Hamburg interior senator: 9/11 was the most devastating terrorist attack in history

A participant shows a photo of a relative who was killed in the terrorist attacks in front of the former US Consulate General on the Außenalster. Source: Marcus Brandt / dpa

On the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, Hamburg laid flowers in memory of the victims. Interior Senator Andy Grote addressed the role of three hijacker pilots from the city and highlighted attacks that were prevented. A relative of a victim also spoke at the ceremony.

Ceremony at the Memorial Stone

Hamburg's Interior Senator Andy Grote (SPD) and US Consul General Scott Woodard laid flowers at a memorial stone for the victims. "It was the most devastating, terrible terrorist attack, the largest terrorist attack that has ever occurred in human history," Grote said in his speech. He recalled the wave of compassion that gripped tens of thousands of Hamburg residents at the time.

"We were also affected and shaken in Hamburg when we had to learn that an important part of the perpetrators, key figures in the crime, lived in Hamburg, and that the acts were decisively prepared here," the Senator said.

Security authorities learned at the time that they had to confront the Islamist threat with greater severity, consistency, and strength. "But since then, we have done that." Many attacks, including those in Hamburg, were prevented by security authorities.

Firefighters laid flowers at the memorial stone in front of the former US Consulate General on the Außenalster. Source: Marcus Brandt / dpa

Warning Against All Forms of Extremism

Grote cautioned that Islamism is not the only threat. "Every extremism leads – this is in its nature – at the latest when it meets resistance, and it does meet resistance in every democracy, leads to violence and terror, sooner or later," he said. He emphasized that protecting liberal democracy, the foundation of freedom, is the most important task of security authorities.

Personal Accounts from Witnesses

According to consulate employee Deborah Steinborn, 2,977 people from 84 countries were killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, and the crash of a hijacked plane in Pennsylvania. Steinborn, who lived as a journalist in Manhattan at the time, watched the attacks on the World Trade Center from her 12th-floor apartment.

"We were all in shock," said Steinborn. She described repeated alarms about alleged further attacks, fighter jets in the air, and phones that did not work. That evening, her best friend arrived completely covered in ash and stayed in her apartment for three days. Steinborn lost three other friends in the attacks. Her brother helped recover victims the next day and now suffers from health problems after inhaling smoke and dust.

Consul General: Humanity and Friendship Stronger Than Hate

Consul General Woodard honored the firefighters who entered the burning World Trade Center to save people. He noted that the flowers and candles brought by thousands of Hamburg residents to the then-seat of the Consulate General strengthened transatlantic friendship. "The flowers have long since faded, the candles extinguished, but: Courage, humanity, and friendship last longer than hate," said Woodard. He experienced the attack in Washington at the time and saw the smoke over the Pentagon and a huge hole in the building.

A Victim's Relative from Ahrensburg

Among those who laid flowers was the sister of a victim from Ahrensburg near Hamburg. Her brother had been setting up an exhibition in the World Trade Center as managing director of a company when the attacks occurred.