(Left) Dan Alon, the Israeli national fencing champion who went to the 1972 Olympics with dreams of returning with a medal and flew home instead with the coffins of his teammates, his narrow escape of the ordeal that became known as the Munich Massacre and was the subject of a 2005 Steven Spielberg movie with Daniel Craig, Munich. Alon’s visit to The Bahamas was organized by the Nassau Jewish Community as part of its broad-based community outreach, building understanding and harmony. See right is Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Dr. Daniel Johnson. (Photo: Disha Fraser)

Nassau, Bahamas - More than 430 students from schools across the island recently got a lesson in learning to forgive from a man who spent more than half his life learning it himself following the brutal terrorist attack that left most of his teammates dead and forever changed the face of the Olympics.

Dan Alon, one of four survivors of what has come to be known as the Munich Massacre, headed to the 1972 Games with dreams of earning a medal. Instead, the spirited young athlete at the top of his game as Israeli national fencing champ flew home, silenced, saddened beyond words, accompanied by the coffins of his teammates.

Over the next 40 years, Alon battled internally, raging against the cowardly acts of hatred that took the lives of his fellow athletes. Though he married, raised a family, had a business, he continued to fight nightmares and paranoia. It was not until the Steven Spielberg movie Munich with Daniel Craig was released in 2005 that he began to come to grips with what happened. It was then he began writing his book and traveling, telling his story to audiences young and old.

His March 10 visit to Nassau was organized by Rabbi Sholom Bluming, the Director of the Nassau Jewish Community, and sponsored by Aetos Holdings, Atlantis, Andbank, Ansbacher, Colina Holdings, Diane Phillips & Associates, Ministry of Youth, Sports & Culture, Restaurants Bahamas Ltd, and Union Bancaire Privee.

At a morning session, Minister of Youth, Sports & Culture Dr. Daniel Johnson told students from several government and private schools the lessons they were about to hear would be invaluable, demonstrating that every individual has the strength to overcome, to rise above and rebuild, no matter how evil or devastating the circumstances.

In Alon’s presentation, students journeyed with him through the harrowing tale of his narrow escape, fleeing as shots rang out around him in the Olympic dorm, felling his closest friend, leaving trails of blood. It was the first time Israel had been targeted outside its borders. The massacre that took 14 lives, including nine Israeli hostages, was blamed on a group called Black September.

“Children, each one of you is a unique light and every act of goodness and kindness you perform brings light to the dark world we live in and it is you that will change the world,” said Rabbi Bluming, who serves as the Director of Chabad of The Bahamas.

“Sharing the story with children taught them a lesson of responsibility, that they can make a difference in caring more for their friends and standing up to indifference around them. It is our kids we will count on for making the world a better and safer place for future generations," he said.

What students did not hear because Alon did not learn until later when he was addressing some 500 persons attending the evening presentation was the Bahamian connection. When the massacre began and Alon fled under blanket of darkness, burrowing on his stomach, crawling not to be seen, he sought safety in the nearest dorm unit not under fire. That room housed the Bahamian team. Track star Mike Sands, the late Walter Callender, Dr. Timothy Barrett, cyclist Jeffrey Burnside were all there and three of them met Alon during the Nassau visit . The reunion of strangers who had in a fleeting instant become indelible memories without names was unveiled as the program drew to a close and in a room packed with people from every walk of life a common recognition of what had just happened erupted into applause and standing ovations, tears and hugs.

Forty three years had passed since the events that drew them together though Alon never knew what team it was that kept him safe and called German police. But the Bahamian team knew and lived with a secret kept deep inside.

At the time, the teams each went their own way. The remaining Israelis and the Bahamian team returned to their respective countries not only as participants of the 1972 Munich Olympics, but as unsung heroes, survivors of an historic event that ruffled the world of sports and gave the term terrorism a whole new meaning.

“Bringing this program to The Bahamas was even more timely as these stories of terror attacks continue to shake the world today, and it’s these style events that gather together the wider community that we need today more than ever,” said Rabbi Bluming, “for they bring a message of unity, equality and harmony to the fragmented world we live in.