2022 marks 50 years since the 1972 Olympic terrorist attack on the Israeli team in Munich. Alongside several other Munich institutions, we want to ensure a dignified and lasting commemoration of this attack’s twelve victims by honoring each person in various ways throughout the year. Each month, the focus will be on one victim, their biography and fate.

Amerikahaus recalls the life of David Berger, a weightlifter on the Israeli Olympic team who was born and raised in the United States. Berger grew up in a loving family in Cleveland, Ohio. In addition to being an athlete, he studied psychology and business administration, and later earned a doctorate in law from New York's Columbia University.  In 1970, he immigrated to Israel to participate in the Olympic Games where he became a member of the Israeli weightlifting team and qualified for Munich. David Berger died the night of September 6 in a burning helicopter in Fürstenfeldbruck.

The project consists of two parts. Although related, each part can stand for itself. The facade of the Amerikahaus will act as a display with visual impressions from the life of David Berger. At the same time, an audio file can be accessed via a QR code. The audio serves as an inner monologue along the traces of memory as an attempt to approach the person David Berger. What remains?

Photo: Amerikahaus facade © Daniel Schvarcz

This recording offers perspectives and anecdotes from his family and causes us not only pause and remember his life, but also reflect on the democratic values of peace and education that he stood for.

Concept, text and audio realization: Horst Konietzny
Visualization: Saba Bussmann
Music: Ardhi Engl
Voice: Christian Reiner
Narrator: Julia Cortis
Narrator: Simao Pedro Ramos
Born: May 25, 1944, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Murdered: September 6, 1972 in Fürstenfeldbruck, Bavaria, Germany

Horst Konietzny is a director, author, lecturer and curator with a focus on interdisciplinary projects.
Since June 2012 he has been directing the modular and mobile SIGNALRAUM as an interdisciplinary project for sound art and new media.

Amerikahaus – Bavarian Center for Transatlantic Relations, Jewish Museum Munich, Munich Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism