A generation processes the September 11 attacks as history, not memory
From New York to New Zealand, people too young to remember 9/11 sent us voice notes of their stories. They described how they first learned about the attacks and how 9/11 continues to influence the way they see the United States and the world 25 years later.
Twenty-five years after the September 11, 2001, attacks, an entire generation has grown up with no memory of that day.
For some, parents or teachers first explained 9/11 — a day that left nearly 3,000 people dead. Others came to understand it through school, the internet or the wars and political upheaval that followed.
We asked people who were too young to remember the attacks to tell us what 9/11 means to them and how an event they didn't witness has shaped the world they grew up in. Here is what they told us.
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Tyler Yezermanski, New Haven, Connecticut, born in 2001
Born six months before 9/11, Yezermanski first learned about the attacks in first grade.
He later served in Afghanistan in 2021 during the final months of a war that had stretched across nearly his entire life — an experience that helped shape how he thinks about the day of the attacks, its legacy and the way it is still interpreted today.
Emani Labrew, New York City, born in 2001
Labrew remembers learning about 9/11 after seeing a YouTube video as a child and her mother explaining what happened that day.
Born and raised in New York City, she says it ingrained a feeling that she could "pretty much expect anything to happen" there — but above all else, she feels empathetic toward her city and the people who saw the attacks firsthand.
Utkarsh Bhatnagar, Hamburg, Germany, born in 2000
Bhatnagar says he understands 9/11 as the moment everything changed in terms of security and aviation.
While growing up in New Delhi, India, he did not seek out much information about the attacks, but he was later shaken by the images he saw in documentaries, which he credits for giving him a fuller picture of what happened.
He believes the way the US handled the aftermath is the reason "certain things are perceived the way they are now".
Jack Johnson, Chicago, Illinois, born in 2001
Two months old when 9/11 happened, Johnson sees it as the defining event of the 21st century in the United States, shaping the country's politics, polarisation, fear, and sense of national disunity long after the attacks themselves.
"I think that every single political trend in the United States in the 21st century can be traced back to that day," Johnson said.
Paige Mccusker, Altoona, Pennsylvania, born in 2003
With no personal memory of 9/11, McCusker says the attacks were simply something that was always part of growing up in the United States.
Her understanding deepened in fourth grade, when a teacher showed the class footage from the attacks.
One set of images still sticks out: Airports in older films and TV shows like "Gilmore Girls" look noticeably different.
Avery Turner, Louisville, Kentucky, born in 2007
Growing up after 9/11 means inheriting an America permanently changed by the attacks, Turner says.
With the wars that followed, including America's image to the rest of the world, a legacy that he does not believe his generation will ever escape.
Jasmine Corliss, Napier, New Zealand, born in 1995
Growing up in New Zealand, Corliss remembers hearing about 9/11 in bits and pieces until learning about it in more depth around 2009, when she went to high school.
She recalls her father telling her that after the attacks happened, he was called into his job to put fences around local water sources in her city in New Zealand — reinforcing how far the impact was felt.
