Berlin, this unique city with a tragic history – destroyed to ruins in World War II 1943-1945, divided into Allied sectors 1945, blockaded by the Soviets in 1948, saved by the Berlin Air Lift, its more than 3 million people separated by the Wall into East and West in 1962, killings at the Mauer and re-united with the wall down 1989/90 – keeps very calm after the ISIS terror attacks Monday.
- GLOBALO visited the site of the attack at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church at the Kurfüstendamm- see our impression below.
- Christians and Muslims assembled there, Berliner and foreigner to remember the 12 killed at the Christmas market and 48 wounded in the ISIS terror attack. There is no hate against Muslims, but just sadness and the will to defend freedom and the relaxed, friendly and tolerant way of life of Berlin.
- World leaders are expressing their sadness and solidarity with the German people in response to the attack in Berlin.
The French parliament held a moment of silence, lawmakers there especially sympathetic – since facing their own truck-driven terror attack in Nice in July.
President Francois Hollande extended “solidarity” and “compassion” to his immediate neighbor. “France knows what a terrorist attack brings, what it can provoke — despair and at the same time, hardship; and how we must be united. It is true for a country when it’s been struck, it’s true for the whole of Europe and even for the whole world, in the face of terrorist threat,” Hollande said.
China’s President Xi Jinping expressed his “heartfelt sympathy” in a statement, saying China was ready to “strengthen anti-terrorism cooperation with the international community, including Germany.”
U.S. President Barack Obama, who’s been taking a break in Hawaii, called his German counterpart on the phone to offer assistance and appreciation for Chancellor Angela Merkel’s leadership in what he called “our shared efforts to root out the scourge of terrorism and defend our way of life.”
His successor Donald Trump released a statement, blaming “Islamist terrorists” for the attack – and pledging to “eradicate” terror networks from the face of the earth.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said, “Well I think it’s very important to stress that our security services and our intelligence agencies do an absolutely extraordinary job of keeping us safe. As you have heard me say many times over the years, in this city alone we monitor thousands of people the whole time, but you can never be complacent. The risk is very real and that is why it is so important of us to collaborate as we do with our German friends, with our Turkish friends and of course with the Russians as well.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin called the Berlin attack a “shockingly cruel and cynical crime.”
