A quiet stillness descended on the small town of Haltern in northern Germany yesterday evening. As dusk fell, the only sound was the soft hum of cars making their way respectfully towards Joseph Koenig Gymnasium, the school which lost 16 students and two teachers in yesterday's plane crash.
By yesterday evening, the school had become a focal point for a town – and a country’s – collective grief. Outside, a display of candles and roses encapsulated the sense of grief and disbelief that has engulfed Germany since news of the downing of Germanwings Flight 4U9525 in the French Alps.
Outside the school yesterday evening, small groups of teenagers gathered, wheeling their bicycles and talking quietly, as the international media kept a distance.
A steady stream of parents and friends filed towards the front of the school, its entrance incongruously illuminated by the light of the candles.
“In stiller Anteilnahme [In deepest sympathy], Klasses 9A/9C” said one card, one of the few verbal expressions of grief in what was an incredibly dignified response to one of the worst tragedies in recent German history.
Just as the staff in Düsseldorf Airport, 80km south of Haltern, had ensured that desperate family members arriving to the airport yesterday afternoon were shielded from the glare of the media, as they were shepherded into an adjacent building, the community in Haltern displayed a quiet privacy as they gave expression to their grief yesterday evening.
One mother described how she had come to the school to show solidarity with the parents who had lost children in the plane crash. “I wanted to come to show support, to show that we share their anguish.”
She knew at least one of the children on board, she said, as she hugged her 15-year-old son close. Though he attended another school in the town, he had grown up with many of those who had travelled to Spain on the school exchange trip, and had himself participated in a similar school exchange programme to Spain last year.
Earlier, the mayor of the picturesque town of 37,000 people, nestled in a wooded area in the heart of the industrial heartland of northern Germany, described the events as “the blackest day in the history of our town”.
“The feeling of shock is palpable everywhere. This is the worst thing you can imagine,” said Bodo Klimpel.
Chancellor Angela Merkel is due to visit the crash site today. With her characteristic brevity of expression, the chancellor succeeded in capturing the mood of the nation yesterday.
“This is the hour in which we all feel deep sorrow,” she said simply, words that seemed to encapsulate the feelings of a people.