Before I really get underway here, I wanted to give a heads up that there are some photos in this article that might be upsetting for young or sensitive readers. They are of the parts of Vienna where a terrorist attack happened on November 2, 2020.
This topic has been knocking around in my head for a while, and since it’s almost been just over four months since this event occurred, I think I finally have enough distance to feel like I can write about it. I still have a lot of questions, and actually my ultimate goal is with this article is to actually start a conversation about this topic. So if anyone feels like commenting here on Medium or on the social media outlets upon which I post the link to this article, I would greatly appreciate it.
The incident touched me deeply for a number of reasons. One of them I have already written about during the days after the attack-I always felt (and still feel to almost the same extent) that Austria is a very safe place and relatively free of crime, at least to people like me who happen to be white and fit in with the overly generalized stereotype of what a “native Austrian” looks like. Although being an immigrant in this country has not been without its challenges, I have been treated well for the most part, even in a recent case where I had to report an incident to the police. I feel a mixture of guilt and relief about this, and it’s definitely a loaded topic.
Since the time of the attack, I definitely find myself looking over my shoulder a bit more, and every time I visit the center of the city I find myself reflecting on how surreal it seems that someone would open fire on people there, especially in some of the most ancient and beloved parts of historical Vienna. But I also understand that for those who have felt rejected and shut out by the society here, it might have felt especially appropriate to take revenge on society members in that area, and on that day.
Another aspect of the attack that has struck a chord with me is the specific site where the attack took place. I visited several times because I felt like it helped me to process what had happened, although at the same time it also brought up some new questions for me. Within the larger geographical area where the attack took place, people placed flowers, candles, poems and other items in the exact locations where people were shot/stabbed or where they had passed away. It was extremely sad to behold but it also felt peaceful and beautiful to be in the presence of the tributes people had created.
The shrines in the photos above seem to be standard practice all over the world, but what was new to me, or what I had never encountered before, was that in the spot where Kutjim Fezjullai, the attacker, seemed to have passed away, there were just two small candles. Instead of wreaths and flowers, there was a spray painted cross, similar in color to other spray painted marks on the cobblestones — presumably where bullets grazed the ground — and a small sign (my translation/interpretation is below the photo):
You idiot! This is not and will never be the pathway to heaven! Therefore: your little soul will forevermore be seeking warmth and light in the frigid darkness. In this sense: Vienna remains Vienna!
The last phrase seems to be a reference to a march that was composed in the 1800s by a man named Johann Schramel about Vienna…the title has a better ring to it in German: Wien bleibt Wien. YouTube came up with the following when I searched under this phrase…and there are several other arrangements of the piece for organ or marching band. The piece overall sounds a bit like a propaganda piece, and using it as a slogan here seems to reinforce that.
While I can certainly identify with the idea that the city needs to hold together to get through this tragedy, I also am saddened by the presentation, if one can call it that, of the place where Kutjim’s spirit spent its final moments. He himself was also Austrian and spent most of his life in Austria. It does seem that he was hoping to join ISIL and in fact was arrested a couple of years ago for trying to reach ISIL insurgents in Syria via Turkey. So I would understand if paying respects to his final resting place (in the same way as it was done for the victims of his attack) would be controversial and potentially seen as a sign of support for terrorism. But I find myself wishing for a way to also acknowledge that his death is also worth mourning, especially since his life became an instrument of death for others. I was wondering whether things were any different after the terrorist attacks in Paris, London and Madrid, for example.
The day after the attack was eerily silent here in Vienna, especially after the hubbub the night before. I spent over an hour on the rooftop of our apartment listening to sirens and helicopters and reading the messages my friends and colleagues were exchanging about being stuck in various theaters or restaurants in the center of the city while the police investigated the attacks and cleared the 1st district. Some of them weren’t able to go home until after 2am. Even after I went inside to try and get some sleep, I couldn’t rest until I had gone through a mental checklist of everyone I know who might have been out and about in the city. It was the last night before the second big Corona lockdown and a pleasantly warm evening (by Austrian standards), so more people were out than usual. In contrast, the next day, children were asked to stay home from school and we all were asked to stay indoors as much as possible. By evening we knew that there seemed to be only one attacker and that he was already dead.
In the aftermath, I wanted to try and understand what, if anything, was being done to prevent similar incidents from happening again. An article I read really stuck in my mind. While I can’t find it anymore, unfortunately, I can paraphrase the author’s opinion that there don’t seem to be enough volunteers to work with prisoners in Austrian jails who are leaning toward extremism, much as Kutjim seemed to be during the time he was incarcerated in 2019. I believe the article stated that there are only about 20% of the amount of volunteers who would be necessary to work with suspected terrorists. I wonder if there have been any efforts to work on this problem since the incident happened. I certainly hope so. I’d like to learn more about this aspect of terrorism prevention if anyone has any info about it.
Another thought that crossed my mind was what children were being told in about what had happened in the days following the incident. I know that there is potential for not only the next “homegrown” terrorists to be in our schools here in Vienna right now, but also their peers, who have the power to either nourish or squash diversity in their classmates/friends/acquaintances. These days classrooms are becoming more and more diverse because of the hostile political climates in Syria and even Turkey. I’d love to hear about what people’s school-age children and teenagers were told about the incident if anyone would like to share. My kids are too young to tell me if there was any discussion in their classrooms, but I was encouraged to spot the following on a fence next to my older son’s school:
That same day, I visited the site of the shooting again because the snow was just gorgeous and I had a feeling that it would add to the spirit of mourning and grief back in the 1st district. Indeed, it did.
I also took another look at the area where the shooter’s cross was now covered with snow. Getting up close to a wall near the churchyard where he passed away, I saw that people seemed to have created a memorial of sorts for him and also had left a pen and scotch tape for others to leave written messages about the whole incident.
The overall form of the leaves reminded me a bit of the outline of a spirit or shadow, which seemed very fitting.
I still wish I had more answers about how and why this happened and how to work toward preventing future incidents. It does seem like people are wondering the same things and trying to process this event together. If anyone has more answers or ideas, I would love to hear more. I certainly don’t feel that I have nearly enough.
Thanks for getting through this difficult topic with me. Love and peace to all of you.
