David Berger (weightlifter): what Wikipedia removed
David Berger was one of eleven Israeli Olympians taken hostage and killed at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Through 2015 the opening said he was murdered by Arab terrorists at the Munich Olympic Games. Today the opening says he was killed by the Palestinian group Black September during the Munich massacre, with terrorists gone from the opening though the word survives twelve times in the body. A reader today learns the name of the group that killed him and does not learn that Wikipedia’s own opening once called them terrorists.
The word “terror” appeared 1 times in this article’s opening at its peak, in 2010. Today the opening carries none; the body carries 12. Checked against the full current article on 2026-08-01.
The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot
Section titled “The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot”| word | 2010 | 2015 | 2020 | 6 October 2023 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| terror | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| massacre | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| hostage | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Counts are of the opening paragraph only, the part most readers, search engines and AI training sets ever quote.
What was taken out
Section titled “What was taken out”- The description of his killers as Arab terrorists was dropped from the opening, replaced by a reference to the Palestinian group Black September.
- The detail of his engagement to an Israeli student was dropped from the opening.
- His 1971 silver medal weightlifting result was dropped from the opening.
How it opened then, and now
Section titled “How it opened then, and now”2010 (revision 366168417):
For other people named David Berger, see David Berger (disambiguation) . David Mark Berger (June 24, 1944 – September 6, 1972) was an American -born weightlifter for the Israeli Olympic team in 1972. A lawyer by education, Berger was one of 11 members of Israel’s Olympic team who were taken hostage and subsequently murdered by Arab terrorists at the Munich Olympic Games . Berger was born in Cleveland , Ohio to wealthy parents. A noted student-athlete, he attended Tulane University from 1962 to 1966 where he was an honor student and a weightlifter. While a junior at Tulane, he won the NCAA weightlifting title in the 148-pound class. Berger earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Tulane …
2025 (revision 1283731517):
Israeli weightlifter For other people with the same name, see David Berger (disambiguation) . David Mark Berger ( Hebrew : דיוויד מארק ברגר ; May 24, 1944 – September 6, 1972) was an American and Israeli Olympic weightlifter , and one of the 11 Israeli Olympians taken hostage and killed by the Palestinian group Black September during the Munich massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics . Born and raised in the United States, Berger was a lawyer by education and had emigrated to Israel after taking part in the 1969 Maccabiah Games , where he won a gold medal.
Related
Section titled “Related”- The drift report: what changed across all 61,944 watched articles
- The case file for this article, with every snapshot and every marked removal
- Who made the cuts: removals grouped by the account that made them
- The live article on Wikipedia
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