I haven't watched the movie yet, but because of the increasing reports about that event in Munich 1972 regarding the upcoming movie by Spielberg I came by to this movie webpage.
As was written in User Comments, the Munich desaster was a watershed in counter-terrorist politics. AFTER it world-wide a lot of special operation forces, embedded in police or military structures, where formed.
To help you understand the complex and difficult situation let me explicate:
After WW II Germany was parted into three areas, the east became mainly a part of Poland, which territory was shifted westward by demand of Stalin's Soviet Union, which gained the former eastern polish lands. The remaining area was allocated to the for allied victors. The central part became the 'Soviet Sector', Northern Germany became british, the French took the southwest and the U.S. the southeast of West Germany. 1949 the Federal Republic of Germany was founded out of the three sectors of the west allies, as reaction to that the Soviets created the German Democratic Republic, a typical communist satellite regime like all the other european countries under the soviet scope.
Because of the enormous malpractrice of law enforcement during the Nazi-period the creators of the West German constitution wanted to make sure, that never again law enforcement gets under control of one political power. During 'Third Reich' e.g. the criminal police was centralised, and an instrument under control of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Reich Central Security Office) commanded by SS-Leader Heinrich Himmler. The West-Germans put regular police and the State Offices for the Protection of the Constitution under authority of the particular states (West Germany as a federal republic consisted of 11 states, nowadays its 16). The only federal police force was the Bundesgrenzschutz (Federal Border Protection), which was a para-military organisation because of the lack of a regular army until 1955. In that year, as an instrument of further west integration, the military forces of Germany - Bundeswehr - were formed. Even to protect military forces from misuse in interior affairs it is still not allowed to use them as police support!
As most of the democratic states, at the end of the 1960s West Germany was confronted with political riots, primarily initiated by left wing students (e.g. anti-Vietnam war protests). There is not enough space to list all the events who influented and enforced left wing radical movements in western europe and middle east (and I'm not into it that much...). You may mind the Six Day War, the occupation of Hungary by Warsaw Pact troops etc.
Several organisations occured starting terroristic operations. In West Germany, extreme left wing organisations where strongly supported by East Germany, as the terrorist group RAF - Rote Armee Fraktion (Red Army Faction), the most prominent in Germany, was, too. They started with setting a warehouse on fire and ended with hijacking and killing, or straight assasinating several officials in politics, economics or authorities during the seventies.
This kind of violence against uninvolved and innocent people in context of political demands or a 'declaration of war' was absolutely new. Mind the synonyme for specific hostage behavior: "Stockholm syndrome", created in 1973. Until that time no one had extensive experience to deal with hostage-taking.
Just 21 days after the debacle on the FĂĽrstenfeldbruck airfield the Federal Interior Minister, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, iniated the formation of the first geman counter-terrorist unit, the GSG 9, a part of Bundesgrenzschutz (GSG means border patrol unit). Its first commander Oberstleutnant Ulrich Wegener reported operational readiness of two units with each six squads in April 1973.
If I may quote wikipedia.org:
>Many other counterterrorist units were modelled after the GSG-9.<
The most spectacular mission of the GSG 9 was the 'Operation Feuerzauber'.
On October 13th, 1977, Lufthansa Flight LH 181 (a Boeing 737 with 86 passengers and 5 crew on board) on the way from Palma de Mallorca to Frankfurt/Main was hijacked by four palestinian terrorists, two women among them. Their aim was to get four german and two turkish top-terrorists discharged, further they demanded 15 million USD. During the odyssey above the Mediterranean Sea and Middle-East they killed the aircraft captain. Eventually on the airfield of Mogadishu Airport the GSG 9 assaulted the plane. During the seven minutes operation three terrorists were killed, only one woman survived. Passengers and crew where not harmed, one officer got shot in the neck, but was not killed. Further involved where somalian Rangers to secure the airfield and two british SAS members, operating the stun grenades.
Getting back to the topic of law enforcement knowledge/experience I'd like to quote Col. Charlie Beckwith, founder and First Commanding Officer of DELTA FORCE (Beckwith, Delta Force, Avon Books, New York 2000, page 127/128):
>On one such day, typical in every respect - it was the middle of October 1977, work was unexpectedly interrupted. People began to talk about a place called Mogadishu. We looked it up. It was in Somalia. A German commercial airliner had been hijacked and flown there. The story came in slowly of the wire all day. Finally, a West German counterterrorist unit called GSG-9 (Grenzschutzgruppe 9) had stormed the plane, overwhelmed the terrorists, and released the passengers. In the Pentagon that day, the *beep* just hit the fan. I knew there was meeting going on in "the tank" of the JCS (Joint Chiefs of Staff) and lots of people kept running back and forth. I was sitting in my office. Tom Owen, who worked for Snippens, rushed in, "What do you know about GSG-9? A lot of people are asking questions." I didn't know much. SAS, yes, but not that much about the West Germans. I thought they were a police unit and not military. Owen asked, "Do you know what a 'flash-bang' is?"
"Of course."
"Whew! I'm glad, because they asked and I said if anyone in the building would know it was Charlie Beckwith. He wants to see you."
"Who?"
"General Rogers."
(...)
A flash-bang has certain concussive, nonlethal properties, which I described to General Rogers. I had first been introduced to them in England. As a matter of fact, the German assault force that had used them had gotten them from 22 SAS. When I finished, General Rogers told me of a note from the President. It had surfaced in the tank earlier in the day and asked, "Do we have the same capability as the West Germans?" Much discussion had ensued before it was decided we did not. (...)<
The first 'big thing' of DELTA was to free the hostages inside the US embassy in Teheran by airborne operation in April 1980. They failed and suffered casualties.
Probably this may indicate, that the authorities everywhere were suprised and unprepared.
1974 the Conference of Interior Ministers of the States decided to form their own SWAT units, the SEK - Spezialeinsatzkommandos.
But even the existence of well trained special police forces could not prevent the heavy crime acts committed by Red Army Faction members throughout the 70s.
The German Constitution (Grundgesetz) does not allow army deployment for any kind of aggression. The forces only may operate defensive. This very restrictive rule was attenuated during the past 15 years, considering the growing importance of reunified Germany. Meanwhile German forces are operating internationally, embedded in multi-national missions like KFOR, SFOR etc.
Because of the changed demands of military missions (e.g. asymmetric warfare), in 1997 the KSK - Kommando Spezialkräfte - was formed, which is capable of counter-terrorist operations.
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