls from his kids, Barbara and Fred, and his grandchildren, one of whom is named after David. The publicity swirling around the 30-year anniversary of the attack and the approach of 9/11 made that day even more difficult to bear. "We just try to get through it; there's no secret formula," he adds.
Even after three decades, the weight of David's death still hangs heavily on the family. "For us, terrorism began 30 years ago," says Berger. However, 9/11 "was even more of a shock to us," serving to reopen old wounds that had never completely healed.
"You never forget, but you subdue," says Berger. "Sept. 11 brought David's death to the surface."
The Bergers' 20-hour ordeal began shortly before dawn on Sept. 5, 1972. Eight members of a Palestinian terrorist group called Black September climbed an unguarded fence of the Olympic village and stormed the dormitory where the Israeli delegation was sleeping. An athlete and a coach were shot and killed immediately, and another nine Israelis were taken hostage. The terrorists threatened to murder them unless Israel released Arab prisoners from its jails.
The Israeli government would not negotiate, so the terrorists demanded that an airplane be arranged to fly them and the hostages to a Middle East country. The drama ended at Fuerstenfeldbruck airfield when German authorities botched a rescue attempt. David Berger and his teammates were killed in the ensuing firefight, along with five of the eight terrorists.
The Bergers describe David, a Shaker Heights High School graduate who moved to Israel, as an intelligent, good-humored pacifist. He possessed three degrees, including a juris doctorate from Columbia University. He wrote original poetry protesting the Vietnam War.
The elder Berger and wife, Dorothy, 81, keep David's spirit alive through scholarship programs at each of the three colleges where David received degrees. The David Berger National Memorial, David Davis' bent iron sculpture resembling a series of broken Olympic rings, sits on the front lawn of the Mayfield Jewish Community Center in Cleveland Heights.
To the disappointment of the Bergers and others, little acknowledgment of the event has been made by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). "There should be a moment of silence" for the Munich victims, as well as all victims of terrorism, Berger remarks.
IOC members have said they don't want to bring politics into the games, as some Arab countries view the massacre as part of a larger social struggle against Israel. Confidential IOC minutes from a meeting prior to the 2000 Sydney Olympics suggest the committee received "threatening letters on the issue from several different Arab Olympic committees," according to an article on espn.com.
Letters Berger wrote to the IOC over the years have not been answered, and "I don't think they'll do anything to commemorate the victims" when the games arrive in Athens, Greece, in 2004, he says.
A recent development concerning the Munich attack is the German government's announcement that relatives of the victims have accepted $2.98 million in compensation, far less than the $29 million they originally demanded.
Berger knows of no such offer. "I have not heard or accepted anything," he notes. Berger made an inquiry to the Israeli Olympic Committee about three years ago. He was contacted by a German lawyer who said he was negotiating a settlement for each family, but added that much of the money would go into legal fees. Berger has not heard a word since and does not plan to pursue the matter.
For David's sister, Barbara, 52, her well-liked brother's name lives on in her 19-year-old son. However, she regrets that her brother is remembered by the public for dying at the Olympics rather than competing in them, she told the CJN in a recent phone interview.
Barbara, a mother of two who owns a landscaping business in Portland, Maine, lit a yahrzeit candle, as she does every year, to commemorate the anniversary of David's death. She's watched recent television specials concerning the Munich attack, but will turn away, she admits, if the images are too graphic.
Barbara and middle brother Fred went to Munich in 1972 to see David compete. They said goodbye to their brother after watching him lift and left for Austria on a camping trip. They knew nothing of the attack until it was over. On Sept. 6, Barbara overhead an English-language radio broadcast stating that 11 Israeli athletes had been killed. She and Fred drove to the U.S. Embassy in Salzburg where they were told of their brother's fate.
"Our feelings were raw, it didn't seem real," Barbara recalls. Numbed and shocked, they returned to the States, eventually flying to Cleveland from New York via a private jet sent by then-President Richard Nixon.
The following weeks and months of mourning were spent responding to well-wishers who sent the Bergers hundreds of letters. "We answered every single one," Barbara claims.
The ordeal has made her more sensitive to other people's misfortunes. Barbara has also gained an unfortunate awareness that nobody is insulated from tragedy, an awareness she wishes the rest of the country possessed. "It seems we haven't learned anything from Munich, as we were so ill-prepared for what happened on 9/11," she says.
Fred, 55, admits he and David were not extremely close. David was the athlete of the family and three years Fred's senior, but the Provincetown, Mass., social worker fondly remembers his sibling's wit and independent, almost rebellious, nature.
On Sept. 5, Fred went to work and thought about his brother, but the passage of years has dulled a bit of the grief. Like his sister, Fred lit a yahrzeit candle this day. The publicity surrounding the 30-year anniversary is helping him get through it. "I'm pleased people remember David and what happened to him," he explains.
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