As most of us do, I can clearly recall where I was when the terror attacks happened. I was in the Airport Travelodge Motel in Calgary, Canada, I arrived that night, coming from Germany via Denver. First thing I did in the morning was to turn on the TV – preparing for the day. The first thing I saw was the burning Twin Tower – first thing I thought: ‘Another action film in the morning…’ And then the truth, the shocking news, the second plane, the Pentagon …
I spent the following three weeks in Canada talking to strangers about fears and politics. Then I left for Chicago, terrified, for my fear of flying had reached another level. The streets of Chicago were – compared to the days before 9/11 – deserted. Newspapers, displaying the photos of Ground Zero, Firefighters and the American Flag, Stars and Stripes everywhere: on T-shirts, cars and in the windows. I was on a field trip, doing research on American Architecture and a lot of meetings were cancelled - people had left the town. Those I met seemed to have changed their mind about living in high-rise buildings, not that they wanted to leave, but at least, or for the first time, thinking about dangers they had never thought of before.
For the first time being on American soil I saw Americans gathering for demonstrations against war. ‘Let freedom ring’ was written on the T-shirts, and signs expressing unity with Muslim neighbors and / or Americans coming from the Greater Middle East. I heard people actually blaming the president for being on warpath. I was deeply impressed and glad to shift my stereotypical thinking about un-political, unreflecting Americans slavishly following their president into shunting. Yes, I know it has never been that way, but until 9/11 we (Germans/Europeans) had been under the impression that the USA is the president and vice versa. Exchanges and news about foreign affairs are still rare: Have you ever heard about German politics in US news? Ever heard about American politics – apart form the presidential elections – in German news? Hardly.
I flew back home on October 7, 2001 – the day when the headline in the newspaper read: “America strikes back”.
The aftermath, the bitter truth: The USA is not invincible, the continent is vulnerable. And what did that mean to me? What happened to me? I suffered, and sometimes I still do, it took 6 years until I was brave enough to board a plane again, I still wince at the sound of landing planes and I’ve never been to NYC though I really want to see the Big Apple. I did my M.A. in American Studies and a lot of classes I took and later taught dealt with what happened on that day in September: We compared 9/11 to Pearl Harbor, analyzing the impact of being threatened on homeland, we talked about surveillance and safety, we discussed the ‘war on terror’ and the political system of the US, we analyzed movies, art and literature on terrorism, and we started to follow the news more critically. We learned a lot.
America has changed, Europe has changed, too. First I thought we would be drifting apart but I think we have learned how to communicate, how to work together, it has never been easy, it never will but there is hope. After all, there still is hope. Hope that we can cope some day, hope that politicians will find ways to lead the world responsibly and carefully into a future without terror – into a peaceful future, hope that there will never be another 9/11.
