Trisha Cornforth, German news reporter for "Der Kanadier" newspaper as well as for CFN/RFC radio and television, from the end of 1978 to the end of May 1994 The original "Der Kanadier " was the weekly newspaper for the Canadian Forces in Europe. It was published in Lahr in the Black Forest, Germany, from 1 July 1970 until 25 May 1994, i.e. until just before Canadian Forces Base Lahr closed down in mid-August 1994.

Mourning our tragic loss
We are all still suffering from shock, stunned by the immensity and perfidiousness of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. The 11th of September will always remain engraved on our minds. We mourn the huge loss of life and express our deep sympathy to the grieving families and friends of the victims. We applaud the work of all the rescue services and volunteer helpers, including the many Canadians who offered support and home hospitality to North American airline passengers who were stranded in Canada when flights were stopped. We hope that further aggression will not lead to far-reaching insidious negative consequences with loss of stability, peace and freedom for us all.

The German media reported almost exclusively on the aftermath of the New York disaster. Germans publicly demonstrated their solidarity in various ways: there were moments of silence, religious services, candles, flowers, flags hanging at half mast and many local communities cancelled their planned beer or wine festivals because celebrating seemed so inappropriate.

That very evening of 11 September, the 80 participants on the Friendship Flight 2001 from Belleville, Ontario, were due to fly from Toronto to Frankfurt and then travel onwards to Lahr. Their scheduled flight was of course cancelled. For a few days their hosts in Lahr kept expecting their Canadian guests would still be able to fly over the Atlantic to enjoy all the great things they had prepared but the whole trip had to be abandoned in the end. Both the people in Belleville and in Lahr are disappointed but they look forward to celebrating the 30th anniversary of their German-Canadian city partnership together next summer.

Now that the summer holidays are over and we have all returned to our normal daily routine, we'll have a bit more free time to bring you news updates in "Der Kanadier" before webmaster Klaus Rieth and assistant Yvan Cotnoir and their families spend two weeks travelling in Quebec, from 11 to 25 November.