September 5, 1972 is a day Jews must remember forever. On that day terrorists took 11 Israeli athletes hostage at the Munich Olympics, and ultimately killed them in what has been called the Munich Massacre. Today, not many Americans (and surprisingly some American Jews) have forgotten this barbarous act committed by Israel's neighbors.
One of the athletes killed was Kehat Shorr, described in a memorial site as follows:
Kehat Shorr, an expert marksman, was born Feb. 21, 1919 in Romania. At 53, he was a civil servant in Israel’s Defense Ministry, living in Neve Sharrett, a suburb of Tel Aviv, with his wife and daughter, when he attended the 20th Olympics in Munich in 1972 as a marksmanship coach.
Shorr had participated as a coach in several previous Olympics, and was himself several times a marksman national champion in Romania. When he made aliyah to Israel in 1963, he founded the marksman discipline in Israel and became the national coach.
Shorr, along with 10 of the delegation, were taken hostage by members of Black September, a Palestinian terrorist organization in the early hours of Sept. 5. Two teammates were killed in the initial assault, while the remaining nine were machine gunned during a two-hour firefight between German police and the terrorists at Fürstenfeldbruck airfield, 12 miles outside of Munich.
During the tense negotiations between the terrorists, who sought the release of more than 200 prisoners from Israeli jails, Shorr appeared once at the window of the apartment where the hostages were held. That was the last time he was seen alive.
In June of 1941, Romania, as part of the German Axis, joined the invasion of the former Soviet Union. Shorr was marked for internment, but managed to hide in the Carpathian Mountains with other Jewish partisans who made periodic raids on cities to rescue other Jews in hiding.
Another article provides this account:
Please take a moment today to remember Shorr and all of the victims of the Munich Massacre.He was 53 when he died. He lost a wife and a daughter in the Holocaust.
He was born in Romania. He devoted himself to shooting, and his achievements were impressive. He immigrated to Israel in 1963 and settled in Tel Aviv. He joined the "Hapoel" team and quickly became its coach.
Shorr devoted his time and skills to training young marksmen. He contributed significantly toward raising the standard of marksmen in Israel, thanks to his organizational and professional aptitudes.
He trained the national team for the Twentieth Olympics Games in Munich.
He was buried in Kiryat Shaul's cemetery.
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