Just hours after the planes crashed into the World Trade Center (which occured around 3 p.m., German time), sympathetic Germans began streaming to the U.S. embassy, many of them bearing flowers. One woman carrying an armful of roses said she had no friends, no relatives in America, but explained, through her tears, that she felt she needed to do something. "I can't go there and help," she said, "but I can at least show my sympathy."

By evening, a group of volunteers showed up with candles and cups, lining the sidewalk off Unter den Linden with flickering flames.

The flowers and candles continue to pile up around the embassy throughout the week, eventually covering a 12-foot by eight-foot area on the corner. The crowd standing around it was a varied group, with businessmen, students, parents and punks standing together, some holding signs, other struggling to hold back tears.