50 Years After Attack at Munich Olympics, a Formal German Apology

Pictures of the victims of the massacre at the 1972 Olympics in Munich at a ceremony on Monday to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the attack, which left 11 Israeli athletes and a German policeman dead. Credit...Ronald Wittek/EPA, via ShutterstockBERLIN — Fifty years ago, Fürstenfeldbruck airfield was the scene of a bloody firefight. When it was over, two burned-out helicopters were neatly parked on the bullet-riddled tarmac, a symbol of German failure in the face of a terrorist attack at the Munich Olympics that left 11 athletes and one German policeman dead.

On Monday, the airfield just west of Munich was the site of a solemn German apology, the first and most important official…