Digital memorial website for the 1972 Olympia assassination attempt

When the person responsible for the project, Ms. Silke Seiz, approached us with the idea of a digital place of remembrance for the assassination at the 1972 Summer Olympics, it was immediately clear to us that we would like to support her in this heartfelt project. The starting position was certainly not an easy one. After the cooperation with another website agency had to be terminated in the middle of the project, they were desperately looking for a replacement. The fact that they chose us fills us with great pride.

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Due to the tight schedule caused by the circumstances, we cast the new concept into shape right at the first virtual meeting and jointly drafted the corresponding realisation agenda in order to subsequently start the implementation full of zest for action. The enormous motivation and the unwavering optimism of the entire team around Silke Seiz and Sandra Moser (District Office Fürstenfeldbruck), the historians Anna Greithanner, Dominik Aufleger and Robert Wolff, as well as the team of Augmented Minds Ambrus & Lonau GbR finally made it possible to put the website “Erinnerungsort Fürstenfeldbruck - Olympia 1972” online in the shortest time and on time for the deadline day.

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Interactive app “Erinnerungsort 72”

Thanks to the agency Augmented Minds Ambrus & Lonau GbR, the associated app called "Erinnerungsort 72" was also completed in time. It can be downloaded free of charge from the Google Play Store and the Apple Store and offers users an interactive experience of the events at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, including a virtual tour of the Fürstenfeldbruck airbase - the place where the hostages were taken.

Bringing an archive full of memorabilia to life digitally

The Bundeswehr airfield in Fürstenfeldbruck suddenly became the focus of world attention late in the evening of September 5, 1972. An armed operation by Bavarian Police with the aim of freeing the hostages there, failed tragically. All nine hostages and one police officer were killed. The events leave deep wounds that will probably never heal. However, they also left behind a lot of picture and video material, as well as numerous statements of contemporary witnesses and press articles. Equipped with this flood of archive material, as well as a clearly defined goal, we began to rebuild a worthy digital place of remembrance in the form of an immersive website.

Implement a vivid storytelling

As a starting point, we found a site with poor performance that was also not compatible for all browsers. The UX quickly proved to be suboptimal. It was not easy to find ones way around the site. The first step was therefore to design the concept. The focus was on the following question: How do we organise the content so that it is tangible and understandable for every visitor?

We paid special attention to the correct and appealing presentation of the historical events. To this end, we extensively reviewed the available text, image and video material and then created a common thread for the storytelling. Good storytelling was essential to achieve a result that pictorially depicted the course of events and ultimately commemorated the relatives and victims of the assassinations. Lively animations and an appealing visual presentation of the material (UI design), as well as a clear navigation, a structured layout and interactive elements (UX design) let the visitors to immerse themselves in the events and create a vivid storytelling experience. The planned interactivity of the website as well as its elaborate interactions and animations were subsequently implemented in the development phase using modern Webflow software.

The challenges

The biggest challenge in the project, besides keeping to the tight schedule, was to serve the different target groups (young people, international audience, etc.) and to implement multilingualism in languages that were unusual for us (Hebrew and Arabic). In addition, a holistic image of the website and app had to be created and duplication of content had to be avoided.

In order to communicate the topic more effectively to the public in the future, a long-term social media support by LE4F.AGENCY has already been arranged. We are looking forward to further cooperation!

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In addition to the detailed presentation of the history of the event, the “Erinnerungsort Fürstenfeldbruck - Olympia 1972” website is intended to do one thing above all: commemorate the victims of the attack. On a corresponding subpage "Gedenken", a space is created where relatives, but also outsiders, can do just that. Through portraits of people, the visitor gets an insight into their lives, their work and their role on September 5, 1972. In addition, eyewitness interviews in audio and video format and a detailed chronology of events create a very vivid and honest picture of the situation on the ground.

The website pursues a historical-political educational mission by placing the assassination in the context of world political events, forming the basis for upcoming educational work, especially with schoolchildren, as well as museums, and raising a cautionary word to anti-Semitism and racism. Unfortunately, we cannot change the past, but we should inform ourselves about the history of this country and, above all, ensure that it is not repeated under any circumstances. This responsibility is shared by each and every one of us.

Summary

The project was particularly exciting and important for us because it will make a significant contribution to being able to commemorate the victims of the attack at that time in an appropriate setting. Especially for those who do not have the opportunity to be there, we have created a space for mourning, remembering and looking back. The accompanying educational work was also a reason for us to take on this project. The combination of the website and the app developed by Augmented Minds Ambrus & Lonau GbR will hopefully emphasise the importance of the events and the lessons we can and must learn from them.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank you once again for the invitation to the memorial event in Fürstenfeldbruck and wish all those involved and their families all the best for the future.