“This day changed the world!” said German President Johannes Rau, while under the influence of the scenes of the collapse of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York. On September 11, 2001, that terrible day, nearly 3,000 people were killed as a result of attacks carried out by terrorists who hijacked four civilian aircraft and turned them into deadly weapons.
The German President continued his speech that day, asking about the political and social repercussions of what was being reported in the media, adding, "We are astonished, terrified, and barely able to think."
Days later it turned out that three of the four terrorists were residing in Hamburg. The media also reported that the leader of the Islamist terrorist group, Mohamed Atta, is of Egyptian nationality and that he moved to Germany in the early 1990s to study.
Investigations in Germany revealed that Mohamed Atta began to lean toward extremism as he frequented the Al-Quds Mosque, located near the main train station. It is the mosque that was later closed by the security authorities. In a shared apartment in a Hamburg neighborhood, with two other suspects in carrying out the attacks, he spent the last three years of his life.
According to local media, the so-called “Hamburg terrorist cell” included six men, including Moroccan Mounir El Motassadeq. The latter appeared before the German judiciary on charges of "supporting terrorism", in the first case related to these attacks. In 2003, he was sentenced on appeal to 15 years in prison, the maximum penalty stipulated by German anti-terrorism law.
After serving his sentence, Al-Motassadeq was deported to his country of origin, Morocco. Other suspects in carrying out the attacks from the vicinity of the “suicide pilot” Atta include the Yemeni Ramzi bin al-Shibh, who has been detained since 2006 without trial in the United States’ Guantánamo detention center.
In this prison, which violates international law, hundreds of suspects were detained, including Bremen-born Murat Kurnaz. He was not released until after nearly five years of detention, in August 2006, without his involvement in the terrorist attacks being proven. Kurnaz presented his story in a book that was turned into a movie in 2013.
Investigative committees in the German parliament attempted to clarify the reasons why American and German intelligence services illegally targeted Kurnaz and other suspects. The then Foreign Minister and current Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier were also called to give testimony.
The issue centers on why, in 2002, the German security authorities rejected the possible return of a prisoner of German origins who held a Turkish passport. Steinmeier's justification was as follows: "No one doubts, including me, that Mr. Kurnaz suffered greatly at Guantanamo. That is why we sought to ensure that he was treated in accordance with the principles of the law. But at the same time, I hope you understand that we were also obligated to ensure the security of our country."
The Kurnaz case typically illustrates the pressures Germany was under in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the United States. In a government statement the day after the attacks, Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder made a statement saying: “Yesterday, September 11, 2001, will be remembered in history as a black day for all of us.”
Before that, Schroeder had expressed what he described as “Germany’s absolute solidarity” with the United States, stressing that “it is self-evident that we provide citizens and authorities in the United States of America with all required assistance,” including “investigating and prosecuting the perpetrators of these heinous attacks and those behind them.”
A few weeks after the attacks, the then government coalition (the Social Democratic Party and the Green Party) presented what was called the first “security package,” which provided financial and numerical support to the police and intelligence services, and strengthened their powers.
Based on this, it has become possible to ban religious associations, if their activities are not in line with the requirements of the basic constitution and the democratic system, or if they pursue illegal goals. Less than four months after the terrorist attacks on the United States, the “anti-terrorism” law entered into force in Germany.
Among what was stipulated in the approved law was allowing intelligence services to access personal data through banks, airlines, and telecommunications companies. The foreigners' law was also tightened. And access to data on a large scale, without even suspicions, in light of what has become known as tracking “sleeper cells.” What is meant are people whom the security authorities had not previously monitored.
In a later development, the Federal Constitutional Court put an end to this measure, which sparked widespread legal controversy in the country. It issued its ruling in 2006 that tracking down “sleeper cells” is only permissible when “there is a tangible danger.” Seven years later, the country's highest court ruled that parts of the anti-terrorism law were "unconstitutional."
The attacks of September 11, 2001 had repercussions for the German army. After the United States began its war on the Taliban, a few weeks after the attacks, because the Taliban movement refused to hand over Osama bin Laden, the leader of the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda, the German army joined, starting in December, this war, which lasted 20 years and ended in August 2021 with the return of the Taliban to power.
About 3,600 soldiers were killed in the ranks of international forces, including 59 soldiers from the German Armed Forces. Three German policemen were also killed in Afghanistan.
