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“THE AMERICANS ARE TO BLAME”: BERLIN, TWO DAYS AFTER 9/11

Thanks to reader Expat for pointing to this article by Henryk Broder and translated from the German by John Rosenthal.  The myth that George Bush and American foreign policy were to blame  for squandering European sympathy after the events of September 11, 2001 is clearly put to rest.

During the last year, we have heard much about the need to “restore America’s image in the world.” In the next days, we will undoubtedly hear more, as Barack Obama embarks on his first European tour as president (followed by a stop in Ankara). The theme is, of course, just an extension of the legend according to which America enjoyed “the sympathy of the world” in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks, but then “squandered” this sympathy as a result of Guantánamo Bay, the Iraq War, “extraordinary renditions” and any number of other Bush administration policies – most of them, curiously enough, connected precisely to the response to those attacks. In contemporary political mythology, Obama has, in effect, been “called” to bring about the reconciliation of “America and the world.” The most poignant proof of this calling – up till now, indeed, the only proof – is provided by the iconic images of him addressing a cheering throng of Germans at Berlin’s “Victory Column” in June of last year. On Friday, in connection with the NATO summit, Obama will return to Germany for the first time since that occasion.

The “Victory Column” is located in Berlin’s Tiergarten park. Also in the Tiergarten, barely half a mile away, is to be found one of the city’s best known cultural institutions: the “House of World Cultures.” On September 13, 2001, the Berlin municipal government and the Berlin-based Academy of Arts co-sponsored a panel discussion at the House of World Cultures devoted to the terrorist attacks that had taken place in the United States two days before. The author and journalist Henryk Broder did not attend the event, but his interest was piqued some days later when reports emerged in the local press about curious comments attributed to some of the participants. Despite the lack of cooperation of the House of World Cultures, Broder was able to obtain a recording of the event.

The following is his account of what transpired at the House of World Cultures on that Thursday evening two days after 9/11. To paraphrase one of the participants, it provides a “disturbing insight” into the German mood in the aftermath of the attacks. There was indeed a great deal of sympathy on display. It was, however, for the most part sympathy with the perpetrators. The text has been adapted from Henryk Broder’s 2002 book Kein Krieg, Nirgends [No War, Nowhere].

Read the entire article.

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