THURSDAY, June 13, 2002, Hamburg, Germany — There’s nothing out of the ordinary about 54 Marienstrasse in the Harburg section of this waterfront city except for one thing: how nice it is. Yet this four-story apartment building was home to the " House of Followers, " and the living space for Mohamed Atta, Said Bahaji, and Ramyi Binalshibh, who helped plan — and in Atta’s case, helped execute — the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Contrary to the image I had of the so-called Hamburg cell of Al Qaeda, this building does not lie in the heart of a dense Muslim section of Hamburg, with mosques and Halal meat shops on every corner (neighborhoods that exist elsewhere in Germany). No, in feeling, atmosphere, and demographics, Harburg is actually somewhat more upscale than the gentrified parts of Cambridge and Somerville. The population is a mix of native-born Germans and immigrants from Northern Portugal. Just around the corner from Atta’s house is a quaint Portuguese bakery-cafe, where you can buy sweet pastries and café au lait; it's somewhat reminiscent of O Cantino on Cambridge Street.

The residents of this closely-knit neighborhood — at least those who patronize the Portuguese café — had little interest in discussing Atta and company. One 12-year-old boy insisted he wasn’t scared. His grandmother quieted him when he began to tell how his father recognized Atta. On the campuses of the nearby Harburg-Hamburg Technical University, things were even stranger. Room Number 10, where Atta prayed, is in an obscure student center. The room itself is in a narrow hallway next to the headquarters of other student groups. An Evangelical Christian group is across from Room 10. A member of the Cameroon Students Society, while watching World Cup soccer, nonchalantly confirms that this was Atta’s former headquarters.

The Hamburg cell is in the news today. German officials told the Washington Post that the man who recruited Atta, Haydar Zammar, has slipped from their grasp. German officials first had Zammar in custody, but let him go for lack of evidence. Zammar headed first to Morocco and then to parts unknown. Germany is also under fire for refusing to share with the US key evidence involving Zaccarias Moussaoui, the 20th hijacker. Investigators believe Binalshibh, who also lived at 54 Marinestrasse, helped finance Moussaoui, now in American custody. The Germans will only turn over evidence if they can be assured that Moussaoui will not be given the death penalty on the basis of their evidence.

If the ambivalent mood surrounding Atta’s former domicile and the tepidness of German cooperation with the US investigation are any indication, something less than " unconditional solidarity, " the phrase Gerhard Schroeder used to describe Germany’s status regarding the US after September 11, is going on here. It’s widely recognized here that while Germany and the US have much in common as Western nations — and the Germans have a considerable number of troops in Afghanistan — the country, like others in Europe, remains critical of American power.

As for Atta and company, their activities call to mind a book relating to another era of German history, Hannah Arendt’s Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, about the trial of S.S. officer Adolf Eichmann, who headed up the Jewish section of the Gestapo. The outward trappings of Atta’s existence in Hamburg — from his home to the student center — were thoroughly ordinary. That this man was capable of performing such ghastly acts raises questions that go far beyond the realm of journalism. Outside of Room 10, I got the chills. I take solace only in the probability that I will never again have to return to Atta's ghostly environs.