Anyone who stands at Obeid Said's pharmacy in Hamburg has no idea that the man behind the counter once felt like a terrorist suspect. The current pharmacist fled Afghanistan to Hamburg with his family as a child at the end of the 1980s. He finds freedom in Germany: "It was a very, very new feeling for me and I was able to get used to it very quickly." He later begins to study pharmacy. So far everything is according to plan.
But then comes September 11, 2001. And with that day come these looks - and much more than that.
Questions about religion - "because of the events of September 11th"
At the time around September 11, 2001, the young man was doing an internship in a pharmacy as part of his studies. Like so many other people, he and his colleagues followed the frightening images from New York that day. The scenes from the USA bring back memories of Afghanistan in him. He has to think about the violence in his home country. At this point he has no idea how close this event will come to him.
A few weeks later, the doorbell suddenly rang at his and his wife's apartment door in Hamburg-Ohlsdorf, he says in the NDR Info podcast "Pearl Harburg - Germany after 9/11." Two police officers presented themselves to him with all sorts of questions “about the events of September 11th.”
They want to know whether Obeid Said is religious, whether he prays often, whether he is part of a terrorist organization. The young student no longer understands the world. Even though he had long since become a German citizen at that point, he was asked whether he wanted to stay in Germany.
The fear of being perceived as an accomplice
To this day, Obeid Said has never received an explanation for this visit. The police never reported back, he says. The Hamburg student somehow carried on at the time, but preferred not to say anything about the two police officers at the university: "I didn't want to be labeled as an accomplice or anything."
At the request of NDR Info, the Federal Prosecutor's Office confirmed that the visit took place - but why exactly remains unclear to this day.
Search for “sleepers”
After the attack in the USA, there is great concern in Germany. Politicians and authorities are afraid of further attacks in this country. They are trying to prevent an assassination attempt. Knowledge of the Islamist scene in Germany is important in order to find possible “sleepers” and get tips.
The dragnet search, among other things, is intended to help in the search for these “sleepers” and potentially dangerous people. Using this search method, the police search for potentially relevant people based on previously defined relevant characteristics - based on the perpetrator biography of the 9/11 attackers. Characteristics can be, for example, status as a student or origin from a country with a predominantly Muslim population.
The search is on for people who have several of these characteristics and who may provide further information and be relevant to the police. This dragnet search will be rolled out in many federal states in the fall of 2001 - under critical observation by data protection officers and civil society.
"I was suddenly the terrorist suspect"
"Suddenly I was the Muslim, the terror suspect, the one who might have had something to do with it. That means that this beautiful, ideal world for me in Germany was a bit damaged," is how Obeid Said describes the tense social atmosphere at the time. The day was a turning point for him.
It's a difficult situation: Germany is shocked and mourning, showing solidarity with the USA. But at the same time, many citizens now feel directly threatened and in danger. Your sense of security is shattered.
This is particularly felt by people with an immigration background. When the photos and names of the 9/11 terrorists began circulating in the media - students who also lived in Hamburg and came from countries such as Egypt and Lebanon - many in Germany noticed how the looks they received from neighbors or passers-by on the street changed. The pharmacist Obeid Said puts it this way: "September 11th was actually the cornerstone for the negative development in the country."
Muslim students worried
Homaira Hakimi was advising frightened foreign students at the University of Osnabrück. She fled Afghanistan herself and is currently studying law in 2001. The young woman notices that some fellow students from certain countries are afraid. "Can I continue my studies now? Is it still worth practicing for the exam now?"
Such fears are common among the predominantly Muslim male students. Rumors also quickly took on a life of their own during this time. Just like Obeid Said, Hakimi also says that something started in Germany back then. Since then she has had to be used as a “scapegoat” again and again.
If possible, no general suspicion
This distrust is exactly what the then Hamburg Senator for the Interior and now ex-Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) wanted to avoid - that's what he said at the time. He was the first federal state to order a dragnet search for potential "sleepers" in Hamburg. In a subsequent ARD interview, Scholz also emphasized: "The worst thing would be if our population believes that people who go to a mosque are people who should be feared. That's not the case."
Those affected by the dragnet search and those responsible in the authorities still assess differently whether he succeeded.
Consequences to this day: Breeding ground for racism?
And yet: The mood that emerged in Germany after 9/11 has consequences - to this day. The Hamburg pharmacist Obeid Said also describes in the podcast “Pearl Harburg” how threatening he perceives the current political situation in Germany. He has what he calls a “back door” in case of emergency. If the mood in the country worsens further and hostilities increase, he is thinking about moving abroad.
The entrepreneur still lives and works in Hamburg and runs two pharmacies here. And anyone who buys medicine from him in Hamburg-Wandsbek probably has no idea what kind of life story the German-Afghan can now look back on. Shaped by the events of September 11th.
