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Pause and ceremony around the world today, as people remember the events of September 11, 2001. At Ground Zero, family members of some victims are the first who can now tour a museum honoring their loved ones, and the buildings where most of their remains were never found.
The museum is in what used to be a deli, just southwest of ground zero. Put together by victims' families themselves, the guides all have personal connections. The first gallery depicts the days before 911.
Its' not unusual for people who know the buildings and love the buildings to just walk in and burst into tears when they see the view from their window."
The museum's Kimberly Grieger says the second gallery, focuses on the attacks "starting with the 1993 attacks, and going through the events of September 11th itself." It includes some of the radio traffic, from some of the 340 plus firefighters who died in the towers.
Not far away, a woman, standing next to a wall, breaks into tears. "One wall is all blue to reflect the blue of the sky that morning," Grieger says. "And then gradually papers appear, as if they were flying from the towers as they did that morning. And then gradually the papers increase and increase, then you realize all the papers are missing posters."
Many posters include desperate pleas for information, one simply shows a victim's photo, with the words, please pray. Grieger has looked through them all. "Shawn Lugano's gets me the most, because he has this extrordinary smile, and he was a young man in his middle-20s. And you just see that flashing smile, and the big word 'MISSING' over it."
On the opposing wall, artifacts, part of the window from one of the airplanes, part of a twisted steel beam, a melted firefighter's helmet, and victim's personal effects, car keys, a Costco card, a cell phone. It isn't an easy sight for people like Sally Rubenstein. "It takes you right back. It's as thought five years have not transpired."
Rubenstein's brother, Gerald Paskins, was in the towers, for a three day business trip. She was moved by the thousands of victim's personal photos, at the end. "They're all beautiful people," she says.
"You'll see smiling faces, and wedding pictures, and people playing with their kids," says Grieger. She hopes it will be a place to help many people heal. But like the gaping hole where the towers once stood, she says there are still big holes in the hearts of many.
