Survivors, relatives and officials paid solemn tribute yesterday to 11 Israeli victims of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre at the site of their killings 40 years ago.

Munich will be forever linked to the saddest day in our lives

About 600 guests passed tight security checks to attend a ceremony at Fuerstenfeldbruck air base, west of Munich, where a hostage-taking by a radical Palestinian group known as Black September reached its tragic climax.

Many of the guests wore dark glasses and brushed away tears as an ecumenical memorial service marked the anniversary, which has prompted new questions about the turn of events on German soil.

Under grey skies and with flags flying at half-mast, white candles lined a podium over which hung large black and white photos of the Israeli athletes and coaches who were taken hostage and subsequently killed.

Ankie Spitzer, widow of fencing coach Andre Spitzer, said the trip to Germany brought back painful memories of the authorities’ “disastrous rescue attempt”.

“For us, families of the victims and those of the Israeli delegation who were fortunate enough (to survive) Munich, Germany will be linked forever to this saddest day in our lives,” she said.

She condemned “the incompetence, the stupidity and the arrogance” of the West German security officials “who should have saved the athletes” and demanded “a new investigation on the failures of the authorities in 1972”.

Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom said “40 years ago, the young state of Israel went through one of its most tragic days ever”.

He stressed the enduring threat, citing the deadly July attack against Israeli tourists in Bulgaria and Iran’s nuclear programme.

The leader of Germany’s Jewish community, Dieter Graumann, condemned the refusal of the International Olympic Committee to mark the 40th anniversary of the bloodbath with a minute’s silence at the opening ceremony of the London Games this summer.

The commemorations have given rise to new research into the horrifying chain of events at the summer Munich Games, which were meant to showcase the new face of what was then West Germany, nearly three decades after World War II.

On September 5, 1972, gunmen broke into the Israeli team’s flat at the Olympic village, immediately killing two of the athletes and taking nine others hostage to demand the release of 232 Palestinian prisoners.

A bungled rescue operation resulted in all the hostages being killed along with a German policeman and five of the eight hostage-takers.