Germany's Reaction to the Terrorist Attack 11 September 2001

OBERKALBACH, HESSEN, GERMANY

Village of My Berthold & Ullrich Ancestors

Germany’s Reaction to the Terrorist Attacks 11 Sep 2001

Dirk Frohberg, a native Oberkalbacher, is a student at the University of Mainz in

Germany. He recently e-mailed me to comment on my web site. Dirk’s mail

came just two days before the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and

the Pentagon. When I answered his mail a few days later, I asked him how he felt about this event. Dirk answered:

“I saw the disaster live on TV. I couldn’t believe it and became really sick with

anger and shock. Your TV stations may not show the reactions in Germany or

elsewhere, so I'm going to tell you about it.

When the disaster happened all stations stopped their programs and reported

about the disaster. The whole day and the day after, no station played any

movies, out of respect. Even the music station Viva stopped all transmitting.

I saw people crying ... shocked people ... nobody could believe it. My phone

rang all day with calls from people who wanted to inform me or talk about it. All

flags were at half mast. In the evening there was no cinema, no theater, no disco,

but full churches. The next day there were silent protest marches. Hills of flowers

have been laid in front of American military bases and at the Embassy. Again there

were lots of ceremonies and the feeling of a great loss and helplessness.

Today (Thursday Sep. 13th) at 10 o'clock, life in Germany stopped totally for

about 5 minutes. People stopped working. Cars, busses and trains stopped.

TV stopped ... I think all of Germany became silent for some minutes thinking

of the victims of the terror ... it was really touching. Tonight I went to my gospel

choir, but nobody felt like singing. We dimmed the light and someone said some

really touching words. We prayed and started singing some chorals and then went

home.

Someone said the words "These times, we are all American" in memory of the

words of JFK in Berlin "Ich bin ein Berliner". There is such a great

sympathy with the Americans and I wish you could feel it. All the western

states came a bit closer to each other and it may be the start of a new time

of strong relationships. Even most Arabian, Asian and Islamic countries want

to stand at the side of America.

But anger causes another problem. Foreign people from Arabian or Islamic

countries feel a bigger distance from our people than ever before. They are

threatened and shouted at. I hope this will not become a time of more racism

in Germany. We are all afraid of irrational reactions from your president,

which could cause a third World War. We really support a revenge, but only

against the right people. Too many innocent people are already dead.”

My thanks to Dirk for giving us some insight into the reaction of the German

people to the terrorist attacks. At a sad time like this, it is good to know that

others care.

This page was uploaded 17 September 2001.