Re-presenting the German Nation: Politics, Memory and Identity at the Munich Olympics

Lead Research Organisation: University of Cambridge
Department Name: Mining Engineering

Abstract

The Munich Olympics in 1972 are remembered for the first globally televised terrorism -the attack on the Israeli team in the Olympic Village. This event overshadowed the huge effort that the German organisers, sponsored by federal, regional and municipal governments, had invested in projecting a positive image of the 'New Germany'. Addressing divers' topics such as stadium design, relations with the former East Germany, and the legacy of the 1936 Games in Berlin, this project will provide the first full cultural-political account of Munich 1972 and contribute to an understanding of the complex relationship between sport and politics.

Publications

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Schiller, Kay; Young, Chris (2010) The 1972 Munich Olympics and the Making of Modern Germany

 
Description The monograph is the first book-length treatment (and indeed virtually the first academic treatment overall) of one of the most famous Games in Olympic history. It was based on extensive archival research in Germany, Switzerland and the US and interviews with a number of key participants such as a surviving Israeli athlete (Dan Alon) and East German spy-master Markus Wolf.



This body of work addressed a wide range of themes: the complexities of Olympic financing in a federal state; urban planning at a time of demographic growth, increasing municipal demands and diminishing coffers; memory culture and 'Vergangenheitsbewältigung'; architecture and design as contested symbols of a new Germany; the developing discourse of democratic participation and the various outgrowths of youth revolt in the 1960s; the long war of attrition for sporting recognition between the GDR and the FRG on the international scene; the security errors that led to the terrorist attack, and the complicated diplomatic fall-out that resulted from it.

The insights that led most frequently to sustained impact effects were those that dealt with: the powerful role of sporting elites and the IOC as NGO over and above that of state and federal agencies; the complicity of the West German government in 'bribing' African nations after decolonization with direct aid and gifts of sporting infrastructure; the paradox of the IOC's continued admiration in the 1960s for Berlin 1936 and the host nation's determined abhorrence of it; paradoxically, the conscious use of the 1936 blueprint by leading left liberal design elites in order to present a diametrically opposed vision of the new Germany; the important but often neglected influence of the 1945- rather than 1968-generation on the discourses of democracy and participation that helped cement German society in the 1960s and 1970s; the role of big business in Cold War Western allegiances, e.g. Krupp, which called on the legacy of 1936 to shore up its position in the present; the fact that, despite appearances, the Games hardly breathed the spirit of Ostpolitik - the East and West German sports systems were locked into an intractable conflict that Munich exacerbated rather than improved; the full diplomatic context in which Black September's attack on the Israeli team took place, which threatened to unravel Germany's concerted efforts at rapprochement across the Arab world; and finally the contextualisation of the terrorist attack in the history of security, which showed that not only the Germans but also the SAS and the special forces of the USA and France were powerless to resolve an unprecedented military situation.
Exploitation Route As demonstrated in the impact outcomes recorded elsewhere in the system, the project has had three main impacts:



1. Widespread discussion in a range of leading German media

2. Consultancy role in an installation art exhibition in the city of Munich, commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Games

3. Consultancy role in the making of Radio Olympic Ballads, broadcast by BBC Radio 2 in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics
Sectors Creative Economy
 
Description 1) In 2010, the publication of the monograph was announced via the German news agencies and an item found its way into nearly every Sunday edition in the country. Subsequently, reviews and interviews were carried by Der Spiegel, Die Zeit online, taz, Deutschlandfunk (BBC Radio 4 equivalent) and ZDF television The outcomes of the research were widely publicised and discussed in key German media. The issue was particularly live, since Munich was both bidding to host the 2018 Winter Olympics and approaching the 40th anniversary of the 1972 Games. 2) The monograph was also the principal reference for the exhibition 'München 72 - Trainingsplatz einer Demokratie', which ran for 6 weeks in 2012 at Munich's main station. Young served as consultant to the artistic director Petra Schlie, passing on objects from his personal collection (which later formed part of the show), establishing vital contacts, writing the major essay for the brochure, and giving a reading in the events series. The exhibition attracted over 2000 visitors and was widely covered and praised in the media for its inventive use of sport and history to mediate matters of contemporary concern. It not only allowed its sponsors, the Nemetschek Stiftung and Gesicht Zeigen!, to transmit key messages about democracy, but also helped both to enhance their position and reputation as foundations The monograph served as the main historical reference for an installation art exhibition in Munich 3) In 2011, Young made a significant contribution as consultant to three of the six documentary programmes 'Olympic Radio Ballads' (on Berlin 1936, Munich 1972, and Controversies), which were commissioned by the BBC, produced by Smooth Operations, and broadcast on Radio 2 in the run-up to London 2012. Young advised the makers about content and structure, organized an extensive list of interview partners, assisted with translation and was interviewed at several locations in Berlin, Munich and Magdeburg. BBC Radio 2's flagship programme in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics were the Radio Olympic Ballads. Young served as consultant, interviewee and translator for three of the six programmes.
Sector Creative Economy
Impact Types Cultural