Berlin is in shock after a truck ploughed into a Christmas market in the city centre on Monday night, killing 12 people.
Irish Times Abroad Network members living in Berlin have been sending us their reaction to the attack. To add yours, email abroad@irishtimes.com.
Claire Martin: ‘After Paris, Brussels, and Nice, we have all been expecting it’
I work for a non-governmental organisation in Berlin and have been here for six years. Last night I was out with three colleagues in the city centre having our end of year dinner, when phones started to buzz around 9pm.
At that time I did not know what happened exactly, but my first reaction was to text my mother, “All ok here”. At that point she probably had no idea what it meant but I thought she would figure it out soon, and I was about to get on my bike for a 20-minute cycle.
My second reaction was not shock, but acceptance and resignation. After Paris, Brussels, and Nice, we have all been expecting it. I have been at several Christmas markets over the last few weeks and found myself looking around, wondering whether we were safe.
Everyone at work today is getting on with things. I think - given the work we are in, and colleagues we come into contact with - we don’t feel particularly under attack. Compared to what has been happening in Aleppo over recent months, weeks and days, last night's event in Berlin seems so tiny.
That is not for a second intended to undermine the horror experienced by the people caught up in the attack, or their friends and families, but just to say I feel no right to expect safety. I feel much the same as I felt this time yesterday.
I feel sad and somewhat helpless about the hatred and destruction in today’s world. I feel anger and fear for the new breed of political “leadership” emerging which feeds off this.
I feel lucky overall for where I live, and for the freedoms and relative safety I have. I feel more than ever the need to protect the free and open society that is Germany, while focusing on what really matters: fighting poverty, inequality, extremism in all its forms and corruption. I feel grateful for family and friends from home who reached out to check on me yesterday. I look forward to seeing many of them over the holidays.
John Neilan: ‘The mood is grim’
It’s a cold morning in Berlin, so smiling faces would have been at a premium on the train to work this morning anyway. But looking around, the mood seemed extra grim. I noticed some extra security staff at my home metro stop in Neukölln, on the other side of town.
I’m from Galway and have been living in Berlin since 2003, where I run a co-working space. My personal reaction is not one of shock, as there have already been threats thwarted by the police this year, but of sympathy for the victims and their families. I felt like I needed to do something, so we lit a candle in the window where I work in Schöneberg.
I take public transport at least twice a day and naturally, after an incident like this, you become more alert. But do I feel concerned for my safety? Not really, no. Berlin is generally quite a safe place. It’s miserable and grey today, even moreso than usual, but you just have to keep doing what you do.
Joy Corkery: ‘I was avoiding the markets last year like many others’
I’m back in Ireland for Christmas already, but I, along with my Berlin friends and colleagues, am pretty shook by the incident last night. We almost felt that by living in Berlin we were getting away with things, but that opinion has changed now.
I’ve been living in Berlin for five years and I know the area around the Christmas market very well. I spend most of my Saturdays there. This year, I was commenting about how relaxed the city feels. I was avoiding the markets last year like many others, but this year people were not so much on edge.
I do intend to go back to Berlin. I still feel safe living in the city, and the terrible act of one person won’t change that.
