Ballons bride child plants a year after the attack on the evening of december nineteenth twenty sixteen astrid parsons father was killed him. The missed with and the mother coming here always brings it all back it makes me feel so nervous and emotional because this is the place that brought this horror upon us because of touch. Twelve people from six countries were killed in the attack more than sixty people were injured. As it hit me up whats up today but it was the worst islamist terror attack germany had experienced. And i mean how does this go up but i dont recall this sound like a garbage can being empty. People but i didnt really register at first and then i look up and see the truck coming through the entry lane between the two booth. Which my stand but it drives right. Right through my standard through the opposite row just half a meter away from our grabbed my wife and pulled her into the nearest building somehow that seemed logical i didnt know what was going to happen an attack of all machine gun. The weapon here was a thirty ton lorry. Hunting if at some point the drivers door opened he jumped out in a single bound and ran off really fast like he knew where he was going. I thought he was a pathetic coward. The driver was and is a twenty three year old tunisian whose request for asylum in europe had been denied a petty criminal and drug dealer but also known to police as a radical islamist designated a dangerous person known to fifty different German Government agencies had been under observation for months. Could this attack have been prevented if think of the fix this is here for the sidewall i think the most important thing is to find out who is responsible and why this terrorist attack was even possible. In the first temple and so that we have to find a way to come to terms with this attack to find some in a peace if thats at all possible with this and can. Understand mary was not a lone wolf he was supported by an International Terrorist network with a base in Berlin Germany security official should not have been surprised by the attack. Eighteen months prior a video declaration of war against germany by the socalled Islamic State or. It will go up up into. The message terrorist sleeper cells in germany would attack the coup far. Unbelievers with everyday weapons like vehicles chemicals on nine s. The author and singer of the threatening statement was germanys most sought after terrorist at the time. Dennis cruise power seen here in two thousand and twelve with the group passing out copies of the koran shortly after he and fellow islam ists headed to i asked in syria and from there he maintained his contacts with berlin and also with the leaders of a mosque that was to play a central role in the Christmas Market attack. The foods he led to mosque was an Islamic State base in the german capital these are some of the First Published images from inside the mosque. This is where connected with the i. R. S. Network in germany he also slept here on occasion as shown by this selfie an acquaintance of omri who attended the mosque remembers him he wants to remain anonymous he let the prayers in smaller groups when it was prayer time he took over that role he knew the koran pretty well sometimes hed be there every day for a week there not at all for three weeks his behavior was a little mysterious. The terrorist amery visited the mosque an hour before the attack is this where he got a blessing for the deed unnoticed by Security Officials. At the storefront mosque is located close to the security zone around berlins government district not far from the Chancellors Office the Parliament Buildings and the interior ministry nonetheless the mosque became a Meeting Place for terrorists right under the eyes of all for it is. The leaders of the mosque themselves call. The mask over by our supporters in berlin. In the months after the attack for Board Members in moms and activists connected with the mosque were arrested. Amery may have prepared the attack on the Christmas Market here the lorry he hijacked for the attack was parked a brief wark from the mosque and before the attack he made a video nearby announcing that he would slaughter infidels as he put it. The i. R. S. Mosque in berlin may have been the starting point of the attack but he began much earlier than previously known. And right under the eyes of Security Officials. August first twenty fifteen nearly a year and a half before the attack the alleged head of a group recruiting ayers find his in germany abu alaa left the city of hildas haim where he was based and traveled to the berlin mosque salafist preacher was known to all far tears in his videos he hid his face from the camera. His conspiratorial socalled islam seminar was observed by state security participants laid aside their cellphones to avoid eavesdropping and met in the basement. A short time later and as i am rejoined this circle at the time he was under occasional observation by the police and as here by Domestic Intelligence. Amery became a conduit between the mosque and leaders of abu will last terrorist network. Investigators in north rhinewestphalia later wrote that abu alaa had an exclusive relationship to. Six months before the attack abu alaa allegedly blessed amery during a thirty minute private audience and may have authorized the attack they discussed. So it appears the Christmas Market attacker was long under investigation by the author orators. Pater cheers man lost his wife nadia in the attack looking at her pictures in the family album is painful to choose my son die of it he was four when he lost his mother this is his way of forgetting. That at first he hardly showed any reaction now the boy is plagued by separation anxiety he often comes to his fathers bed at night and shakes him theres. A problem is that he started checking if im alive. Every half hour or so. Here understands that not all people are good and hes afraid. Like sitting outside a cafe. With a little hes afraid that someone will come and killers things like that. Is raising his son as a single parent he works and has to rely on daycare for dad it for months he received no help from local authorities. Doctor the city police say he thought the Police Always find missing people and catch the bad guys when he watches t. V. Its always like that. But in this case it was and it was the two in this case it is an endless story of failures on the part of security agencies. It starts in italy in twenty eleven with a violent riot and arson in a Refugee Center one of the perpetrators is a nineteen year old petty criminal from tunisia and sam raimi he receives a four Year Prison Sentence is data is recorded in the schengen Information System the f. B. I. s. The information should have prevented armoring from entering germany but he gets through due to lack of controls. In july twenty fifteen the islamist is released from jail armory arrives in five borg in southern germany claiming to be a refugee. Police take his finger and hand prints and store them in the joint federal and state Police Database but they do not match them up with us i asked data. Using more than a dozen different identities removed around germany under false names he applies for i. D. s and social welfare and several towns later he asks for asylum initially but not a Single Agency takes notice. This is her story and there. Are more than a year lives officially in a refugee shelter in emigration but he is rarely there only to pick up his regular welfare check under the name of mohammed has. Not only rums the german state as mohamed he also robs other residents of the m. R. I. Shelter. He came in early in the morning around four or five oclock when he left the cell phone was missing from the table and he was gone again we file charges with the police. Of the man with a polish after red shoes needs more and more cell phones for his conspiratorial contacts and the islamist scene in october twenty fifteen another refugee reports that amery is watching i asked videos on his phone soon he is said to be talking about plans for an attack including one with a kalashnikov. For the first time alias mohammed has appears in the files of security or thor it is at north rhinewestphalia state criminal Police Office to be scrutinised for islam islam but the officials do not seem to have informed local police or other agencies. So for a year no one in m. L. A. From the social worker to the man suspect that there is a highly dangerous islamist in their town. This is and they get theirs and its incredible that a municipality that is truly affected should get absolutely no information from whats called the idea doesnt just. Lead in the circuit where we are the weakest link in that chain. And so of course what remains is the suspicion and sadness and a bit of anger that as we know the data and identities were known. That he did it because and we were left alone with these people. That list. In north rhinewestphalia im really hopes up with other islamists who are known to police one controversial contact is induced bog there a member of the abu were large group offers islam seminars in the backroom of a travel Agency Officials now believe that fighters were sent out from here and future attackers were. Radicalised the suspected mastermind who was later imprisoned claimed to know nothing of amery. I know i dont know him lots of people come here i dont know if he came here or not. Im really also lives in the city of under another alias his official address is in a container village for refugees he occasionally spends the night in one base of the abu alaa group a quran school in an apartment in dortmund here he comes to the attention of a much older more experienced man who is admired by young islam ists like amery he calls himself more at. He was the most radical one he used to say to the guys come on you dont have identity papers do something here carry out an attack i can confirm one hundred percent that he tried it with me too you have nothing to lose come on lets do something here. The alleged agitator becomes a kind of father figure for omri he drives him around in his car but not only to take him to extremist meetings. In fact more add his secretly working as a regular informant for the north rhinewestphalia state office of criminal investigation code named of e. P. O. One is not only assigned to amery he also informs officials about plans by for suspected terrorists linked to the alleged i. R. S. Top man in germany abu alaa five. Flater prosecutors based part of their case against abu alaa on reports by one but during the trial the officials were blamed for failing to rein in their informant. I get it based on my own research i know that he told various people lets kill these unbelievers we need good men to carry out attacks in germany and i have more than one source for that he really inside people to do that. An incredible charge v p a one even admitted to his controller during several interrogations that he had talked about attacks in germany quote as agreed to i deliberately presented myself as ready to attack i mean you gave me the assignment to position myself so as to get close to people who might be planning attacks and obtain information. Were the officials in north rhinewestphalia and their informant playing with fire one of amorous Close Associates reported a conversation with. Around six months before the Christmas Market attack. He told Domestic Intelligence officials that the alleged informant had said in a one on one conversation that he was looking for a reliable man for an attack with a truck. In early twenty sixteen years under observation and his telephone is tapped v. P. No one reports on him regularly by this Point Security officials realize how dangerous the tune is in areas. That amery was looking on the internet for ways of manufacturing explosives that he was planning an attack with automatic rifles or a Suicide Attack with an explosive belt to kill for allah. Is categorized as a dangerous person and kept under observation during this time he fulfills an important function for the author orators as a source of information on the abu alaa group a kind of informant who doesnt know he is informing. In february twenty sixth seen takes a bus from dortmund to lend their hears checked by Security Officials from the birth and police. Has picked up and photographed his cell phone is confiscated but not really analyzed neither by officials in north rhinewestphalia nor in berlin. A former chief investigator with links to the birdland criminal Police Office is not surprised by this omission on the part of the Berlin Police. Initiatory. The reason for the failure to evaluate armories phone is perfectly clear lack of staff everywhere and from what. We have a backlog of cases in from pewter forensics meaning that hundreds of cell phones and computers will only be examined and analyzed two or three years later. Fatal negligence the cell phone contained pictures of omri armed with a pistol in the birdland i asked mosque from which he later carries out the attack a note by the federal criminal Police Office says it is unclear if the gun in the photo is real or not. Knives machetes and a pledge of allegiance to Islamic State those pictures should have sounded alarm bells with about and police. Surely that would have led to immediate action being taken. But if you if you take a look at these dangerous persons how many pictures do you think they post just think of crisper to take a well known name what an amount of stuff you put on the internet. These people love posing with weapons thats no big surprise really no surprise our normal experience investigator wouldnt be alarmed i wouldnt be alarmed because i know that these kinds of people like to stage themselves what weapons. Do they need they have an islamist designated as a dangerous person ready to use violence and he has a weapon in any normal criminal case that would be needed to use police to take appropriate action to check his identity and then you would know who you were dealing with is not only other photos in a cell phone cause for alarm so as am restored chance with an iris instructor in it ten months before the attack declares himself ready for duke mark an islamist code word for trigger or a suicide mission. The highly charged data on a cell phone was not analyzed although security agencies had agreed to do so in such cases federal and state criminal investigation officers coordinate their activities with Intelligence Services at the gate tatts the joint Counterterrorism Center in berlin the name appears on the agenda seven times clearly he was seen as a top dangerous person. He never heard and representative in the game told me there was hardly any other person who had been so intensely and so often dealt with. Hundred were the only. The data was expected to reveal concrete information for a decision on further steps to be taken against amery that is why the state criminal Police Offices in berlin and north rhinewestphalia were supposed to analyze. As the data promptly and agreements which Neither Agency carried out systematically. This fyn this. Or that for example its quite significant or striking that in february they dealt with twice with the confiscated phone data and the analysis of it. But then for months no one asked what happened with the analysis but that was that alert. Apparently this was no exception in the joint Counterterrorism Center and not just in the case of amery according to an officer who worked there for years the reports arent worth the paper theyre written on they talk about the current status somebody takes on the case but what comes out of it is nothing theres a lot in it so that people are covered so you can say we reported it in official jargon they say reported and youre in the clear. The data on am or a smartphone remains undiscovered after a few hours in Police Detention he is released. More than six months after the attack astrid person whose father was killed at the Christmas Market was shocked by news reports about mistakes by Security Officials. She joined up with other victims and hired a lawyer. Here companies her to an appointment with the head of berlins armory Investigative Committee burkhardt rageh. Ok we cant get it out of our heads its always with us. What a traumatic event for you. Seeing a therapist about it there are so many questions and so few answers if you will we will be providing answers i can assure you of that and if mistakes have been made they will of course have to be made public and we all have that common goal that Something Like this must never happen again we owe that to the victims. To the scenario to know for sure since then astrid passon has regularly attended the Investigative Committees sessions this time pilots National Clusters has joined her from north rhinewestphalia his mother was killed in the attack hes also looking for answers. From floors result one of the we want to know which mistakes were made and we want them to be made public that would give us a little inner peace definitely you can follow the families of the victims want to be able to ask their own questions they dont want to leave it all up to the politicians and especially to the agencies that failed in the run up to the attack. His and a sudden and shocked and horrified that so many mistakes were made yes this is especially depressing for us and makes us victims all over again because it could have been prevented. Maybe steps could have been taken before hand to protect us. Enlighten can. Over the mass was on the police radar over and over again it took years before it was closed down why because the responsible case officer was on long term sick leave. Whatever length of war they should have tried to ban it for. In a case like this you cant just wait for some case worker to get well again or until you can hire someone you have to fill the post temporarily otherwise the organization is to blame. Organisers. Instead Security Officials watch and wait the Police Station across the street sent up a hidden camera to carry out surveillance on. It captures images around the clock. At the same time as tailed and his telephones are tapped because the confiscated cell phone has still not been analyzed the investigations on suspected terrorism charges made little headway and shadowing for suspect proves useless. It was quite surprising to have an observation that was being carried out basically during office. It was noticeable that the observation usually ended in the early evening. When and what i found astonishing was that observation was limited to the period from monday to friday. That was quite remarkable for the government here. Meanwhile the officers listening in on amorous calls noticed that heres earning money as a drug dealer a lot of money. The problem is the information the berlin state criminal Police Officers collect from the wiretaps is not handed over to those tailing amery this bit or did it does the opposite words you want to call that it meant the observation was basically coming to nothing and if thats mother. Let me explain that using an example in talks with a potential cocaine purchaser on two evenings one after another. He meets up with her at a particular spot to hand over the drugs. Then the ideal arrangement would have been to get the observation going based on the wiretap information. And then grab him when the drug transaction was taking place. But im obviously disposed of because if its too closed but that didnt happen in mid twenty six team half a year before the attack the Berlin Police ended the surveillance although they knew about the drug dealing and the contacts in the scene and the courts had ordered found the observation. And even though amery was labelled priority number one or one on the list of islamist dangerous persons in berlin. This up. There were some mistakes that i couldnt believe were possible that was something i could hardly have imagined if you have the legal right to carry out observations for three months more than three months nearly four months long and you end the observation after six weeks instead. You feel we have close to one hundred dangerous persons in our focus and were working under a huge amount of pressure in this area. Who. We always know that we cant really keep each person under observation round the clock for the entire year. So its not surprising that you have to expected to happen that at some point one of them slips through and we dont recognize a crime thats being planned and thats what happened. And you know i think it planned to talk to us as of course you know. The real background is the drastic lack of specialized staff for surveillance at the state criminal Police Office. The potential danger was criticized banking twenty fifteen on berlins Main News Program by the head of the Staff Council of the agency at the time. We dont even have ten task forces trained for this kind of work you have an eye for this kind of thing i can say that we have ten times too little staff and technology. In my opinion its a stroke of luck that nothing has happened yet i think were sitting on a powder keg. But yes it shocks and saddens me that those prophecies came true. Before the attack police had counted at least seventy four potential terrorists in berlin alone at that time the state criminal Police Office had just eight mobile units specialized in surveillance around the clock observation on just one potential terrorist would require three search teams so the german capital was only equipped to carry out to all day observations. Thus highest per year with that means you have to prioritize and that means dropping other cases. The risk is that these people the potential terrorists do things or suddenly disappear and we dont know where they are are they preparing an attack or have they left the country and so forth. The police did not tell the state prosecutor in charge that i am a surveillance had suddenly been dropped and that the joint Counterterrorism Center the Berlin Police pretended that the observation was still ongoing according to the minutes from the day the observation was ended completely quote the burden state criminal Police Office is continuing the current measures under its own jurisdiction but cannot guarantee operative measures to the same extent. The statement is open to interpretation i dont know what it meant and what it was supposed to convey. Thats typical of official minutes you want to cover your back the burden state criminal Police Office could have said the observation was being ended but then they would have had to justify that either by saying that our memory was less than dangerous or that there werent enough personnel but that would have meant asking for help from brandenburg or saxony or from the federal criminal Police Office or Domestic Intelligence but berlin always had to be the greatest they didnt want to say that they couldnt do it. If the police had continued to tell amery they might have soon caught him red handed. In a contact bar in berlin amery and his associates attacked a rival group of dealers. A private surveillance camera shows amery armed with a hammer. His companion is attacking with a knife. The investigators heard about the violent assault from wiretaps but again no immediate action was taken. A short while later berlin investigators put false entries in the files about their detailing of the drug dealer and potential terrorist. The case worker in charge claimed that quote the observation measures carried out in parallel did not reveal any dealing activities by amery this is true that is pretty strange it insinuates that the observation was continuing. That is also why a number of other investigations fizzled out am i was afraid that the police were after him for the knife attack he wanted to go to tennessee and the police found out about the travel plans from his tap cell phone they got a fix on him in a bus in southern Germany Federal Police stopped the bus and detained him. He was carrying two forged italian i. D. s. Amery was taken before a magistrate in a half inch book again he landed behind bars again only briefly the fake papers were not sufficient grounds to imprison him the court was not informed about his many other crimes and the suspicion of terrorism. In the us it was all its when their future attacker was presented to us that he appeared to be someone without prior convictions who hadnt committed any other crimes. Someone without a record. Thats how he was presented to us so based on this situation alone we couldnt justify any kind of lengthy imprisonment. In the haft. The minors is in my view that shouldnt have happened especially since it wasnt a surprise grab it was in the offing for hours on the uniformed Police Officers in berlin and north rhinewestphalia would have had the time to go down to friedrichs hafen and carry out an interrogation with all the knowledge that they have about. From a limb and this. Is my opinion there would have been a real chance of arresting him and putting him in pretrial detention afternoon another chance than detaining amery pending deportation was also squandered in raffensperger the reason was that there were no identity papers for amery from tunisia the country would only issue them if its citizens were unambiguously identified by finger and hand prints. And had long been planned in the joint Counterterrorism Center for a year the prints were there in the computer of the federal criminal Police Office and German Police but the Foreigners Registration Office in north rhinewestphalia commission with armories deportation was not told any of this. One anyone who needed these handprints or fingerprints could have searched in the system and would have found them if they had to search for them. But without the handprints and dance without the chance of an imminent deportation armory couldnt be locked up in preedy point ation custody so four months before the attack on floridas gave away two big opportunities to put the potential terrorist out of commission and he was set free. To go over there were other things there was i think he was stunned at being freed and how do you get the impression that he was absolutely euphoric. I think he saw himself as some have chosen though that in spite of his previous career he was let out of prison without any difficulties after two days. That was a key moment for him you know what it meant that even someone with a record like his or didnt necessarily face consequences in germany if youre meeting with tons of insulation was. For the last time travel to a marriage what he didnt know was that the police had been there before him the state criminal Police Office in north rhinewestphalia put pressure on administrators to turn a blind eye to am raise identity and social welfare fraud. Look im going to receive the information from state security that if he appeared here we should act normal and give him his money we paid out a check twice a month and on aug nineteenth he was here in. The state criminal Police Office left amery alone why at this point he was no longer useful to the officials as a source his group in helders Time Associated with the alleged ayers leader abu allah had been busted a few weeks later for suspected men were in pretrial detention but not hammering. Clearly alarmed by the raid he went into hiding in berlin. Around nine weeks before the attack the joint Counterterrorism Center was alerted again according to the Moroccan Secret Service armory was ranting about germany as the land of infidels the intelligence officials warn that armory was quote carrying out a project. That should have been a red flag everyone should have been extremely alarmed by that message that would normally have been the point where one would have ramped up the observation again. The word project is very unspecific what was that supposed to mean it could be leaving the country it could be anything a term like project could turn out to be something very banal all and ordinary. So the joint Counterterrorism Center only agrees to make a further inquiry even though berlin state criminal Police Officer internally admitted that for weeks it no longer had amery under control no manhunt was started later attempts were made to explain that. There was the drug dealing he consumed drugs to. He wants pornographic films and lots of other things that did not really give the impression of a person who out of deep religious convictions is planning an attack. Or. In view of the nov twenty fifth dean attacks in paris which were carried out by drug dealing criminals and the july twenty sixth seen lori attack in nice also by a drunk taker that attempt to justify inaction comes as a surprise this is. A credible contradiction. On the one hand the notion that he is showing the havior. And on the other hand the file that says on the contrary that hes still or even increasingly moving along the violent spectrum. Doesnt go together. Inspect the good of this post i thought it was on. The place had not just dropped the observation but a short time later also stopped the telephone surveillance precisely the phone number that armory probably later used to send his video claiming responsibility the same number under which he chatted with his eye as instructed on the day of the attack again a last chance to apprehend the terrorist. Just eight weeks before the attack there was hectic activity in north rhinewestphalia good morning but then i am responsible for the support of. Who is classified as a dangerous person and i have a question about his main place of residence there was no answer from berlin. Where was hammering back question was still tormenting investigators in north rhinewestphalia just six days before the attack because on that day amery again head in the eye as mosque in berlin he had already long been preparing for his attack he was filmed in front of the mosque by the state criminal Police Offices hidden surveillance camera but the images were no longer being analyzed. Nor was the mosque being wiretapped although that was legally possible. The state knew that the mosque was a kind of center of the movement in berlin it should have interfered. If the state knows that their interest people are going in and out of a mosque it cant be content with following them up to the door and allowing an extra legal place to exist behind it also outside and inside the mosque the state has the duty to prevent crimes observe potential terrorists and ensure that its citizens are protected. December the eighteenth nine pm twenty three hours before the attack in this restaurant matter close associate tunisian bilel been a top dangerous person who was under investigation on suspicion of terrorism images from a private surveillance camera show an intense conversation between the two. Still six weeks after the attack this son spanked and probably most important witness was deported according to the federal Prosecutors Office there were no charges against him only after the deportation did investigators analyze the photos on his cell phone. It seems that a half year before the attack friends scouted out the site where it was to happen. An internal analysis by the federal criminal Police Office says he took photos which in view of the photographers special perspective give the impression that here the latest site of the attack was being reckon ordered. What the photo showed were eligible weak points lack of barriers the rapid deportation of amritsar associate is in comprehensible to the victims lawyer. The lesson is done on. Maybe not so unusual if there was a particular interest in protecting someone. We still dont know if he was in. Informant rolled for a service and that he might have been moved abroad to protect a school and the shops are set up as a one as well and also want to work hard but english and fifty four minutes before the attack im really laugh to mask for the last time probably after getting a blessing for the mission near the mosque the hijacked the lorry without being observed and shot the driver. A short time later eleven others were dying including astrid passons father. Your thoughtful i put it what i expect from policymakers is for them to finally show responsibility for them to admit that the state failed completely and for one time we are the ones who pay the price for that it claim twelve victims unnecessarily for that this happens i understand. Most of the author orators in agencies and ministry has refused our request for interviews for this film in most cases they cited beyond going investigation. Kickoff the last day of play before the winter break. A drill was primed for its new when the child to school in last minute equalising goal on defense it could almost taste big trade. Finally convinced us to win of a season the team heads into the winter break up to the success against bus books. Including. Douglas. Its all happening. Pretty. Sure linked to news from africa and the world. Your link to inception stories and discussions opinion will come to student news after killing program tonight from for an examination from the news of these each i would say d w dot com stuff africa come join us on facebook at g. W. Africa. Meet the germans new and Surprising New aspects of noise and culture in germany. U. S. American kid takes a look at germany idiosyncrasies the two traditions every day lives and language doesnt just come out of. So im ok im good jim. Nicholson street guy a bunch d. W. Dot com the germans. Move. Move move move move move move. This is c w news live from girl in honoring the victims of the terror attack at bloods a somber ceremony in the heart of the citys mayor unveils a memorial to the twelve People Killed when the