To mark the anniversary, the Olympic Tower in Munich has beet lit up in the colour scheme of the 1972 Olympics. 

A terrorist attack on the Israeli team at the Olympic Village during the second week of the Games cast a shadow that remains to this day.

Next week, German civic authorities will stage events to commemorate the exact anniversary of an attack which resulted in the death of 11 members of the Israeli team and a Munich policeman.

The city has also been anxious to mark the anniversary of what were remarkable Olympics by any standards.

A series of summer events included the multi-sport European Championships, held under the theme "Back to the Roofs" and featuring nine Olympic sports contested in many of the facilities originally used 50 years ago.

Half a century ago, organisers had been determined Munich 1972 would be "smiling Games" designed to erase the bitter memories of Berlin 1936 when the Olympics were staged in the shadow of the swastika.

"The Olympic Games in Munich in 1972 stand for the new Germany of the post-war period," International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach said recently.

"The architecture and conception of these Games reflected the spirit of openness, frankness and joie de vivre down to the smallest detail.

"With a unique design of the Olympic Park and the stadium, architect Günter Behnisch captured exactly this zeitgeist. 

"He deliberately avoided borders and barriers of any kind in order to focus on the unifying power of the Olympic Games."

Thousands of school-age performers at the Opening Ceremony danced to the medieval tune Sumer is Icumen, traditionally sung at the start of summer, but the 1972 Games actually began later in the year than any previous Olympics staged in Europe.

The Opening Ceremony featured an officials oath for the first time at a Summer Games, taken by equestrian judge Heinz Pollay.

Long jumper Heidi Schüller became the first woman to speak the oath at a Summer Games. 

All eyes at the parade of nations were focused on the crowd's reaction to the East German team, competing in its own right as the German Democratic Republic for the first time.

The East Germans numbered 297 competitors and were announced by the German stadium announcer as "DDR"

They entered after the African nation of Dahomey, now known as as Benin, and received warm applause when they joined the parade.

The East German men wore sky blue jackets which were almost identical in shade to those worn by their West German counterparts later in the parade.

The women were dressed in orange, green, turquoise, purple or yellow, which resembled the pastel colours which had been deliberately chosen as the "look of the Games" to decorate the stadium.

Shortly afterwards, a team of 23 from North Korea made their entry.

They too were competing at a Summer Games for the first time.

Each team entered the arena to music which had been specially arranged and performed by Kurt Edelhagen and his orchestra.

The United States entered to When the Saints Go Marching In.

Then after Venezuela and Vietnam, came the host nation, West Germany, announced simply as "Deutschland" by the public address announcer.

The squad of 341 did not include Bach, who had been unsuccessful in his own bid to compete as a fencer and watched proceedings from afar on television.

"Welcome Olympic guests from all over the world," Organising Committee President Willi Daume told spectators as he promised "great sport and a festival of hope and understanding".

Then-IOC President Avery Brundage, speaking entirely in German, asked the West German President to formally open the Games.

The arrival of the Olympic Flame brought one last innovation.

As Günter Zahn, a promising German runner carried the Torch into the stadium, he was accompanied by Kenya's Kip Keino, American Jim Ryun, Australia's Derek Clayton and Japan's Kenji Kimihara.

It was a symbolic escort drawn from all the other continents before Zahn ignited a cauldron high above the stadium.

Electronic music by Krzysztof Penderecki brought the Opening Ceremony to a close.

It took as its inspiration the ancient Olympic Truce Ekecheiria.

In the light of subsequent events at Munich 1972 it was a choice tinged with tragic irony.