Boston - "Die starke Stadt"

Sebastian Fischer has a nice piece in Der Spiegel marking the one year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing:

"Boston Strong" war das Motto dieser Tage. Statt den Ort der Tragödie zu verlassen, blieben viele der Marathonläufer in der Stadt, demonstrierten ihren Widerstandsgeist, spendeten Blut für die Verletzten; Tausende hielten Mahnwache für Martin Richard, den Jungen mit dem Peace-Plakat; Tausende säumten die Straßen, als US-Präsident Barack Obama zum Gedenkgottesdienst kam; Zehntausende besuchten das nächste Heimspiel der Baseball-Mannschaft Red Sox. "Die guten Menschen von Boston", sagte Obama damals (Sehen Sie hier ein Video aus der Zeit).

(Boston Strong was the motto for these days. Instead of leaving the place where the tragedy happened, many marathon runnvers remained in the city, demsontrated their spirit of resistance and donated blood for the injured.  Thousands held a candellight vigil for Martin Richard, the boy with the peace poster; thousands ringed the streets when Presiden Barack Obama came to the memorial service; tens of thousands attended the next home game of the Boston Red Sox. "The good people of Boston," Obama said then.)

Just as the bombs exploded at the Marathon finish line, my wife and I were on a train pulling into North Station (my wife was to attend a conference in Boston).  We arrived at scene of panic and chaos, since there were false reports of bombs going off across the city.  Many were streaming into the station, anxious to leave Boston, and we also thought about turning around and getting on the next train out of town. But we decided to stay, and thus experienced the next traumatic days as the people of Boston coped with the tragedy.  At our hotel we encountered marathon runners from Italy, Ireland and Australia, dazed and amazed by what they had just experienced.  The next couple of days everyone went about their business - there was a sense of fear everywhere, especially in the subway, since we knew the bombers were among us and may strike again.  Tensions continued to mount over the next few days as the news media - led by CNN - came out with mistaken reports that the terrorists had been captured.  FInally, things came to a climax four days after the bombing with the bloody shootout and capture of of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

What has happened in Boston over the past twelve months has been truly amazing.  The city came together to embrace the doqens of victims and help them heal from the terrible wounds - both physical and emotional. 

We are getting close to the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Sebastian Fischer makes a good point about the citizens of Boston: 

Gut vier Monate wird der Zarnajew-Prozess dauern, bis zu hundert Zeugen sollen gehört werden. Die insgesamt 30 Anklagepunkte umfassen unter anderem den Vorwurf des vierfachen Mordes und des Einsatzes von Massenvernichtungswaffen. Dennoch scheint eine lebenslange Haftstrafe für Zarnajew wahrscheinlicher als die Todesstrafe: Denn das Urteil müssen am Ende Geschworene fällen. Und wenn die Mehrheitsmeinung der Bevölkerung von Massachusetts ein Anhaltspunkt sein kann, dann dürfte der Angeklagte mit dem Leben davonkommen.

(The Tsarnaev trial is expected to last at least four months, up to one hundred witnesses will testify. The 30 criminal charges include among other thing four counts of murder and the use of weapons of mass destruction.  Even so, life imprisonment is a more likely sentence than the death penalty:  for the verdict must be reached by a jury, and if the majority opinion of the people of Massachusetts is any indication, then the accused's life will be spared.)

Boston, city of great universities and enlightenment, the center of the abolitionist movement, last put a citizen to death in 1947.  The last thing Boston wants to do is respond to this tragedy with another killing.

The reslience of optimism.

Comments

[Alexis]

good comment