These are various emails (in time order) passed amoung the Friedrichs Family immediatly following or in
reference to the September 11 attacks. In many cases it was hard to contact family via phone. This is
included as a view into pieces of how our family was impacted at that moment. (It also includes one email
Jeanne passed on from a friend)
-----Original Message-----
From: Dick & Liska Snyder [mailto:aliskalaska.net]
Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2001 9:09 PM
To: Fried. Martin/Work
Subject: Any News Appreciated
Hi Martin, we have tried all day to call Lester Place but can't get through. We are so anxious to know that Walter
and Daniel are OK. Somehow Rhoda found out that Ellen was going to walk home to Brooklyn. I am frustrated
because I have friends here who have been able to connect to friends/relatives in the NY area, but I can't. Rhoda did
talk to Randye and told me that Natasha's friend Andrew's mother worked at the WTC. That is horrible. Any news
about her? Did you get home from work?
What is going on???
Thanks for any info, and if you email me back, send info to Vancouver and Scranton too.
-----Original Message-----
From: Friedrichs, Martin {CIO~Nutley}
Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2001 9:42 AM
To: 'Dick & Liska Snyder'
Cc: 'Christopher'; 'Jeanne'; 'Rhoda'
Subject: RE: Any News Appreciated
Liska,
Walter spent the night in his office building, we only found out at 11pm, Daniel is home, Andrews mother made it out,
Our phone service was very spotty. I personally had no trouble getting home via the Tappen Zee and got to work
(where I am now if you want to call when you get up 973 235 3955)over the George Washington this morning ,
which was largely empty. As I worked in the WTC building on the 78th floor for many years it was frightening driving
to work to suddenly see it on fire from the NJ Garden sate parkway. I keep thinking I must be disoriented and that
can't be the world trade towers. At work I watched live with the rest of the country the buildings collapse. At this
point I do not know personally of anyone missing but due to phone circuits being out have not been able to get
through to all I would like so I am not sure that will stay the case. Sorry you were out of the loop. Randye talked to
Jeanne last night. Basically we were fortunate as our direct family was not directly impacted. Randye and I have new
(last week) cell phones 914 320 6807 (mine) 914 320 6805 (Randyes) which are on (but not necessarily
connectable) at this point, although we will not normally have them on all the time.
Martin
-----Original Message-----
From: Jeanne Friedrichs [mailto:jwf5psu.edu]
Sent: Saturday, September 15, 2001 4:20 PM
To: ranster31aol.com; nifbulldog.georgetown.edu; snydertrottgci.net; crfinterchange.ubc.ca;
r_friedrichsdouglas.bc.ca; aliskalaska.net; Martin.FriedrichsOCHE.COM; alaskaheatherhotmail.com;
alaskagaryhotmail.com; Freddy92Brandeis.edu; ellenkatefhotmail.com; Taiimanaol.com; walterfriedrichsaol.com;
jonfriedhotmail.com; eadikesearthlink.net; jxf243psu.edu; jxf243hotmail.com; bryanfriedrichshotmail.com;
jquinnquinnmicro.com; bstein3426aol.com; 100072.266compuserve.com; mfriedaugol.com; elfriedaugaol.com;
Schneckeriegmx.de; mmarquis28aol.com; tbleimanngmx.de; sklaininterport.net; lshahmiseri.edu; mxl43psu.edu;
michelenotos.com; tquinn1ic3.ithaca.edu; Treibickfiam.net; t.friendlyworldnet.att.net
Subject: the aftermath
Today is Saturday, it is 3:01 pm - approximately 4 days and 5 hours after
the attack on the World Trade Towers, the Pentagon and the felling of a
hijacked plane outside of Pittsburgh, PA.
I have emailed or spoken with both sides (my family and the Friedrichs
family in NYC) and we are blessed to have our immediate families safe and
accounted for. The stories are being told. All are frightening, one
horrific which mirrors the media reports of strangers, who no longer seem
like strangers once they have shared their grief with us all.
This is a time no one of cognizant age will ever forget. Parallel
remembrances of World War II, as told to our generation by parents and
grandparents are resurfacing in acknowledgement of the horror of the time
we and our children now live in.
Then, as now the stories must be told and will be told endlessly...
The Salt's extended family on Staten Island has received tragic news of the
found remains and briefcase of Lee Ludwig, a family-man who perished in the
Towers collapse. He worked above the 90th floor. Pat Salt is Jeanne's
sister. The victim is someone we both knew in high school and was a lovely
man. He was the brother-in-law of Margie, (Frank's twin sister) who
married Lee's elder brother Larry. The two families are extremely close.
May he rest in peace.
Stories of those involved but not hurt:
The Salt family had miraculous news as well as the tragic news that came later.
Frank's brother Bob was at work in the World Trade Tower at about the 50th
floor and was able to escape.
Additionally, Danny Salts' girlfriend Christine, who worked on John St.
near the towers, escaped from the streets unharmed, if traumatized. She,
like so many others was on her way to work.
Liz Windle (Jeanne's sister) lives and works on Staten Island. She was
attending a work-related training at the Mariott hotel on the Brooklyn side
of the Brooklyn bridge when the attach commenced. According to her telling
of the story, the hotel acted very quickly and efficiently to set up a
crisis center and blood bank and secure the area. Liz herself escorted
some of the first dazed survivors who made their way over the Brooklyn
Bridge. She recounted to me, with great emotion, how the survivors were
covered in white soot and only able to speculate about the horror they had
lived and witnessed as they crossed the bridge.... Initially, the hit on
the first building, (at which time they were instructed to stay in the
building by an official announcement of some sort), only to flee based on
their own instincts for survival, to finally turn and see the collapse of
their own building as they crossed the bridge to the safety of the
hotel. One woman was sure the buildings were being bombed. Another man was
on crutches but managed to walk out of the bedlam until he was finally
given a lift over the bridge. According to Liz, the crisis center was
remarkable and had hundreds of people instantaneously line up to give
blood. In the end that was about all anyone could do. She herself wanted
to stay indefinitely in case she could help in some way, but realized she
needed to get home to her college-aged daughter, Leanne. Leanne was home
on Staten Island, but able to see the immense cloud of smoke and fire from
her home, which is situated on the South Shore near the Verazzano Narrows
bridge. Leanne would not leave her house for two days, she was so
traumatized and now is very fearful of returning to Manhattan to continue
her college and internship both of which are on streets in the 60s in NYC,
(understandably so).
Liz has a monthly meeting in the World Trade towers, one of which was
scheduled for Thursday of the same week. Her ex-husband Joe Maira, also
had regular meetings in the Towers, but not on this fateful day. Their
son, Jeff, also had a reason to be in the towers later in the week.
Stephen Windle (Jeanne's brother), currently living on Staten Island, was
in the Battery Park area of Manhattan when the attack took place. Upon
exiting his building he reported the white smoke and debris in the air was
so thick he had difficulty breathing and ran to the SI ferry leaving his
motorcycle behind. In the ferry terminal, he reported the smoke continued
to billow in when the doors were opened for the passengers, to the extent
that he still felt they were all in danger of suffocating. He previously
lived and worked in the upper East Side of Manhattan and spent very little
time in the southern part of Manhattan.
A friend of Jeanne's from the NYC Argentine Tango dance community shared
via email, a harrowing tale of debris raining upon him as he arrived late
for work - due to a subway delay of about ten minutes. He was of course
aggravated a bit to be held up but as he approached his building, which was
attached to the World Trade Towers, calamity struck. He ran for his life
and ended up in Chinatown where he recovered and bought a shirt to replace
his, which was completely covered in soot. He raced to call his family to
assure them he was unhurt.
For those of you who know my friends Evelyn & Bill Adikes, we can
gratefully report that their family or close friends were not hurt.
As I have extended this email to go out to friends as well as the
Friedrichs family, let me also report that Walter Friedrichs was walking
out of the subway when the second plane hit the towers. His building is
quite a few blocks away from the towers. His son Daniel reported that
Walter stayed in the building overnight to monitor the state of emergency
which affected everyone in lower Manhattan. Daniel himself works in the
midtown area and watched the nightmare from the roof of his building.
Some of you may have initially heard that the fourth plane went down near
Pittsburgh, where Jessica now lives, but it was quite some distance away
and did not affect the city directly at all.
Of course both my sister's families are connected to many families of the
rescue workers and firemen who live on S.I. and are now missing.
As for David and Bryan and myself, we were in our respective offices and
schools. I only stopped what I was doing after the news of the second
plane attack. Who could have ever imagined such a thing was taking place?
We all ran to the TV and watched it unfold, as you all undoubtedly did as well.
More stores both tragic and miraculous will come as we re-establish our
links to friends in NYC.
It is hard to bear the sadness of it all, but realizing how fortunate we
are as a family, with so many "what if's" that did not unfold gives one
pause for perspective. Now the questions begs.. what will come of it all?
Our thoughts are constantly with our friends and family in NYC and
Washington DC. or still have ties there.
In sorrow and heartfelt prayer for the victims and their families.
Jeanne
-----Original Message-----
From: Jeanne Friedrichs [mailto:jwf5psu.edu]
Sent: Saturday, September 15, 2001 4:35 PM
Subject: a postscript
For those of you who know Ellen Friedrichs and haven't had word about her (I realized as soon as I hit the send
button that I had omitted her from my previous email ) I can report that she was at NYU where she is a graduate
student, when the attack ocurred and was able to flee the city by walking over the Brooklyn Bridge. Ellen very
recently moved from her Manhattan, Lower East Side apartment to Brooklyn, NY.
This from a friend in NYC.
Jeanne
>From: Jeanne Friedrichs <jwf5psu.edu>
>Subject: Fwd: FW: Still here
>
>-----Original Message-----
>>From: Jai Jeffryes [mailto:jaijeffryesyahoo.com]
>>Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2001 4:19 PM
>>To: Jai Jeffryes
>>Subject: Still here
>>Hi everybody,
>>
>>I'm still here, and I'm fine. If you can believe it, merely three weeks ago I began working at 2 World Financial
Center, the building adjoining the World Trade Center. Yesterday, I was running a little behind schedule. The time
that the first airplane impacted is the time that I'm usually walking across the plaza below. My train bypassed my
station, which annoyed me because that meant I would have to walk two blocks back to get to the World Trade
Center. I had no idea that anything had just transpired, except some guy got on one stop back and was raving about
something that he said still had him shaking. I thought he had witnessed a mugging or maybe he was just crazy.When
I got out at the Wall Street station it was mere seconds after the second plane had impacted and I was in the middle
of pandemonium. It looked like thebeginning of a ticker tape parade with paper and debris raining down on the
street. I turned a cornerand saw the twin towers aflame. I circled the area trying to find out if my building was still
intact. It never occured to me that 110-storey skyscrapers could collapse. Viewing the fire and smoke, I could not
even believe what I was seeing. As I circled the area, the fires were becoming visibly larger and I could see more
deeply into the interior of the building. It was dawning on me that this fire could never be controlled. Then I heard
the sound of the tower collapsing. I didn't know that was what was happening because I couldn't see it. I thought
maybe some of the facade had fallen away. Fortunately, Iwas not hit by any debris, but a tide of ash rolled over my
area and engulfed all of us. It was like a nuclear winter. I was right against the river by Battery Park and just about
ready to jump into the water, but I realized there was no fire coming at me. It was just ash and soot. I pulled my shirt
up over my nose and mouth and avoided breathing any of it. It was akin to snowflakes, but thicker than any blizzard.
I could see 10-20 feet anead of me and that was it. Day became night, and other people who were getting that gunk
in their throats were hacking and expectorating. I didn't know how much of the building had fallen, but I believed
there could be more collapses, so I endeavored to walk south and east around the tip of Manhattan before any more
waves of ash could roll over me. Shortly thereafter, I heard the same sound again which turned out to be the other
tower collapsing. By
>>this time, the first tidal wave of soot had thinned out enough for me to see that now a second one was rolling in my
direction and would catch up in about 5 minutes. I kept walking briskly eastward, so when it finally hit me it was
nsiderably thinner than the one that hit me when I was only a block away from the area. I finally got far enough north
not to be downwind of the conflagration. I was covered from head to toe with white ash that I heard one firefighter
speculate consisted of pulverized concrete. It was as if someone had emptied a sack of lime over me. I knew from
the time right after I exited the subway that itwas important for me to make phone calls to loved ones to let them
know I was okay. (That was before two 110-storey skyscrapers collapsed into oblivion practically right next to
me!) However, long lines were to be found at every pay phone. I finally got my bearings and walked uptown. In
Chinatown, I finally found a pay phone that had only a few people in line in front of it. I called my folks who were
mightily relieved. (Incidentally, my calling card from Excel wouldn't work, but 1-800-COLLECT did... this is an
unsolicited endorsement!) I was starving, for I had eaten nothing at all yet. Street vendors were in business, so I
bought a shishkebab in a pita. As I was standing there, I coughed from the charcoal smoke from the grill. I laughed
ironically at myself standing there covered in soot from America's worst terrorist attack yet too oblivious to stand
upwind of a street vendor's burning charcoal! The streets were choked with people because no transportation
services were functioning. You could easily discern who had been near the attack and who had not. The throngs of
people headed uptown and covered in soot were the ones who'd been in it. The throngs of people headed
downtown were the ones who hadn't been there and were trying to get a closer look. I made my way to the west
side 20's where my brother works. I didn't know if my parents had succeeded in getting through to him by phone
since phone service was spotty. He had heard nothing about me, and said over and over again that he had hoped I
would have the sense just to come to his office. It was there that I first saw the footage of the collapsing towers. I
was dumbfounded. I hadn't
>>realized that this was what caused the sound I had first heard from the next block. The area where the rubble fell
was the side where I had been standing approximately 15 minutes earlier. I continued my walk uptown. I bought an
NYC tee-shirt from a tourist shop along the way to replace the soot-and mucous-encrusted shirt I was wearing and
that hadsaved me from breathing any appreciable amounts of anincinerated World Trade Center. I also bought
contact lens solution to clean my contacts and flush out my eyes. I stopped at a friend's apartment to wash off the
soot, change into my clean tee-shirt and flush my eyes. I still don't know if the building my company is in (2 World
Financial Center) still exists. I don't know the status of my job nor that of the other guys on my team, who often
arrive about the same time as I do. I might not get annoyed at slow trains anymore. Had I left for work 10 minutes
earlier and not been on a delayed train, I would have been right under the face of the WTC when the first plane hit!
Every time I see clips of that blizzard of ash, Icould swear that I still smell it.
>>Jai
-----Original Message-----
From: Dick & Liska Snyder [mailto:aliskaalaska.net]
Sent: Friday, September 14, 2001 6:09 PM
To: Fried. Chris/Rhoda; Fried. David; Fried. Jeanne; Fried. Martin/Work;
Fried. Randye; Fried. Rhoda
Subject: News about Walter
Dear Family,
I have been frustrated that I don't know too much about Walter. I have not been able to get through to his office, but
just tried again. Much to my amazement, I finally got through and talked to somebody who said that he left about
"two hours ago" to go home (that would have been 4:00 pm EST). I forgot that it is Friday night back east, so now I
won't be able to talk to him till Sunday, IF I reach him. So if any of you hears from him, or talks to him, please tell
him that I have been thinking about him and really want to know how he is doing.
David called from Bosnia. He and Patty are in Sarajevo right now with a good friend who works for State Dept.
They plan to fly to Frankfurt on Monday and hopefully will fly back here on Tuesday. Who knows....
Everyone up here in far-away Alaska feels just as devastated as you who live closer. Words cannot express how we
feel, so I am not even going to try...
Love, Liska
----Original Message-----
From: Friedrichs, Martin {CIO~Nutley}
Sent: Monday, September 17, 2001 11:13 AM
To: 'Dick & Liska Snyder'
Subject: RE: News about Walter
As this is the start of the Jewish holidays you may have more trouble getting hold of him. But I have spoken to him
and he is his usually unflappable self.
Love,
Martin
From: Chris Friedrichs [mailto:crfinterchange.ubc.ca]
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2001 1:59 AM
To: Randye Friedrichs; Natasha Iris Friedrichs; Snyder David /Patty; Dick & Liska Snyder; Friedrichs, Martin
{CUST~Nutley}; Gary/Heather Snyder/Ireland; Snyder Gary; Fried. Rachel; Tallman@aol.com;
walterfriedrichs@aol.com; jonfried@hotmail.com; Ellen Friedrichs; 'Bryan'; Jessica
Subject: Back from Germany
Dear relatives,
This is just to report that I got back yesterday, just before the beginning of Rosh Hashanah, from my trip to Germany
where I attended a conference in Augsburg. I arrived late on Tuesday afternoon, just as news of the events in New
York was arriving in Germany. In the airport in Frankfurt I passed by a TV on with some kind of story about the
World Trade Center but I was preoccupied with getting to my train and did not take in what was being said. It was
not long, however, before the news caught up with me. On my arrival in Augsburg Michael, Elisabeth and I sat for
hours in front of the TV. I was able to reach Rhoda that evening and thus I knew about Ellen's whereabouts but not
until the next morning did I get any reassurance about Walter and a fuller sense of how various other people had been
affected.
This event was the only story on the news and in the papers in Germany, people were constantly discussing it and
there were various memorial events, yet life carried on in ordinary ways much more than, judging from what I heard,
was the case in the US or even in Canada. My conference was not much affected. There was a minute of silence
for the victims and of course the events came up from time to time but for the most part it was business as usual.
As for our relatives, the weekend before I arrived there had been a huge party to celebrate both Elisabeth's
forthcoming 50th birthday and Barbara's 'coming of age' since she had just turned 18. Their Martin had flown over
for the celebration, staying barely two nights since he had to return to New Jersey for a performance on Monday
night--so he got back to the US about 24 hours before all the flights were cancelled. After my conference ended on
Saturday the 15th I took Elisabeth and Michael out to dinner since that was, in fact, Elisabeth's actual birthday. On
Sunday the 16th we went up to Frankfurt for an advance celebration in Steinbach in honor of Tante Eva's 90th
birthday (the actual birthday is today, the 18th). It was a quiet family gathering of the kind Eva likes, some little
speeches were made and Eva herself spoke quite touchingly of the many good things she had experienced in her long
life. She is as ever in remarkably good shape, fretting as usual about her memory not being as good as it used to be
but still totally on top of all the world news and family news. As a worried grandmother she was nervous about
Felix's forthcoming trip to Florida (he is leaving on Wednesday to visit a friend there before his classes resume in
early October). Basically all was well with the German relatives.
I left on Monday morning (just a few hours before David and Patty were scheduled to arrive for a day's stopover in
Frankfurt on their way home). I had to change in London where there were heightened security procedures but
aside from that (and plastic cutlery with the airplane meals) the whole air travel situation seemed remarkably
unchanged.
After this terribly unsettling week it is certainly good to be safely back at home.
Best regards and, where applicable, happy new year.
Christopher
-----Original Message-----
From: Friedrichs, Martin {CIO~Nutley}
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2001 2:10 PM
To: Bryan; Christopher; Daniel; Daniel (w); David and Patty; David F; David S (work); Ellen; Gary; Heather;
Jeanne; Jeremy; Jessica; Johnathan; Kyle; Liska - Home; Natasha; Rachel; Randye; Rhoda; Tamara; Walter
Subject: Some Thoughts
I wanted to share some of my thoughts and was particularly struck by two items on Christopher's email. First that in
Germany "it was business as usual". It is of course understandably that the further away you are the less effected, but
in the NY area you can literally feel the difference. In people's appearance, the way they drive, how they talk to each
other. It seems to pervade most business and personnel interactions. It has certainly personally effected me more
then any of the other world calamities of recent years. Partly, I think, because I am so unsure of what fundamental
course of action the US should really take. Terrorism in the US is now clearly much to great a threat to, in essence,
accept it as an inevitable risk in a free society. Yet even with massive increases in security and reductions in
constitutional rights it seems hard to visualize how to effectively stop such organized terrorism in all its potential facets.
If we over react militarily we could start the war against the Islamic world that I assume bin Laden and company is
plotting for, or perhaps achieve his secondary goal of having the Islamic world separate from the west. If we don't
fully address the terrorism threat is seems they will just strike somewhere again in some other terrible way. The
course ahead seems extraordinarily difficult. I assume most leaders realize this, I am not sure the public does, which
will make it even harder.
The second thing in Christopher's note that struck me was that "the travel situation seemed remarkably unchanged".
Perhaps in Germany where security was already tighter it was less noticeable. There is one aspect of air travel that I
think has dramatically and permanently changed that I have not seen discussed. In fact if my thinking is correct it is
already impossible for this particular type of terrorism to ever succeed again. I wondered if it is I or other who have
missed this point.
There has of course been a lot of discussion on the extra security that will be imposed on boarding plans. This may
make people feel more secure but most security people realize it will do nothing to stop a group that is so well
organized and financed. With a two year planning window these measures will be easy to circumvent or the terrorists
can simply infiltrate the security, airport or airline staff. You only need a few accomplices among the 60,000
employees working in airports.
What I believe has permanently changed, but its impact is not yet understood, is the mind set of the flying public. In
the past airline employees and the public were always told to accede to a high jackers demands; don't be a hero, let
him take you to Cuba, let the authorities negotiate your return. With the threat of a bomb or a knife all passengers in
the plane were expected to, and usually did, comply. In the past I think I would certainly have counseling against
aggressive action. But with the image of this weeks disaster seared into the collective consciousness of the world's
traveling public all that changes. That change of mind set already took place midway through the last flight that
crashed in Pennsylvania. They initially moved to the back of the plane as requested but after hearing via cell phones
what happened they then voted to act and apparently brought the plan down. In the future no delay or vote will be
necessary. Would your mind set and actions in the future be different toward a highjack with a knife in the front of a
plane, if yes then wouldn't everyone's? I don't think this will fade. That doesn't mean highjackings won't be attempted
or blood shed spilt, just that taking and maintaining control of an airplane filled with passengers will no longer be
possible.
With that thought in mind and trying to think "outside the box" imagine if the pilot (or flight attendants), in a hijack
situation could push the button that caused the oxygen masks to fall but now also dropped on each persons lap a tiny
mace spray can. (someone else suggested they could cut the oxygen while they were at it) It might make taking
control of a plane so much more complicated as to be abandoned as a tactic. Carry-on luggage searches would then
have to look for gas masks not knives. I readily admit this idea is largely ludicrous, but perhaps it is an indication of
the times that when it first occurred to me it did not seem so, and I am still not quite sure if some adaptation of that
thought might make sense.
The sad reality is of course that even if we plug up one vulnerability in our society another will be found as long as the
source of the problem is not addressed. I also wonder about the other unforeseen consequences of this event. The
next time there is a fire or bomb scare in a skyscraper will the evacuation be orderly or will people trample each other
charging down the steps in panic to avoid a building collapse. Ten years from now how will we look at this event, will
even this have faded or will the world have changed, will we all be different ?
Martin
-----Original Message-----
From: Rhoda Friedrichs [mailto:friedrichsrGroupwise.Douglas.BC.CA]
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2001 3:13 PM
To: MARTIN.FRIEDRICHSRoche.COM
Subject: Re: Some Thoughts
Dear martin, I read your thoughts with great interest. I hope you are right about hijacking now having to contend
with resistance and as a result not happening, but we also have to think about other forms of mass-murder as
terrorism. People have talked about water supplies, nuclear reactors, computers ... the list is endless, and therefore
very hard to protect. And of course, given that, tension and fear rise, and that adds false alarms to the arsenal of
terrorists. Maybe shutting down a relativelyt small number of activist cells really would be helpful here.
Love to all, Rhoda
reference to the September 11 attacks. In many cases it was hard to contact family via phone. This is
included as a view into pieces of how our family was impacted at that moment. (It also includes one email
Jeanne passed on from a friend)
-----Original Message-----
From: Dick & Liska Snyder [mailto:aliskalaska.net]
Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2001 9:09 PM
To: Fried. Martin/Work
Subject: Any News Appreciated
Hi Martin, we have tried all day to call Lester Place but can't get through. We are so anxious to know that Walter
and Daniel are OK. Somehow Rhoda found out that Ellen was going to walk home to Brooklyn. I am frustrated
because I have friends here who have been able to connect to friends/relatives in the NY area, but I can't. Rhoda did
talk to Randye and told me that Natasha's friend Andrew's mother worked at the WTC. That is horrible. Any news
about her? Did you get home from work?
What is going on???
Thanks for any info, and if you email me back, send info to Vancouver and Scranton too.
-----Original Message-----
From: Friedrichs, Martin {CIO~Nutley}
Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2001 9:42 AM
To: 'Dick & Liska Snyder'
Cc: 'Christopher'; 'Jeanne'; 'Rhoda'
Subject: RE: Any News Appreciated
Liska,
Walter spent the night in his office building, we only found out at 11pm, Daniel is home, Andrews mother made it out,
Our phone service was very spotty. I personally had no trouble getting home via the Tappen Zee and got to work
(where I am now if you want to call when you get up 973 235 3955)over the George Washington this morning ,
which was largely empty. As I worked in the WTC building on the 78th floor for many years it was frightening driving
to work to suddenly see it on fire from the NJ Garden sate parkway. I keep thinking I must be disoriented and that
can't be the world trade towers. At work I watched live with the rest of the country the buildings collapse. At this
point I do not know personally of anyone missing but due to phone circuits being out have not been able to get
through to all I would like so I am not sure that will stay the case. Sorry you were out of the loop. Randye talked to
Jeanne last night. Basically we were fortunate as our direct family was not directly impacted. Randye and I have new
(last week) cell phones 914 320 6807 (mine) 914 320 6805 (Randyes) which are on (but not necessarily
connectable) at this point, although we will not normally have them on all the time.
Martin
-----Original Message-----
From: Jeanne Friedrichs [mailto:jwf5psu.edu]
Sent: Saturday, September 15, 2001 4:20 PM
To: ranster31aol.com; nifbulldog.georgetown.edu; snydertrottgci.net; crfinterchange.ubc.ca;
r_friedrichsdouglas.bc.ca; aliskalaska.net; Martin.FriedrichsOCHE.COM; alaskaheatherhotmail.com;
alaskagaryhotmail.com; Freddy92Brandeis.edu; ellenkatefhotmail.com; Taiimanaol.com; walterfriedrichsaol.com;
jonfriedhotmail.com; eadikesearthlink.net; jxf243psu.edu; jxf243hotmail.com; bryanfriedrichshotmail.com;
jquinnquinnmicro.com; bstein3426aol.com; 100072.266compuserve.com; mfriedaugol.com; elfriedaugaol.com;
Schneckeriegmx.de; mmarquis28aol.com; tbleimanngmx.de; sklaininterport.net; lshahmiseri.edu; mxl43psu.edu;
michelenotos.com; tquinn1ic3.ithaca.edu; Treibickfiam.net; t.friendlyworldnet.att.net
Subject: the aftermath
Today is Saturday, it is 3:01 pm - approximately 4 days and 5 hours after
the attack on the World Trade Towers, the Pentagon and the felling of a
hijacked plane outside of Pittsburgh, PA.
I have emailed or spoken with both sides (my family and the Friedrichs
family in NYC) and we are blessed to have our immediate families safe and
accounted for. The stories are being told. All are frightening, one
horrific which mirrors the media reports of strangers, who no longer seem
like strangers once they have shared their grief with us all.
This is a time no one of cognizant age will ever forget. Parallel
remembrances of World War II, as told to our generation by parents and
grandparents are resurfacing in acknowledgement of the horror of the time
we and our children now live in.
Then, as now the stories must be told and will be told endlessly...
The Salt's extended family on Staten Island has received tragic news of the
found remains and briefcase of Lee Ludwig, a family-man who perished in the
Towers collapse. He worked above the 90th floor. Pat Salt is Jeanne's
sister. The victim is someone we both knew in high school and was a lovely
man. He was the brother-in-law of Margie, (Frank's twin sister) who
married Lee's elder brother Larry. The two families are extremely close.
May he rest in peace.
Stories of those involved but not hurt:
The Salt family had miraculous news as well as the tragic news that came later.
Frank's brother Bob was at work in the World Trade Tower at about the 50th
floor and was able to escape.
Additionally, Danny Salts' girlfriend Christine, who worked on John St.
near the towers, escaped from the streets unharmed, if traumatized. She,
like so many others was on her way to work.
Liz Windle (Jeanne's sister) lives and works on Staten Island. She was
attending a work-related training at the Mariott hotel on the Brooklyn side
of the Brooklyn bridge when the attach commenced. According to her telling
of the story, the hotel acted very quickly and efficiently to set up a
crisis center and blood bank and secure the area. Liz herself escorted
some of the first dazed survivors who made their way over the Brooklyn
Bridge. She recounted to me, with great emotion, how the survivors were
covered in white soot and only able to speculate about the horror they had
lived and witnessed as they crossed the bridge.... Initially, the hit on
the first building, (at which time they were instructed to stay in the
building by an official announcement of some sort), only to flee based on
their own instincts for survival, to finally turn and see the collapse of
their own building as they crossed the bridge to the safety of the
hotel. One woman was sure the buildings were being bombed. Another man was
on crutches but managed to walk out of the bedlam until he was finally
given a lift over the bridge. According to Liz, the crisis center was
remarkable and had hundreds of people instantaneously line up to give
blood. In the end that was about all anyone could do. She herself wanted
to stay indefinitely in case she could help in some way, but realized she
needed to get home to her college-aged daughter, Leanne. Leanne was home
on Staten Island, but able to see the immense cloud of smoke and fire from
her home, which is situated on the South Shore near the Verazzano Narrows
bridge. Leanne would not leave her house for two days, she was so
traumatized and now is very fearful of returning to Manhattan to continue
her college and internship both of which are on streets in the 60s in NYC,
(understandably so).
Liz has a monthly meeting in the World Trade towers, one of which was
scheduled for Thursday of the same week. Her ex-husband Joe Maira, also
had regular meetings in the Towers, but not on this fateful day. Their
son, Jeff, also had a reason to be in the towers later in the week.
Stephen Windle (Jeanne's brother), currently living on Staten Island, was
in the Battery Park area of Manhattan when the attack took place. Upon
exiting his building he reported the white smoke and debris in the air was
so thick he had difficulty breathing and ran to the SI ferry leaving his
motorcycle behind. In the ferry terminal, he reported the smoke continued
to billow in when the doors were opened for the passengers, to the extent
that he still felt they were all in danger of suffocating. He previously
lived and worked in the upper East Side of Manhattan and spent very little
time in the southern part of Manhattan.
A friend of Jeanne's from the NYC Argentine Tango dance community shared
via email, a harrowing tale of debris raining upon him as he arrived late
for work - due to a subway delay of about ten minutes. He was of course
aggravated a bit to be held up but as he approached his building, which was
attached to the World Trade Towers, calamity struck. He ran for his life
and ended up in Chinatown where he recovered and bought a shirt to replace
his, which was completely covered in soot. He raced to call his family to
assure them he was unhurt.
For those of you who know my friends Evelyn & Bill Adikes, we can
gratefully report that their family or close friends were not hurt.
As I have extended this email to go out to friends as well as the
Friedrichs family, let me also report that Walter Friedrichs was walking
out of the subway when the second plane hit the towers. His building is
quite a few blocks away from the towers. His son Daniel reported that
Walter stayed in the building overnight to monitor the state of emergency
which affected everyone in lower Manhattan. Daniel himself works in the
midtown area and watched the nightmare from the roof of his building.
Some of you may have initially heard that the fourth plane went down near
Pittsburgh, where Jessica now lives, but it was quite some distance away
and did not affect the city directly at all.
Of course both my sister's families are connected to many families of the
rescue workers and firemen who live on S.I. and are now missing.
As for David and Bryan and myself, we were in our respective offices and
schools. I only stopped what I was doing after the news of the second
plane attack. Who could have ever imagined such a thing was taking place?
We all ran to the TV and watched it unfold, as you all undoubtedly did as well.
More stores both tragic and miraculous will come as we re-establish our
links to friends in NYC.
It is hard to bear the sadness of it all, but realizing how fortunate we
are as a family, with so many "what if's" that did not unfold gives one
pause for perspective. Now the questions begs.. what will come of it all?
Our thoughts are constantly with our friends and family in NYC and
Washington DC. or still have ties there.
In sorrow and heartfelt prayer for the victims and their families.
Jeanne
-----Original Message-----
From: Jeanne Friedrichs [mailto:jwf5psu.edu]
Sent: Saturday, September 15, 2001 4:35 PM
Subject: a postscript
For those of you who know Ellen Friedrichs and haven't had word about her (I realized as soon as I hit the send
button that I had omitted her from my previous email ) I can report that she was at NYU where she is a graduate
student, when the attack ocurred and was able to flee the city by walking over the Brooklyn Bridge. Ellen very
recently moved from her Manhattan, Lower East Side apartment to Brooklyn, NY.
This from a friend in NYC.
Jeanne
>From: Jeanne Friedrichs <jwf5psu.edu>
>Subject: Fwd: FW: Still here
>
>-----Original Message-----
>>From: Jai Jeffryes [mailto:jaijeffryesyahoo.com]
>>Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2001 4:19 PM
>>To: Jai Jeffryes
>>Subject: Still here
>>Hi everybody,
>>
>>I'm still here, and I'm fine. If you can believe it, merely three weeks ago I began working at 2 World Financial
Center, the building adjoining the World Trade Center. Yesterday, I was running a little behind schedule. The time
that the first airplane impacted is the time that I'm usually walking across the plaza below. My train bypassed my
station, which annoyed me because that meant I would have to walk two blocks back to get to the World Trade
Center. I had no idea that anything had just transpired, except some guy got on one stop back and was raving about
something that he said still had him shaking. I thought he had witnessed a mugging or maybe he was just crazy.When
I got out at the Wall Street station it was mere seconds after the second plane had impacted and I was in the middle
of pandemonium. It looked like thebeginning of a ticker tape parade with paper and debris raining down on the
street. I turned a cornerand saw the twin towers aflame. I circled the area trying to find out if my building was still
intact. It never occured to me that 110-storey skyscrapers could collapse. Viewing the fire and smoke, I could not
even believe what I was seeing. As I circled the area, the fires were becoming visibly larger and I could see more
deeply into the interior of the building. It was dawning on me that this fire could never be controlled. Then I heard
the sound of the tower collapsing. I didn't know that was what was happening because I couldn't see it. I thought
maybe some of the facade had fallen away. Fortunately, Iwas not hit by any debris, but a tide of ash rolled over my
area and engulfed all of us. It was like a nuclear winter. I was right against the river by Battery Park and just about
ready to jump into the water, but I realized there was no fire coming at me. It was just ash and soot. I pulled my shirt
up over my nose and mouth and avoided breathing any of it. It was akin to snowflakes, but thicker than any blizzard.
I could see 10-20 feet anead of me and that was it. Day became night, and other people who were getting that gunk
in their throats were hacking and expectorating. I didn't know how much of the building had fallen, but I believed
there could be more collapses, so I endeavored to walk south and east around the tip of Manhattan before any more
waves of ash could roll over me. Shortly thereafter, I heard the same sound again which turned out to be the other
tower collapsing. By
>>this time, the first tidal wave of soot had thinned out enough for me to see that now a second one was rolling in my
direction and would catch up in about 5 minutes. I kept walking briskly eastward, so when it finally hit me it was
nsiderably thinner than the one that hit me when I was only a block away from the area. I finally got far enough north
not to be downwind of the conflagration. I was covered from head to toe with white ash that I heard one firefighter
speculate consisted of pulverized concrete. It was as if someone had emptied a sack of lime over me. I knew from
the time right after I exited the subway that itwas important for me to make phone calls to loved ones to let them
know I was okay. (That was before two 110-storey skyscrapers collapsed into oblivion practically right next to
me!) However, long lines were to be found at every pay phone. I finally got my bearings and walked uptown. In
Chinatown, I finally found a pay phone that had only a few people in line in front of it. I called my folks who were
mightily relieved. (Incidentally, my calling card from Excel wouldn't work, but 1-800-COLLECT did... this is an
unsolicited endorsement!) I was starving, for I had eaten nothing at all yet. Street vendors were in business, so I
bought a shishkebab in a pita. As I was standing there, I coughed from the charcoal smoke from the grill. I laughed
ironically at myself standing there covered in soot from America's worst terrorist attack yet too oblivious to stand
upwind of a street vendor's burning charcoal! The streets were choked with people because no transportation
services were functioning. You could easily discern who had been near the attack and who had not. The throngs of
people headed uptown and covered in soot were the ones who'd been in it. The throngs of people headed
downtown were the ones who hadn't been there and were trying to get a closer look. I made my way to the west
side 20's where my brother works. I didn't know if my parents had succeeded in getting through to him by phone
since phone service was spotty. He had heard nothing about me, and said over and over again that he had hoped I
would have the sense just to come to his office. It was there that I first saw the footage of the collapsing towers. I
was dumbfounded. I hadn't
>>realized that this was what caused the sound I had first heard from the next block. The area where the rubble fell
was the side where I had been standing approximately 15 minutes earlier. I continued my walk uptown. I bought an
NYC tee-shirt from a tourist shop along the way to replace the soot-and mucous-encrusted shirt I was wearing and
that hadsaved me from breathing any appreciable amounts of anincinerated World Trade Center. I also bought
contact lens solution to clean my contacts and flush out my eyes. I stopped at a friend's apartment to wash off the
soot, change into my clean tee-shirt and flush my eyes. I still don't know if the building my company is in (2 World
Financial Center) still exists. I don't know the status of my job nor that of the other guys on my team, who often
arrive about the same time as I do. I might not get annoyed at slow trains anymore. Had I left for work 10 minutes
earlier and not been on a delayed train, I would have been right under the face of the WTC when the first plane hit!
Every time I see clips of that blizzard of ash, Icould swear that I still smell it.
>>Jai
-----Original Message-----
From: Dick & Liska Snyder [mailto:aliskaalaska.net]
Sent: Friday, September 14, 2001 6:09 PM
To: Fried. Chris/Rhoda; Fried. David; Fried. Jeanne; Fried. Martin/Work;
Fried. Randye; Fried. Rhoda
Subject: News about Walter
Dear Family,
I have been frustrated that I don't know too much about Walter. I have not been able to get through to his office, but
just tried again. Much to my amazement, I finally got through and talked to somebody who said that he left about
"two hours ago" to go home (that would have been 4:00 pm EST). I forgot that it is Friday night back east, so now I
won't be able to talk to him till Sunday, IF I reach him. So if any of you hears from him, or talks to him, please tell
him that I have been thinking about him and really want to know how he is doing.
David called from Bosnia. He and Patty are in Sarajevo right now with a good friend who works for State Dept.
They plan to fly to Frankfurt on Monday and hopefully will fly back here on Tuesday. Who knows....
Everyone up here in far-away Alaska feels just as devastated as you who live closer. Words cannot express how we
feel, so I am not even going to try...
Love, Liska
----Original Message-----
From: Friedrichs, Martin {CIO~Nutley}
Sent: Monday, September 17, 2001 11:13 AM
To: 'Dick & Liska Snyder'
Subject: RE: News about Walter
As this is the start of the Jewish holidays you may have more trouble getting hold of him. But I have spoken to him
and he is his usually unflappable self.
Love,
Martin
From: Chris Friedrichs [mailto:crfinterchange.ubc.ca]
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2001 1:59 AM
To: Randye Friedrichs; Natasha Iris Friedrichs; Snyder David /Patty; Dick & Liska Snyder; Friedrichs, Martin
{CUST~Nutley}; Gary/Heather Snyder/Ireland; Snyder Gary; Fried. Rachel; Tallman@aol.com;
walterfriedrichs@aol.com; jonfried@hotmail.com; Ellen Friedrichs; 'Bryan'; Jessica
Subject: Back from Germany
Dear relatives,
This is just to report that I got back yesterday, just before the beginning of Rosh Hashanah, from my trip to Germany
where I attended a conference in Augsburg. I arrived late on Tuesday afternoon, just as news of the events in New
York was arriving in Germany. In the airport in Frankfurt I passed by a TV on with some kind of story about the
World Trade Center but I was preoccupied with getting to my train and did not take in what was being said. It was
not long, however, before the news caught up with me. On my arrival in Augsburg Michael, Elisabeth and I sat for
hours in front of the TV. I was able to reach Rhoda that evening and thus I knew about Ellen's whereabouts but not
until the next morning did I get any reassurance about Walter and a fuller sense of how various other people had been
affected.
This event was the only story on the news and in the papers in Germany, people were constantly discussing it and
there were various memorial events, yet life carried on in ordinary ways much more than, judging from what I heard,
was the case in the US or even in Canada. My conference was not much affected. There was a minute of silence
for the victims and of course the events came up from time to time but for the most part it was business as usual.
As for our relatives, the weekend before I arrived there had been a huge party to celebrate both Elisabeth's
forthcoming 50th birthday and Barbara's 'coming of age' since she had just turned 18. Their Martin had flown over
for the celebration, staying barely two nights since he had to return to New Jersey for a performance on Monday
night--so he got back to the US about 24 hours before all the flights were cancelled. After my conference ended on
Saturday the 15th I took Elisabeth and Michael out to dinner since that was, in fact, Elisabeth's actual birthday. On
Sunday the 16th we went up to Frankfurt for an advance celebration in Steinbach in honor of Tante Eva's 90th
birthday (the actual birthday is today, the 18th). It was a quiet family gathering of the kind Eva likes, some little
speeches were made and Eva herself spoke quite touchingly of the many good things she had experienced in her long
life. She is as ever in remarkably good shape, fretting as usual about her memory not being as good as it used to be
but still totally on top of all the world news and family news. As a worried grandmother she was nervous about
Felix's forthcoming trip to Florida (he is leaving on Wednesday to visit a friend there before his classes resume in
early October). Basically all was well with the German relatives.
I left on Monday morning (just a few hours before David and Patty were scheduled to arrive for a day's stopover in
Frankfurt on their way home). I had to change in London where there were heightened security procedures but
aside from that (and plastic cutlery with the airplane meals) the whole air travel situation seemed remarkably
unchanged.
After this terribly unsettling week it is certainly good to be safely back at home.
Best regards and, where applicable, happy new year.
Christopher
-----Original Message-----
From: Friedrichs, Martin {CIO~Nutley}
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2001 2:10 PM
To: Bryan; Christopher; Daniel; Daniel (w); David and Patty; David F; David S (work); Ellen; Gary; Heather;
Jeanne; Jeremy; Jessica; Johnathan; Kyle; Liska - Home; Natasha; Rachel; Randye; Rhoda; Tamara; Walter
Subject: Some Thoughts
I wanted to share some of my thoughts and was particularly struck by two items on Christopher's email. First that in
Germany "it was business as usual". It is of course understandably that the further away you are the less effected, but
in the NY area you can literally feel the difference. In people's appearance, the way they drive, how they talk to each
other. It seems to pervade most business and personnel interactions. It has certainly personally effected me more
then any of the other world calamities of recent years. Partly, I think, because I am so unsure of what fundamental
course of action the US should really take. Terrorism in the US is now clearly much to great a threat to, in essence,
accept it as an inevitable risk in a free society. Yet even with massive increases in security and reductions in
constitutional rights it seems hard to visualize how to effectively stop such organized terrorism in all its potential facets.
If we over react militarily we could start the war against the Islamic world that I assume bin Laden and company is
plotting for, or perhaps achieve his secondary goal of having the Islamic world separate from the west. If we don't
fully address the terrorism threat is seems they will just strike somewhere again in some other terrible way. The
course ahead seems extraordinarily difficult. I assume most leaders realize this, I am not sure the public does, which
will make it even harder.
The second thing in Christopher's note that struck me was that "the travel situation seemed remarkably unchanged".
Perhaps in Germany where security was already tighter it was less noticeable. There is one aspect of air travel that I
think has dramatically and permanently changed that I have not seen discussed. In fact if my thinking is correct it is
already impossible for this particular type of terrorism to ever succeed again. I wondered if it is I or other who have
missed this point.
There has of course been a lot of discussion on the extra security that will be imposed on boarding plans. This may
make people feel more secure but most security people realize it will do nothing to stop a group that is so well
organized and financed. With a two year planning window these measures will be easy to circumvent or the terrorists
can simply infiltrate the security, airport or airline staff. You only need a few accomplices among the 60,000
employees working in airports.
What I believe has permanently changed, but its impact is not yet understood, is the mind set of the flying public. In
the past airline employees and the public were always told to accede to a high jackers demands; don't be a hero, let
him take you to Cuba, let the authorities negotiate your return. With the threat of a bomb or a knife all passengers in
the plane were expected to, and usually did, comply. In the past I think I would certainly have counseling against
aggressive action. But with the image of this weeks disaster seared into the collective consciousness of the world's
traveling public all that changes. That change of mind set already took place midway through the last flight that
crashed in Pennsylvania. They initially moved to the back of the plane as requested but after hearing via cell phones
what happened they then voted to act and apparently brought the plan down. In the future no delay or vote will be
necessary. Would your mind set and actions in the future be different toward a highjack with a knife in the front of a
plane, if yes then wouldn't everyone's? I don't think this will fade. That doesn't mean highjackings won't be attempted
or blood shed spilt, just that taking and maintaining control of an airplane filled with passengers will no longer be
possible.
With that thought in mind and trying to think "outside the box" imagine if the pilot (or flight attendants), in a hijack
situation could push the button that caused the oxygen masks to fall but now also dropped on each persons lap a tiny
mace spray can. (someone else suggested they could cut the oxygen while they were at it) It might make taking
control of a plane so much more complicated as to be abandoned as a tactic. Carry-on luggage searches would then
have to look for gas masks not knives. I readily admit this idea is largely ludicrous, but perhaps it is an indication of
the times that when it first occurred to me it did not seem so, and I am still not quite sure if some adaptation of that
thought might make sense.
The sad reality is of course that even if we plug up one vulnerability in our society another will be found as long as the
source of the problem is not addressed. I also wonder about the other unforeseen consequences of this event. The
next time there is a fire or bomb scare in a skyscraper will the evacuation be orderly or will people trample each other
charging down the steps in panic to avoid a building collapse. Ten years from now how will we look at this event, will
even this have faded or will the world have changed, will we all be different ?
Martin
-----Original Message-----
From: Rhoda Friedrichs [mailto:friedrichsrGroupwise.Douglas.BC.CA]
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2001 3:13 PM
To: MARTIN.FRIEDRICHSRoche.COM
Subject: Re: Some Thoughts
Dear martin, I read your thoughts with great interest. I hope you are right about hijacking now having to contend
with resistance and as a result not happening, but we also have to think about other forms of mass-murder as
terrorism. People have talked about water supplies, nuclear reactors, computers ... the list is endless, and therefore
very hard to protect. And of course, given that, tension and fear rise, and that adds false alarms to the arsenal of
terrorists. Maybe shutting down a relativelyt small number of activist cells really would be helpful here.
Love to all, Rhoda
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