Athletes' widows express relief that film honors their husbands (Munich)

Athletes' widows express relief that film honors their husbands

Matthew Kalman, Chronicle Foreign Service

Friday, December 23, 2005

Tel Aviv -- The last time Ankie Spitzer saw her husband was on television in September 1972. He was standing half-naked at the window of the Israeli team's apartment in the Olympic Village in Munich with a gun to his back.

Andre Spitzer, 27, was an Israeli Olympic fencing coach and he had just been taken hostage by eight Palestinian terrorists who burst into the apartment on Connollystrasse at daybreak. The events of that day served as the basis for the new Steven Spielberg film, "Munich," which opens today. Ankie Spitzer and Ilana Romano, two widows of the murdered athletes, were invited to a private screening of the movie and shared their opinions about the movie as well as their memories of the events.

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"Before we saw the film, we were terribly frightened," said Romano. "We wanted to know what use would be made of the memory of our husbands, sons, fathers who were murdered in Munich. It was important to see how they would be portrayed and whether their honor would be respected."

"The memory of the athletes is respected and portrayed appropriately," she said. "We were relieved."

Romano said the families' other concern was that Israel's mission against the terrorists would be portrayed negatively.

"Spielberg called the film 'Munich' and not 'Vengeance' -- that's very important to me because I don't believe my country went out seeking vengeance," she said. "My country went out to prevent terrorism, to put it on the defensive rather than on the attack. My country had no other choice."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/23/DDGOIGBRKP1.DTL