31 Connollystrasse may be burned into most people as the address where Palestinian gunmen took Israeli athletes hostage during the 1972 Munich Olympics. But for Mechthild Förster it is her home.
Little did they know when she and her husband found the apartment in 1986 that it would be in the same building where the terror unfolded.
“We knew pretty soon after that, with the plaque in front of the building,” she tells AFP, referring to the plaque in German and Hebrew that commemorates the 11 members of the Israeli delegation who were killed five decades ago.
“It’s not like I felt the spooky feeling of moving into a haunted castle. Life goes on and wounds need to heal.”
On September 5, 1972, members of the militant Palestinian group Black September stormed into the Israeli Olympic delegation’s residence, shot dead two dead and took nine others hostage.
West German police responded with a botched rescue operation in which all nine hostages, as well as five of the eight hostage-takers and one police officer, were killed in a shootout.
– ‘Plants everywhere’ –
Despite the atrocities that took place on the ground, the Olympic Village was converted into a home for locals barely a year after the Games.
Foerster, 85, was already familiar with life in the Olympic Village from visiting her sister-in-law, who moved in in 1973.
Today, the 40-acre residential neighborhood bordering the 80-acre Olympic Park is a thriving neighborhood popular with families and retirees alike.
In their block, the Max Planck Institute has acquired the apartments once occupied by the Israeli delegation, who house guest scientists there. Others are inhabited by long-term residents such as foresters.
“It was really hot inside because it was actually just a pile of concrete, a kind of mountain that heats up in summer,” says Foerster, recalling the early years in the village.
“If we didn’t have plants everywhere, it would be really uninhabitable. Now it’s very pleasant,” she says, who has just come back from shopping on her bike.
On every balcony of the apartment complex that faces the sun, there are potted plants, ivy and small trees that bring a little freshness in summer.
Ramps were built soon after the fateful 1972 Games to make the buildings more accessible.
Since all streets are buried underground, there are no cars, no noisy traffic and parents let children play in the streets without fear.
– ‘Wouldn’t Live Anywhere Else’ –
The local school is nestled in the village and no more than 10 minutes’ walk from where you live – another advantage for families.
“I don’t think I would live anywhere else in Munich with children,” says Charlotte Haupt, mother of an 18-month-old boy.
“Ours is only a year and a half old, but the older it gets, the more advantages there are. We can let the kids play in front of the house, there are no cars,” she says.
Haupt moved to the area as a student in 2010 and has been living here with her partner since 2016.
Tina Wild arrived at the Olympic Village a week before giving birth 18 months ago.
“Honestly, I don’t know if we would have bought here if I hadn’t been pregnant. There are more interesting areas for a couple without children,” says Wild.
“It’s a village, but in a good way. The residents help each other, greet each other in the morning, you know each other, especially if you have children,” says Haupt.
“Volunteers sometimes go shopping for the elderly, take people for walks, visit them in their homes. It’s very easy and if you live here for a while, you get to know each other,” says Foerster.
