Forty years ago yesterday, American tourist Leon Klinghoffer was shot, killed, and thrown overboard from the cruise ship Achille Lauro, by members of the Palestinian Liberation Front who had hijacked the ship. Klinghoffer was Jewish and used a wheelchair. He was the only passenger to be killed. His body was recovered and buried in New Jersey; his wife died a few months later of cancer. The hostage takers were apprehended in Italy and tried and convicted there. Composer John Adams wrote an opera, "The Death of Klinghoffer", which premiered in 1991 and was staged by the Opera Theatre of St. Louis in 2011.
No comments:
Post a Comment