Germany Mourns Concorde Victims

July 26, 2000 -- Germany is mourning the victims of the Air France Concorde disaster today.

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and other top figures attended a memorial service in the dark-walled chapel of the Christian pavilion of the EXPO2000 in Hanover.

Flags across Germany were lowered to half-staff, and some television announcers on the morning newscasts wore black.

Queen Elizabeth and Tony Blair have sent messages of condolence to Schroeder, who has organized a crisis staff to help deal with the tragedy.

‘Silent Cries of the Dead’

Air France Flight AF4590, carrying 100 passengers and a crew of nine, slammed into a hotel just outside Paris and exploded shortly after takeoff, killing 113 — including four on the ground. Ninety-six of the passengers were Germans, two were Danes, one Austrian and one American. The Germans were supposed to take a luxury cruise ship from New York to South America. The memorial service, led by a Protestant and Roman Catholic Bishop, was carried live on Germany’s national television network. The two religious leaders spoke of “the silent cries of the dead.”

Meanwhile, relatives of the 96 dead Germans began arriving in Paris in an attempt to begin the long, painful process of closure.

The largest contingent on board came from the Dusseldorf area, where they had boarded an Air France plane to Paris to join the fatal Concorde flight.

Thirty-three others were scheduled to join the charter flight, were spared when overbooking led them to seats on the regular Concorde to New York, which departed shortly before the doomed flight.

That plane landed safely in New York.

Dream Turns Into Nightmare

But for those waiting in New York, the dream of the “dream cruise” has turned into a nightmare, with empty seats threatening to haunt their trip.

But the Peter Deilmann River & Ocean Cruises, which organized the trip, says it will go on.

“It makes no sense to leave the ship in port,” said a clearly shocked Peter Deilmann, sole owner of the hard-hit cruise line. Deilmann spoke to reporters in Neustadt, on the Baltic coast an hour from Hamburg.

“The captain should break off the trip,” says Willi Schoenberg, a 48-year-old economics teacher from Luenen. He and his wife Brigitte had tears in their eyes as they spoke of the crash from the plush surroundings of the cruise ship dining room. “We will always be thinking about those who died. Every time when we see an empty chair.”

The ship is due to leave New York Thursday afternoon, as scheduled. Some passengers are booked beyond for the three further stages of the cruise, which will end in Sydney, Australia, in time for the Olympic Games.

Looking for Friends

On shore, on Pier 88, a young woman who will not give her name has come hoping to meet old friends. She was a member of the crew last year, and wanted to meet up with other crew members still on board.

She said some of the crew used to fly out on the same flights as the cruise passengers.

“I’m afraid,” she says, as she searches the gangplank in vain for familiar faces.

But one young couple, Inga Ramthun and her partner Andre Szyska from Bad Segeberg, want the trip to go ahead as planned. They first heard of the crash when they phoned home to say they had arrived in New York safely.

“There is a chaplain on board and we are sure that the dead will be commemorated properly,” they said. They do not think the victims would have wanted to ruin the pleasure of others who had saved for years for the trip.

Helga Ewald from Lohmar, a pensioner traveling alone, is booked all the way to Australia.

“It won’t be the same,” she says. But she wants to go ahead with the trip just the same.

Flags on the ship are flying at half-mast.

Heavy Burden

Police throughout Germany went from house to house during the night bringing the sad news to the families of the victims.

In North Rhine Westphalia, the region from which 39 of the German victims had booked through a Dusseldorf travel agency, there is speculation but no confirmation yet that among the victims are some of the heavily industrial region’s top managers.

This week marks the start of the main holiday season in this region. Major industries and businesses traditionally close for at least a fortnight. Stressed managers favor luxury cruises as an escape.

The “Dream Ship” cruises are favorites of well-heeled couples celebrating silver weddings and other significant anniversaries, as well as honeymoon couples.

New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has made psychologists and counselors available to help friends and relatives of victims. Those who flew on the other Concorde were in special need of help.

Ship Chaplain Wolfgang Grunwalt held a memorial service last night on board, and all entertainment programs have been canceled until further notice.