Bürgermeister schreibt an amerikanische Partnerstadt(hr) In einer uns heute übermittelten eMail an den Präsidenten des Stadtrats von Ephrata (USA), Bill Hecker, bringt Eberbachs Bürgermeister Bernhard Martin angesichts der Terroranschläge in Amerika das Mitgefühl und die Solidarität der Eberbacher Bevölkerung mit ihrer Partnerstadt in Pennsylvania zum Ausdruck. Wir veröffentlichen den Text der eMail im Wortlaut:
Dear Mr Hecker,
on behalf of my family, the Town Council and the citizens of Eberbach I would like to express our deepest feelings of solidarity and unity with the American people and the citizens of Ephrata in these days of blunt horror.
An unprecedented act of terror, a massive attack on civilization and humanity itself has been executed by villains we can hardly think of to be part of our human race. Although Eberbach is many thousand miles away from the east coast of the United States, we could not be more concerned about the sufferings of the victims, their families and friends. But even our concern is still outperformed by our feelings of stunning helplessness. It is only symbols we can express our grief and anger with.
Thus, in Eberbach the city flags and the state flags are moved to half-staff. In our churches, memorial ceremonies are being held. On Ephrata Square people put down flowers and light candles. I would like to ask you to tell this to your town council and to the citizens of Ephrata.
Dear Bill, just a few, peaceful weeks ago we had the pleasure of celebrating a wonderful weekend dedicated to friendship and partnership together with you and your fellow citizens. In our official speeches we stressed the values we all share, the values of peace, freedom and tolerance. Little did we know then, that only a few months later these values and, together with them, our whole civilization would be at stake.
As of now, none of us can anticipate the consequences and ramifications of all this. All we know is, that we are at a turning point in history and that things will never be the same as they were before. Now we should take our time to reconsider our system of values, to bring back to mind the basic principles of humanity and western civilization and to hold on to them as a premise for the survival of mankind, even in – and, especially in – hunting the ones responsible for this catastrophe.
Dear Bill, I am writing these lines under the deep, inextinguishable impressions of the horrible pictures on TV and under the uncertainty of the situation and of the well-being of the people of Ephrata. I would therefore appreciate it very much if you could take some time telling us about the status quo in Ephrata. From various sides I receive similar questions that need to be answered: strong bonds have been developed between Eberbach and Ephrata!
Yesterday, one of our politicians said: "In these days we all are Americans." I think he is right.
May God be with all of us!
Sincerely yours,
Bernhard Martin
13.09.01
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