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| Olympic Tower through the trees. |
As many of you know, I am quite interested in history. Especially the type that is relevant to our society today. Not that cavemen and dinosaurs aren't cool, but like post 16th century history. Very American, I know! Today, I had little time, meaning only a few hours to hit a few sights. That left me no time to research and investigate the deep history of the area. Therefore I visited a few places related to topics of which I already had a basic understanding: Munich 1972 and World War II.
Of course, like most history, these events have their darkness. But I find them to be very relevant to western culture. The reason I went to the Olympic Park was to see the site of a games that was designed to promote an open atmosphere yet had so many still to this day unexplained controversies. I mean the Russian's beat the US in basketball in 1972 after adding an extra play in regulation. Dooley, its been going on for years my man, dont feel too bad for yourself. But actually the biggest interest that brought me to the sight was the events that transpired with the Israeli Olympians.
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| 31 Connollystraße - Nearest unit in building. Very eerie. |
I wont go into the history of the story. Most of you are aware that during the Munich 1972 Games a large contingent of the Israeli Olympic team was taken hostage by Middle Eastern terrorists known as Black September. An extremely sad and unnecessary course of events. It led to the deaths of 11 athletes, 5 terrorists, and a policeman. While in the park, I wanted to find the exact location where the event happened in the early morning hours. At 430AM, terrorist broke into Israel's housing area in Olympic Village. How does that happen? Regardless, I didnt know if the building still stood, or if it was torn down, etc. To be honest, if it were up to me, I would have torn the thing down days after the games. So, anyway, I was intrigued. The entire village had a very very strange feeling to it. I am sure it was ultra modern in the 1972, now it just looks like development gone bad. Its still a very populated area. When I found the location where a few innocent lost their lives (most of the murders took place however at the airport), it was very strange. It was one of the most eerie moments of my life, here I stand by myself, looking at a building that was horrifically placed in the center of the world nearly 40 years ago. I cant explain the way it makes you feel, its just a small place, yet its story was so large. I have attached pics. The rest of the park however, was pretty neat and relaxing. Some of it is run down, but the stadiums are in good shape and the city still gets a lot of use out of it.
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| One of the handful of Konigsplatz structures still standing. |
The other place I thought I would visit was Konigsplatz. It's a square in Munich made infamous by the Third Reich's rise to power in the region. The roots of the movement and party was at Konigsplatz. Many of the buildings were torn down by Americans and Germans after the war to in a way erase the physical history of the era. However, some buildings that were used for speeches and rallies were built prior to the 20th century and still remain today. If you look closely at some of the pictures, you will notice they are in several modern documentaries of WWII.
There you have it, the darkest day in the history of tourism. Actually, despite its darkness, it is simply unpleasant reality. Unfortunately history can expose the very worst that humans can do. Fortunately, most times the good guys prevail. I constantly think how, when, where, about all kinds of things. But to be standing in the places where world events unfolded and asking yourself to put it into perspective what it meant is a very hard task.
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| Marienplatz - Town Hall |
Munich today is an awesome place! They have proven that there is more to a city than some unfortunate history. The people were very nice and kind, plus there was a large international crowd. I really enjoyed my time there. There are several great things in Munich. The city center is pretty neat, imagine a big outdoor shopping mall that goes on for miles with beer halls and churches in between. Its pretty fun, several others agreed who were also out despite it being a semi-overcast day.
