Last week marked six months since the September 11 tragedy. The world has not completely recovered from this dreadful date and will never completely return to that relatively balanced position which preceded the black dividing line of September 11, 2001. This is about not so much military actions or even broader plans of the world community to combat terrorist groups. The hearts of the Americans have changed, and so did the sentiments of all civilized people; diplomatic speeches now alternating with saber rattling. Today, when painful emotions are left behind as well as the CNN live telecasts, the time has come for analysis and memory – memory of the innocent victims, the absurdity of blind fanaticism, and, horrible as it sounds, the unexpected weakness of the civilization in the face of the twists of a sick mind. This is how the destruction of the World Trade Center and damaging the Pentagon was considered by many American newspapers. In part, The Boston Globe issue dedicated to that day came out with an editorial titled “New Day of Disgrace.”
Leads from this and many other newspapers can be seen at a newly opened exhibition, Headlines of History: September 11, 2001. Picture Seen by the Whole World, at Vernadsky National Library in Kyiv. The displays were selected among 200 American and foreign newspapers. Through the eyes of journalists they reflected the largest act of terrorism in history, “dreadful pictures that were burned into the collective memory of the mankind.” This was the first reaction to the shocking events, not always accurate in terms of figures and facts, but it reflected all America’s pain and despair. That was the news.
In addition to the articles mentioned, leads from The Washington Post, Concord Monitor, Herald Journal, Detroit Free Press, British Daily Telegraph, Bulgarian Standard News, French Le Monde, German Zuddeutsche Zeitung, Israeli Ma’ariv, as well as from Italian, Chinese, Japanese, and Pakistani newspapers are presented at the exhibition. In a single hall mirrors what from all over the world have been collected together, reflecting this tragedy from different points but with equal truthfulness. The exhibition was created by the Newseum (Arlington, Virginia), financed by the Freedom Forum and the Office for International Information Programs of the US State Department.
The exhibition was opened by the US Ambassador to Ukraine Carlos Pascual (in the photo). He said in part that the events of September 11 will be forever in our memories, being not a military action against professional military targets but an act of terrorism against common people – from a two- year-old girl to an eighty-two year-old woman. He also thanked Ukrainian friends and colleagues for the support the United States feels in Ukraine and called upon those present to remember that what we try to do together is for the common good, for the good of the world, and summoned them to give every support to this.
According to information cited at the opening ceremony, the number of victims was 3,170 with 2,937 of them in New York. Among them were people of around eighty nationalities, including two Ukrainians. Suffice it to recall that every year over 800 acts of terrorism are committed.
