9/11: New York City, 20 years later
Twenty years after the September 11 attacks, some wounds have healed — but many scars remain in New York City. Here's a look at the vibrant metropolis, which never lost its courage to face life.
Silent commemoration
Since its opening in 2014, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum has welcomed millions of visitors. It commemorates the nearly 3,000 victims of the 9/11 attacks and the victims of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Each year on September 11, relatives gather and read the names of those killed. Tourists and visitors also come to remember.
World Trade Center in flames
The image of the second plane approaching the already burning World Trade Center to smash into the South Tower is one of many that have become deeply imprinted in people's minds. Less than an hour later, first the South Tower collapsed, followed by the North Tower. At the same time, a third plane hit the Pentagon in Washington, DC. The whole world followed the event live on TV.
Historic shock with consequences
Osama bin Laden and the terrorist network he founded, al-Qaeda, were responsible for the worst attack in United States history. In October 2001, a few weeks after the attacks, the US began its longest war effort with airstrikes in Afghanistan. The declared goal was to destroy al-Qaeda. Osama bin Laden was tracked down and killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in May of 2011.
New skyline
One World Trade Center is built on ground zero, and today towers above all other buildings in New York. Its height of 417 meters (1,368 feet) corresponds to the height of the World Trade Center destroyed in 2001. The cornerstone was symbolically laid on July 4, 2004 — American Independence Day. Less than 10 years later, New York celebrated the topping out ceremony, in May of 2013.
Commemoration, education, architecture
The National September 11 Memorial & Museum is dedicated to documenting, researching and teaching about the attacks on the World Trade Center. Designed by Israeli-American architect Michael Arad, it attracts millions of visitors each year. In 2018 alone, more than 3 million people visited the museum, and more than 6 million visited the memorial.
Ground zero selfie
Life has returned to the place where thousands of people of different backgrounds and religions were killed 20 years ago. Selfies, tourists and commemoration all take place at the spot that changed the history of New York City and the world.
Giving a face to the victims
On August 31, 2021, a small photo commemorated the birthday of Lauren Grandcolas. She died at the age of 38 aboard United Airlines Flight 93. Passengers attempted to retake control of the plane, but the terrorists subsequently brought the airliner down in a field in Pennsylvania. Grandcolas' story has been told many times, as one of many fates on September 11, 2001.
Memorials spread across the city
The Hudson Riverfront 9/11 Memorial in New Jersey is built from the remnants of the World Trade Center and erected on the site where people were let off the ferry after being evacuated. It is one of many memorials in and around New York.
20 years later
Two decades later: The city has since lamented the loss of more than 30,000 lives to the COVID-19 pandemic, and dozens of people who were killed in historic severe storms — and yet the myth of the city that reinvents itself lives on. The attraction of the metropolis remains unbroken.