9/11 Family Room Opens to the Public

9/11 Family Room Opens to the Public

Danielle Ciupinski, Writer

Thirteen years ago marks a time of horror for many. For some people it’s just a memory, while for others it marks a time that they will never forget. For 13 years the families of the 9/11 attacks have had a special place just to call their own, but now it is being opened to the public for the first time.

A room 20 stories above the world trade center was created after the 9/11 attacks for the family members to be able to mourn alone. The room was also used by the families during bad weather and so they would not be stared at by those passing by outside in times of remembering there lost friends and family. The room is being called the family room, what started off as a place of mourning, was turned into a place where personal honors of their loved ones were being brought. Tributes were being put in all places; the walls, the floors, on top of tables, even on the windows “as to say; Jim and John and Jonathan and Harvey and Gary and Jean and Welles and Isaias and Katherine and Christian and Judy are all here, with us, not down there in the ruins.” (New York Times)

“What tower? What floor? That was the way other people saw our loved ones. It was adamantly not how we wanted to define our loved ones. The Family Room was the beginning of the storytelling that was controlled by the families,” said Nikki Stern who lost her husband James E. Potorti in the attacks. The room was closed when the National September 11th Memorial and Museum was opened but ended up being reconstructed at the New York State Museum in Albany, NY.

“It’s sad to know that they died so young. They deserved longer lives,” said ten year old Brooklynn Pariso.

“That’s what the museum and family members hope visitors get from the exhibit: an understanding of the scale and the depth of the loss.” (ny1.com)

If you are not able to visit the museum yourself you can take a look at the website and see all that the family has gone through (www.nysm.nysed.gov/familyroom)