It is always the same...

What is so attractive about Hamburg? Ok, wrong question, I have moved here and I like it. "It is a city like no other". But before I start to ramble about the touristic qualities of my current hometown, I shall rephrase my question.

What makes Hamburg attractive for dubious figures?

I moved to Hamburg by taking the night train to Hamburg, arriving in Hamburg on September the 10th, 2001. It was quite an interesting first week at work. As my employer has rented an appartment for me, I had some time to look for a flat in Hamburg. And boy, while I was searching for something to rent, the police was searching for something, well, to search. For unknown reasons some people have decided that Hamburg was a base camp for an operation that should shock the world.

The fun I would have had, if I had rented the appartment of Atta. But I was lucky, as the Marienstraße is on the wrong side of the river Elbe. The police searched some other houses too, one about a km from my current flat, but I guess it was the typical alarmismus you see with the police.

Before 9/11, the worst you could rent was the flat of Fritz Honka, who has killed at least four people and hidden body parts in his flat. When people complained about the smell of decaying flesh, he blamed it on foreigners who have moved into the house and "are using strange spices when cooking". Yeah, blame it on the Arab, a game that seems familiar.

So, after the connection of 9/11 with Hamburg, it seems no surprise to me, that I was a couple of times quite near to the Erzbergerstraße 4 just last week. Strange, really strange. But as most of Polonium in Hamburg can be found in tabaco (which should be true for London as well) I am not worried. See this study about Polonium 210 in Polish cigarettes, it sounds strange but I am not making this up...