Moshe Weinberg

Moshe Weinberg (sometimes Weinberger) (September 19, 1939 in Haifa – September 5, 1972) was the coach of the Israeli international wrestling team as well as being the coach of Hapoel Tel Aviv. He was the Israeli youth champion in wrestling and also the adult champion for a period of 8 years. He began his career in Hapoel Haifa, later becoming a certified coach at the Wingate Institute. In his capacity as national wrestling coach, he was sent to the 1972 Summer Olympics at Munich. He was among eleven Israeli team members who were killed by Palestinian terrorists in the Munich massacre.

Death

In the early morning hours of September 5, 1972, Palestinian members of Black September entered the Olympic Village, Munich and broke into apartment 1 at Connolystrasse 31, which housed five coaches and two referees of the Israeli Olympic team. The first Israeli they encountered was Weinberg (It is unclear whether Weinberg was actually in the apartment already or was captured as he was entering it). Realizing the gravity of the situation, Weinberg got into a scuffle with the intruders, one of whom shot the wrestling coach through his cheek. The wounded Weinberg was taken by the terrorists to help find more Israelis. Weinberg led the terrorists past Apartment 2, which housed the fencers, shooters and track athletes, and instead took them to Apartment 3, which housed Israel's weightlifters and wrestlers. However, taken by surprise, the six athletes of Apartment 3 were captured by the terrorists. While the hostages were being marched back to the officials' apartment, Weinberg once again attacked the intruders, knocking one of them unconscious and allowing one of his wrestlers, Gad Tsobari, to escape via an underground parking garage. The terrorists fatally shot Weinberg with automatic weapons, then threw his body out into the street in order to demonstrate their resolve. In moving the hostages to the coaches' apartment, the terrorists got into a scuffle with weightlifter Yossef Romano and killed him as well. The nine remaining hostages were also subsequently killed in what became known as the Munich massacre.

Weinberg's son Guri, an Israeli actor, portrayed his father in the 2005 movie Munich. Guri is married to actress Tammy Lauren.