Five years ago, planes crashed into the World Trade Center, into the Pentagon, and into the ground. Almost three thousand people died on the 11th of September, 2001. D.C. Roe has created a fantastic project called 2996. Interested participants signed up and were assigned one of the 2996 victims of September 11th. We were given a name, a link, and asked to remember.
The saddest part for me is not only that Klaus was one of the victims; it’s that it was so difficult to find any information about him. Several Google searches brought up page after page of 9/11 memorial sites, all of which contained the same small blurb about him. Perhaps, buried in the middle of all the memorials, there might be a page with more information about him written by someone in his native Germany. I hope so. I hope it’s only that I can’t understand enough German to be able to find him. I’d like to think that somewhere, someone has written his story. If I died tomorrow, the world could still find out who I am because of this site and because of others who would write about me. It saddens me that I can’t find the same overload of information about him.
What I do know is that Klaus was only 31 years old, one year younger than I am now. I know by his picture that he was quite attractive. I know that he was married, and I wish I knew her name. I know he was a father to one child, and I can’t even tell you if it’s a girl or a boy. I know that he was flying from Linkenhein, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany on a business trip with two other executives from BCT Technology AG. I don’t know where they were going specifically or what business was on the agenda, only that Klaus was the director of development since 1994
Klaus boarded Flight 175 and left Boston’s Logan airport that morning, headed for Los Angeles. He was on the plane that hit the South Tower in New York City.
If you think it’s hard to care about or feel for someone that you have never known you are wrong. Because today I am sitting here and not only crying for the loss of 2996 people overall, I am crying for a man I never met, someone I know little about, and wishing I could somehow reach out to a widow and fatherless child that I will never know.
Thank you for participating. Thank you for telling us what you know.
May his family find peace today.
Thank you so much for posting something. You’re right- so far your posting is the only thing I have been able to find about him. He was a family friend that I only got to see a couple times but enjoyed every second of it. Thank you again.
Hi, thanks for your great site.
I was school mate with Klaus and I know some more about him, if u are interested please contact me. His only child is a girl, very sad is that 9/11 is her birthday :(.
I was at his funeral with almost all his old class mates, it was very moving and very sad.
I often think about Klaus and his family.