German neo-Nazis helped kill Israeli athletes in 1972 Olympics

Palestinian terrorists, who killed 11 Israeli athletes during the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, had received logistic support from neo-Nazis to carry out the massacre, according to newly released German intelligence files.

The Munich city police dossier, which was kept secret for 40 years, the alleged mastermind of the attack Abu Daoud met in Dortmund fascist Willi Pohl, who helped him arranging fake passports and procure weapons that may have been used in the atrocity itself.

Although the files were passed on to German intelligence agency Verfassungsschutz, there is no evidence that the agency acted upon the report. And this lack of action allowed Daoud, named in the files as Saad Walli, to travel the country to meet fellow "Black September" terrorists and plan the attack.

"I chauffeured Abu Daoud through the entire Federal Republic where he met in different cities with Palestinians," Pohl, who is now a crime fiction author, was quoted by the Daily Mail as telling the German magazine 'Der Spiegel'.

The 68-year-old, who insists he had no idea the group were planning the attack, claimed he unwittingly also helped Daoud obtain false passports and other documents. But, according to the 2,000-page report, Pohl allegedly bragged to his employer later about his contact with the extremists of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO).

Pohl was later asked by the PLO's leadership to carry out vengeance attacks for the police killings of five militants. Several possible attacks were considered, including a hostage-taking at the cathedral in Cologne, it was claimed.

In October 1972, Pohl was arrested in Munich and jailed for two years for possession of illegal weapons. Police had found from him hand grenades, firearms and a letter from Black September addressed to a judge who was preparing to bring charges against Palestinians involved in the Munich massacre.

Black September had used the same sort of grenades, made in Belgium from Swedish explosives, to kill the Israeli hostages, the files showed. Daoud, who died in 2010, had claimed responsibility for the attack in his 1999 book "Palestine, from Jerusalem to Munich" in which he defended the act as a operation against athletes who were military reservists.

The operation began on the morning of September 5, 1972, with six days left in the Games, when eight terrorists stormed the Olympic village and raided the apartment housing Israeli contingent.

Two Israeli athletes were killed and nine more were seized as hostages. The militants demanded the release of over 200 Palestinians serving time in Israeli jails, along with two renowned German terrorists.

After a day of unsuccessful negotiations, the terrorists collected the hostages and headed for the military airport in Munich for a flight back to the Middle East. At the airport, German sharpshooters opened fire, killing three of the Palestinians. A horrifying gun battle ensued, claiming the lives of all nine of the hostages and two terrorists on board a helicopter.

The three surviving assassins were captured, but later released by West Germany following the hijacking a Lufthansa airliner by Black September.