The David Berger Memorial honors David Berger and preserves the memory of the eleven Israeli athletes who were assassinated at the Olympic Games in Munich, Germany, in 1972. Conceived as both a reminder of violence and a hope that humanity will one day overcome violence, the monument breaks the Olympic emblem of five interlocking rings to symbolize the stopping of the games, while giving the broken rings an upward motion to suggest the peaceful intent of the Olympics. Ten semicircles rest on eleven steel segments representing the eleven who died at Munich, and one segment differs slightly from the others to symbolize the unique events in David Berger’s life that led him to the Israeli Olympic team and to his death. Commissioned by Berger’s friends, the work was created by David E. Davis, designated a Landmark by the city of Cleveland Heights on October 28, 1979, and recognized by the Congress of the United States through Public Law 96-199 on March 5, 1980, which authorized the Secretary of the Interior to designate it as the David Berger National Memorial.
