Munich Historical Piece

 There are basically four facts to the bombing of the 1980 Oktoberfest in Munich:

1.  Approximately 1.4 kilograms of explosives were used.

2.  This occurred near the main walk-in point of the fest.

3.  Twelve folks died, with around 200 others wounded.

4. Gundolf Koehler was among the 12 dead, and was ID'ed as the culprit.....primarily because of his far-right-wing activities.  Koehler was also identified as a ex-NPD member (the modern-day Nazi group).  

ARD posted a historical piece today over the bombing, and the mystery that still exists.

So you start off with the fact that no one believes that Koehler was the sole participant in the bombing.  The Bavarian security folks?  They wanted a quick ending to the investigation, because of a upcoming election.

The hand that is left over?  Well, there were various body parts on the grounds, and they were assembled and taken for investigation.  By the conclusion....all the body parts could be identified to the correct bodies...except for one hand.  

I know....it's a bit odd.  All the dead counted up....two hands each.  All the wounded....two hands each.  This one hand....left over.

A couple of years ago, I watched a documentary piece done by public TV in Germany, and they interviewed a nurse.  She'd witnessed this guy walk into a hospital (outside of Munich) with a wrapped-up arm.....obviously missing a hand.  Hospital took the guy in quickly.....tended to the situation.  Because the police were so focused on the situation in Munich.....no one said much.  Two or three days later...the guy simply self-checked-out of the hospital....no questions asked, and left.

Some folks have picked up on this story, and figure this second guy is part of the bombing effort.  No name....no car....no way to guess who it is....just that he is missing a hand.  

The hand back in the custody of the police? After a brief period of holding it....they disposed of it.  In today's world, you'd run the DNA test and let it lead you to someone.   

The idea of just letting the thing drop?  Well....you had the one guy (dead I admit) as the chief person to blame, and everyone wanting to avoid saying that right-wing fanatics were potentially a threat once again in Germany.  

So the historical piece lays there.  You can't really conclude it.....you can't solve it....you just stand and view it from a distance.