Ofer Ashkenazi is a Professor of Modern History and the Director of the Richard Koebner Minerva Center for German History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Since October 2021, he has served as the Vice Dean for Academic Affairs in the Humanities. His primary focus is on modern German-Jewish history, the German memory of National Socialism and the Holocaust, and the relations between Germany, Zionism, and Israel throughout the 20th century. In his publications, he has explored German and German-Jewish visual culture as a space for negotiating views, emotions, and self-perceptions that have otherwise been overlooked or marginalized in academic scholarship. 

"Many aspects of the 1972 attack and the decision-making processes before, during, and after the attack remain unclear and should be carefully examined. In addition to these questions, I am particularly interested in the role of the attack in the Israeli culture of remembrance and its impact on Israeli-German relations, as well as on the perception of Palestinians – their arguments, goals, and the use of terror – in Israel since the early 1970s." 

Michael Brenner is a Professor of Jewish History and Culture at Munich’s Ludwig Maximilian University and the Director of the Center for Israel Studies at American University in Washington, D.C. He is the International President of the Leo Baeck Institute for German-Jewish History and Culture, as well as an elected member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana in Mantua, and the American Academy for Jewish Research. His work focuses on modern German-Jewish history, the history of Israel, and the history of the city of Munich. His recent books include Der lange Schatten der Revolution: Juden und Antisemiten in Hitlers München, 1918-1923 (“The Long Shadow of the Revolution: Jews and Antisemites in Hitler’s Munich, 1918-1923”) and Israel: Traum und Wirklichkeit des jüdischen Staates (Israel: “Dream and Reality of the Jewish State”).

“As a historian of Jewish history, who conducts research on Israel and teaches in Munich, this project holds great significance for me in many different ways, all on top of my own memory of this tragic event. My particular interest lies in its placement within the context of German-Jewish history and the history of German-Israeli relations.” 

Shlomo Shpiro is the Director of the Europa Institute and holds the Paterson Chair in Security and Intelligence at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel. He is a specialist in the history of intelligence services in Israel and Europe, Palestinian and Islamist terrorism, and counterterrorism. 

"The Munich attack is deeply ingrained in the memory of many people in Israel. The work of the commission is of immense importance – not only as a means of evaluating history but also in order to have a better understanding when it comes to the counterterrorism measures of today and tomorrow and to prevent terrorist threats." 

Margit Szöllösi-Janze was Chair of Modern and Contemporary History at the Department of History of Munich’s Ludwig Maximilian University until her retirement in 2023. Her research focuses on the history of National Socialism and fascism, as well as terrorism and violence since the 1970s, an area of study in which she has led several major research projects. 

“As a 15-year-old, I was excited to attend as many Olympic events as possible using the free tickets handed out at Munich schools. The attack on the Israeli team and the murder of the athletes in Fürstenfeldbruck came as a profound shock at a time of increasing political violence both within West Germany and around the world. It means a great deal to me that now, at the end of my academic career, I have the opportunity to engage with the events and their aftermath from a historical perspective: by analyzing the archival sources, applying the methods of contemporary history, and drawing on knowledge acquired from my other research projects.” 

Petra Terhoeven is a Professor of European Culture and Contemporary History at the University of Göttingen. On October 1, 2024, she will assume the directorship of the German Historical Institute in Rome. Her work focuses on the history of fascism and terrorism in the 20th century, particularly left-wing terrorism and its political and social consequences in the Federal Republic of Germany and Italy. She is currently researching how European societies have treated the victims of terrorist violence since the 1970s. 

 “I am primarily interested in the aftermath of the Munich attack. Why did it take so long for the German side to take responsibility? How a democratic state addresses its own shortcomings and mistakes, and how it treats those affected, is a matter of fundamental importance that is of personal interest to me as well.” 

Shulamit Volkov is Professor Emerita of Modern History at Tel Aviv University, Israel, and a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. She previously served as the head of the Institute for German History and the Director of the Graduate School of History at Tel Aviv University. Volkov was a fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin and the Historisches Kolleg in Munich, as well as a visiting professor at various universities in Europe and the United States. Her publications include books, articles, and essay collections on German social history, German-Jewish history, and antisemitism, as well as on various aspects of the Enlightenment and the historiography of National Socialism. In 2022, her book “Germany Through Jewish Eyes: A History from the Eighteenth Century to the Present” was published in German translation as “Deutschland aus jüdischer Sicht. Eine andere Geschichte vom 18. Jahrhundert bis zur Gegenwart” by Beck Verlag, Munich, and in 2023, her essay collection “Interpreting Antisemitism: Studies and Essays on the German Case” was published by De Gruyter, Berlin. 

“I am the only member of the commission who experienced the events in Munich in 1972, the first internationally widely recognized Palestinian terror attack, as an adult. Today, especially after October 7, 2023, I feel it is more urgent than ever to look back upon that catastrophe and to investigate it thoroughly – both from the necessary historical perspective and through our own personal memories and emotional connections to the event.” 

Klaus Weinhauer is a Professor of Modern History at the University of Bielefeld and the Director of the Bielefeld Graduate School in History and Sociology (BGHS). His research focuses on the police history, internal security, and political violence from the 19th century. He is currently working on protests, social movements, and the police in three port cities of the 20th century in different parts of the world. 

“My particular focus lies on the socio-cultural analysis of the actions taken by the police, the Bundesgrenzschutz (Federal Border Guard), and the Bundeswehr (Federal Armed Forces) within the context of the Munich attack. I am particularly interested in two fundamental questions: How were these operations planned, executed, and later assessed? And what political and social impact did they have?” 

Christopher Young is a Professor of Modern and Medieval German Studies and the Dean of Arts and Humanities at the University of Cambridge. On October 1, 2024, he is to become the Master of St Edmund’s College, Cambridge. Together with Sir Christopher Clark, he co-directs the Cambridge DAAD Research Hub for German Studies, founded in 2016. A Germanist by training, Young has focused on the history of German sports in the European context over the past 20 years. 

“The attack on the Israeli team at the 1972 Munich Olympics is one of my earliest memories. It was only decades later that I was able to engage with the horrific images from an academic perspective, images that I, as a five-year-old, could not comprehend at the time. The opportunity to work with previously inaccessible sources as part of this research project now offers a chance to uncover the facts – hopefully once and for all. The responsibility borne here by the commission and the IfZ research office is enormous.” 

Born in 1959, Andreas Wirsching is the Director of the Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History and holds the Chair of Modern and Contemporary History at Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich. He is a member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Wirsching’s research focuses on Franco-German history during the interwar period and National Socialism, as well as German and European history since the 1970s. 

“Memory requires clarity. Given the immense complexity of any comprehensive history of September 5, 1972, this can be no simple task. At the Institute for Contemporary History, we have formed a highly qualified team to tackle this challenge together with an international  commission of historians. And the complete disclosure of all sources will be necessary to bring about the urgently needed transparency for researchers, the bereaved families, the political sphere, and the broader interested public.” 

Johannes Hürter is the head of the Munich Research Department at the Leibniz Institute of Contemporary History (IfZ) and an adjunct professor (außerplanmäßiger Professor) of Modern History at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz. His current research focuses on politics and the military from the German Empire to the National Socialist dictatorship, as well as the everyday life and cultural history of the National Socialist period. From 2008 to 2016, he led an IfZ research project on the state and terrorism in Western Europe during the 1970s and 1980s. 

“The state’s response to the Munich attack must be viewed within the broader context of how Western democracies confronted terrorist violence from the late 1960s. The actions of the government and security agencies in September 1972 and beyond serve as a historical case study that remains relevant today and which therefore requires thorough examination.” 

Eva Oberloskamp is head of the administrative and research office at the Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History for the project on the 1972 Olympic attack. She is also a lecturer (Privatdozent) at Munich’s Ludwig Maximilian University. Her research areas include German and French history of the 1920s and 1930s, energy and environmental policy since the 1970s, and European counterterrorism efforts during the 1970s.  

“The attack on the Israeli Olympic team in 1972 continues to be of great relevance today. It is my hope that the historical research conducted by our project will have a positive effect on society as well.” 

Adrian Hänni is a political historian specializing in the history of terrorism, intelligence services, and propaganda. He works as a senior researcher at the Leibniz Institute of Contemporary History (IfZ) in Munich and as a lecturer both at “Distance Learning University Switzerland" Switzerland and the Danube University Krems. His latest book "Terrorist und CIA-Agent: Die unglaubliche Geschichte des Schweizers Bruno Breguet" ("Terrorist and CIA agent: The incredible story of Bruno Breguet") was published by NZZ Libro in 2023. In 2021/22 he was a visiting scholar at Georgetown University in Washington. Previously, he conducted research at Leiden University (Netherlands) and the Centre for the Study of Violence at the University of Newcastle (Australia). Since 2020, he is an editor of the Journal for Intelligence, Propaganda and Security Studies (JIPSS) 

Lutz Kreller is a research associate at the Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History research center for the examination of the attack on the 1972 Munich Olympics. His research focuses on the precise events that unfolded on September 5 and 6, 1972, the networks of supporters of the attacks, as well as the Federal Republic of Germany’s relationships with the PLO/Fatah, Arab states, and Israel. Lutz Kreller has been active as an IfZ research associate since 2014. His research has primarily focused on the Cold War, the history of the Middle East conflict, and the history of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and Fatah.

Tina Angerer is the public relations and event management officer at the Leibniz Institute of Contemporary History’s research center for the study of the 1972 attack on the Munich Olympics. A graduate of the Deutsche Journalistenschule (German School of Journalism), she previously worked as an editor for the Abendzeitung newspaper and served as the press spokesperson for the DMB Mieterverein München (Munich Tenants’ Association). 

Christina Holzmann is the Event Management and Publications Officer at the research office of the Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History. She is responsible for organizing the project’s public events and conferences and overseeing its publications. 

In addition to her work on the historical study of the attack on the 1972 Olympics, she is pursuing a doctorate in history with work on transitional justice following the end of the Second World War from the perspective of gender history.  

Julia Mertens is the team assistant at the Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History research center for the examination of the attack on the 1972 Olympics. In addition to her organizational and administrative duties, she provides support for the research center and the commission of historians in their various tasks.