26 September 1980

Well....it's not over.

26 September 1980....at 10:19PM...at the Oktoberfest in Munich.....an explosion occurred.  After the smoke cleared, 13 people were dead and roughly 200 wounded or maimed.

Politically, it came at a bad time with an election just four weeks away.  Cops were under pressure to solve the whole quickly.

They ended up figuring out some part of the puzzle by looking at the folks who were dead and reaching a conclusion that Gundolf Kohler (21 years old) who was among the dead folks....was the guy who placed the bomb.  It apparently went off early.

The public was happy.  The politicians were happy.  It was done.

Well, there was a fair number of problems with this Kohler-piece-of-the-puzzle.  The more that you try to say it was a singular act by one single guy....the less it fits.

Three years ago....the federal cops reopened the file.  There's an active investigation going on.  Trying to look over this case 37 years later?  Yeah.

One of the odd features to this crime is that Kohler used a British-made mortar for the components.  Where did the Brit mortar come from?  No one ever attempted to ask this question.  Some Brit connection?  Some weapons dealer?

About 30 minutes prior to the bomb going off.....witnesses place Kohler at some location in the fest and chatting with two individuals.  Neither of the two have ever stepped forward.

The body parts problem?  There's this hand that was found on the ground after the blast.  Cops generally place the hand with Kohler and just closed off the episode.  Well, it's not his hand.  There's a nurse from the region who recalls having a patient come in within a few hours after the blast who was missing a hand.  Doctors treated the guy and he spent a few days in the hospital.  Cops never came to question him, The guy just gets up one day and leaves.  No ID on the guy or paperwork.

Last night, public TV here in Germany ran a piece on it's 'XY' crime show and invited to the public to respond if they know more about the episode.  Cops are hoping for some new details.....37 years later....to come out.

The general feeling is that this was a neo-Nazi group, and that Kohler was just one of two or three individuals at the fest who was part of this conspiracy.  But to pick this up 37 years later?  It'd be like wanting to discuss the assassination of Crown Prince Ferdinand from 1914 and some shady characters who were out on the street at 8AM.