This is a podcast about some of the most spectacular terrorist attacks in history. In this podcast, I tell the stories of the terrorists, their victims and the consequences for the survivors and society. About people who will sacrifice their own lives or the lives of others for a political, economic, religious or social goal. Who was behind it, who did they want to hit, and why. My name is Natasja, and I am a journalist with a Master's in Middle Eastern Studies. Unfortunately, I have experie ...
…
continue reading
" They were quick at killing. It did not take them very long, and they said nothing while they were doing it. They killed all 26. I was horrified. I knew all these people. They were my family, my friends, my neighbors. When they finished I slipped away and went to my home, where I sat trembling all over." It was Christmas Day, 25 December 2008. Chr…
…
continue reading
The young man stood at the bus stop and waited. He was wearing a full military uniform and had an M16 rifle over his shoulder. His beard was long, and on either side of his face, two dark, curly locks of hair hung and caressed his cheeks. On his head, he wore a kippah, a hemispherical traditional Jewish skull cap often worn by ultra-Orthodox Jewish…
…
continue reading
Every year, on the 14th of July, thousands of people pour into the streets of France. France's National Day, also called Bastille Day, is celebrated here. It is considered the starting point for the French Revolution, which started on the 14th of July 1789 and has been celebrated every year since. The day is celebrated all over France, and in the w…
…
continue reading
The young Dane sat naked in the military tent while the scornful comments poured down on Ham. The year was 2001 and he was in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan. The man was bound with chains on his hands and feet. He could do nothing about the soldiers' disgusting comments, or when they began to shave off his hair and long beard. It was hum…
…
continue reading
Jordan and Andre Anchondo had a busy morning. The couple, who had just celebrated their first wedding anniversary, had invited friends and family to their eldest daughter Skylin's 6th birthday that day. It was Saturday, 3 August 2019. When they dropped off their daughter for cheerleading practice, they drove towards the local supermarket Walmart in…
…
continue reading
The elderly Arab man tried to catch his breath as he made himself as small as possible in the cramped, smelly drain he had taken refuge in. Sweat ran down his face and his khaki pants and shirt were soaked with sweat. Perhaps he knew even then that all hope was lost. Maybe he did not even think about it in the few moments he was alone on the phone.…
…
continue reading
1
The assassination of Italy's John F. Kennedy
32:12
32:12
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
32:12
On Via Fani, a downward-sloping hill in northern Rome, Italy, four small, angular Fiat cars were parked. In the cars sat men and women wearing crew uniforms belonging to the staff of the Italian airline Alitalia. It was 08:45 on the morning of March 16, 1978. The sun was shining and the weather forecast predicted a pleasant day with temperatures up…
…
continue reading
The sultan straightened his uniform. Then he put his ribbons across his uniform, attached his medals, and finally donned his red fez. Then he took one last look at himself in the mirror before heading out of the palace to the horse-drawn carriage that would take him to the Yildiz Mosque for the weekly Friday prayer. It was July 21, 1905, in Istanbu…
…
continue reading
US District Court Judge Raymond Dearie sat behind the raised judge’s table in the Eastern District of New York. The 74-year-old former prosecutor looked down at the case file before him and then raised his gaze, which he directed at a dark-haired, South Asian-looking man in his early 30s. So said the judge “Is this the same Mr Zazi I saw many years…
…
continue reading
It was August 1 2009, in Israel's largest city, Tel Aviv. The weather was over 30C, even though it was approaching 11pm. The Aguda building Bar-Noar, which housed the Tel Aviv Gay and Lesbian Association, is a restored Bauhaus building in Meir Park in the city centre. As always, the centre was attended by gay teenagers who participated in social ac…
…
continue reading
It was Saturday, June 22, 1985, at 13:30 in the afternoon in the city of Vancouver in Canada. The phone rang at the Air India ticket office. "Hello. It is "Manjit Singh". I would like to confirm that my bookings on Air India Flight 181/182”. The friendly employee at the office informed him that he was still on the waiting list and offered him a num…
…
continue reading
Friday morning, July 19, 1946, three men stood and talked in a building in Jerusalem’s Bukharian quarter. These four were briefed first because their plan for a terrorist attack on the hotel required them to arrive first. The other members who were to take part in the attack, the exact number of which is unknown, would gather later. One of them jum…
…
continue reading
25-year-old Marc Lépine sat on the floor before the university secretary’s office. He was on the 2nd floor of the École Polytechnique, a three-story engineering school affiliated with the Université de Montréal in Montreal, Canada. He had arrived shortly before this Wednesday, 6 December 1989. Marc Lépine rummaged a little in a plastic bag. He look…
…
continue reading
An eight-year-old boy was walking home through the dark streets of Belfast in the biting evening chill. On his way home, he passed the family-owned pub McGurk's, which was a popular meeting place for many of the locals in the New Lodge area of the Northern Irish capital. The moment he passed the pub, he saw a man wearing a dark overcoat and a mas…
…
continue reading
1
The terrorist, who lost the battle, but won the war
45:52
45:52
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
45:52
It was five o'clock in the morning on November 20, 1979. The ageing Imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca was preparing for the day's prayer meeting. Meanwhile, the mosque's courtyard, where the audience could follow the day's ceremony, was slowly filling up. Many had spent the night on brought blankets in several of the mosque's thousands of rooms. Bu…
…
continue reading
It was 9.10 AM in the American city of Oklahoma City. The city was waking up, and the citizens were going about their everyday routines. Families were handing over their children in daycare and heading to work. But an ordinary morning was soon to develop into the biggest nightmare. A nearly six-foot-tall, lanky man with a narrow face and dark blond…
…
continue reading