Did Wikipedia remove the word "jihad" from the Hamburg cell article?

Yes. "jihad" appeared 4 times in this article's opening at its peak. Today the opening has none; the body has 12. We saved the article's opening paragraph at 7 moments between 2005 and 2026, and the counts come from those saved copies.

When did the Hamburg cell article stop using the word "jihad"?

The word appeared 4 times in the opening at its peak in 2005. It is absent from today's opening, the part search engines quote and AI systems train on, checked against the live article on 2026-08-01.

How can I verify what Wikipedia's Hamburg cell article used to say?

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What did Wikipedia remove from the Hamburg cell article?

The opening as it read in 2005

Hamburg cell was, according to U.S. and German intelligence agencies, a group of radical Islamists that included students who eventually came to be key operatives in the 9/11 attacks .¹ Important members included Mohamed Atta al Sayed , who led the four hijacking teams in 2001 and piloted American Airlines Flight 11 ; Ramzi Binalshibh , who conspired with the other three members but was unable to enter the United States ; Marwan al-Shehhi , who piloted United Airlines Flight 175 ; and Ziad Jarrah , who piloted United Airlines Flight 93 . Less important members included Said Bahaji , Zakariya Essabar , Mounir el Motassadeq , and Abdelghani Mzoudi .² On November 1 , 1998 , future-hijackers Mohammed Atta al Sayed , Marwan al-Shehhi , and Ramzi Binalshibh moved into a large four-bedroom apartment together on Marienstraße. Here they formed the secretive Hamburg cell, which also included Said Bahaji , Zakariyah Essabar , Mounir el Motassadeq , Abdelghani Mzoudi , and others. They met together three or four times a week to discuss their anti-American and anti-Semitic views, and to decide how best to fight for their cause. As late as 1999 , the four core members of the group had intended to wage jihad in Chechnya , where Islamic jihadists were then and are now rebelling against the parent country of Russia . The 9/11 Commission Report notes in Chapter 5 that "according to Binalshibh [who is now in U.S. custody], a chance meeting on a train in Germany caused the group to travel to Afghanistan instead. An individual named Khalid al Masri approached Binalshibh and Shehhi (because they were Arabs with beards, Binalshibh thinks) and struck up a conversation about jihad in Chechnya. When they later called Masri and expressed interest in going to Chechnya, he told them to contact Abu Musab in Duisburg , Germany. Abu Musab turned out to be Mohamedou Ould Slahi , a significant al-Qaeda operative who, even then, was well known to U.S. and German intelligence, though neither government apparently knew he was operating in Germany in late 1999." When Binalshibh and Shehhi visited Slahi in Duisburg, he convinced them that it would be best to train in Afghanistan first, because further experience would be useful, and anyway it was difficult at that time to get into Chechnya. Slahi instructed them to travel to Karachi , Pakistan , then to the Taliban office in Quetta , Afghanistan, where they were to contact a man named Umar al Masri. Atta and Jarrah left Hamburg during the last week of November , 1999. Shehhi left by himself around the same time; Binalshibh followed two weeks later. "Umar al Masri" turned out to be a nonexistent person. The name was a code word that instructed members of the Taliban office to escort the men to Kandahar , where they were convinced to join the al-Qaeda network and wage jihad against America . They met with Osama bin Laden himself and swore their loyalty to him. Mohamed Atta al Sayed was chosen by Bin Laden as the leader of the group that would attack America; Atta would contact Bin Laden several more times before the attacks. The men then returned to Germany to enroll in flight training school, and later moved on to flight training schools in the United States at the recommendation of one of their German instructors. The members of the Hamburg Cell were a boon to the 9/11 plot, which Khalid Shaikh Mohammed had proposed to Bin Laden in 1996 . The Hamburg students were fluent in English, educated, accustomed to the Western lifestyle, radically Islamic, and capable of learning to pilot aircraft. "Bin Laden and Mohammed Atef wasted no time in assigning the Hamburg group to the most ambitious operation yet planned by al-Qaeda," the 9/11 Commission Report says. Many al-Qaida members lived in the Hamburg apartment at various times. In all, 29 men listed the apartment as their home address while Mohamed Atta's name was on the lease. Reportedly, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed visited the apartment repeatedly. German intelligence monitored the apartment, but did not find any evidence against the residents. The CIA and German Intelligence have been widely criticized for failing to share information on these and other al-Qaida members.³

This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 16665803.

The opening as it stood in 2010 24 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear

Mohamed Atta The Hamburg cell ( ) was, according to U.S. and German intelligence agencies, a group of radical Islamists that included students who eventually came to be key operatives in the 9/11 attacks . Important members included Mohamed Atta , who led the four hijacking teams in 2001 and piloted American Airlines Flight 11 ; Ramzi Binalshibh , who conspired with the other three members but was unable to enter the United States ; and Marwan al-Shehhi , who piloted United Airlines Flight 175 . Less important members included Said Bahaji , Zakariya Essabar , Mounir el Motassadeq , and Abdelghani Mzoudi . Ziad Jarrah , who piloted United Airlines Flight 93 , and failed to hit the United States Capitol is also sometimes listed in the Hamburg cell.

Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 363519356.

The opening as it stood in 2015

( Learn how and when to remove this message ) Mohamed Atta The Hamburg cell ( ) or Hamburg terror cell ( ) was, according to U.S. and German intelligence agencies, a group of radical Islamists based in Hamburg , Germany that included students who eventually came to be key operatives in the 9/11 attacks . Important members included Mohamed Atta , who led the four hijacking teams in 2001 and piloted American Airlines Flight 11 ; Ramzi bin al-Shibh , who conspired with the other three members but was unable to enter the United States ; and Marwan al-Shehhi , who piloted United Airlines Flight 175 , Ziad Jarrah , who piloted United Airlines Flight 93 and failed to hit a target in Washington D.C. , claimed by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to have been the Capitol . Less important members included Said Bahaji , Zakariya Essabar , Mounir el-Motassadeq , and Abdelghani Mzoudi .

Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 667254174.

The opening as it stood in 2020

( Learn how and when to remove this message ) The Marienstraße in Hamburg , where Mohamed Atta lived from 1998 to 2001. The Hamburg cell ( ) or Hamburg terror cell ( ) was, according to U.S. and German intelligence agencies, a group of radical Islamists based in Hamburg , Germany that included students who eventually came to be key operatives in the 9/11 attacks . Important members included Mohamed Atta , who led the four hijacking teams in 2001 and piloted American Airlines Flight 11 ; Ramzi bin al-Shibh , who conspired with the other three members but was unable to enter the United States ; Marwan al-Shehhi , who piloted United Airlines Flight 175 ; and Ziad Jarrah , who piloted United Airlines Flight 93 and failed to hit a target in Washington, D.C. (claimed by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to have been the Capitol ). Other members included Said Bahaji , Zakariya Essabar , Mounir el-Motassadeq , and Abdelghani Mzoudi .

Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 877111171.

The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023

Group of radical Islamists based in Hamburg, Germany ( Learn how and when to remove this message ) The Marienstraße in Hamburg , where Mohamed Atta lived from 1998 to 2001. The Hamburg cell ( ) was, according to U.S. and German intelligence agencies, a group of radical Islamists based in Hamburg , Germany , that included students from different Arab countries who eventually came to be key operatives in the 9/11 attacks . Important members included Mohamed Atta , who led the four hijacking teams in 2001 and piloted American Airlines Flight 11 ; Ramzi bin al-Shibh , who conspired with the other three members but was unable to enter the United States ; Marwan al-Shehhi , who piloted United Airlines Flight 175 ; and Ziad Jarrah , who piloted United Airlines Flight 93 and failed to hit a target in Washington, D.C. (claimed by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to have been the Capitol ). Other members included Said Bahaji , Zakariya Essabar , Mounir el-Motassadeq , and Abdelghani Mzoudi .

Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1177861402.

The opening as it stood in 2025 3 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear

Important members included Mohamed Atta , who led the four hijacking teams in 2001 and piloted American Airlines Flight 11 ; Ramzi bin al-Shibh , who conspired with the other three members but was unable to enter the United States ; Marwan al-Shehhi , who piloted United Airlines Flight 175 ; and Ziad Jarrah , who piloted United Airlines Flight 93 and failed to hit a target in Washington, D.C. . Other members included Said Bahaji , Zakariya Essabar , Mounir el-Motassadeq , and Abdelghani Mzoudi .

Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1278685584.

The opening as it stood in 2026 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear

Group of radical Islamists in Germany Further information: Planning of the September 11 attacks "The Hamburg Cell" redirects here. The cell planned the 11 September attacks in Mohamed Atta 's apartment on Marienstraße (Marien Street) in Hamburg The Hamburg cell ( German : Hamburger Zelle ; Arabic : خلية هامبورغ , Khaliyyat Hāmbūrġ ) was a terrorist cell of Islamist extremists living in Hamburg , Germany, around the late 1990s. They helped plan al-Qaeda 's terrorist attacks against the United States on 11 September 2001 (9/11), in which 19 men hijacked four airliners to try to crash them into American landmarks. In 1999, the cell left Hamburg to join the Chechen jihadists fighting Russia in the Second Chechen War , but redirected to Afghanistan to meet al-Qaeda's leadership. They then worked on the hijacking plan at a Hamburg apartment owned by the cell's ringleader, Mohamed Atta . Twelve men were members: Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi , and Ziad Jarrah —who died as the hijacker-pilots of American Airlines Flight 11 , United Airlines Flight 175 , and United Airlines Flight 93 , respectively—plus Abdelghani Mzoudi , Ahmed Taleb, Mamoun Darkazanli , Mohammed Haydar Zammar , Mounir el-Motassadeq , Naamen Meziche , Ramzi bin al-Shibh , Said Bahaji , and Zakariya Essabar . As the cell dissolved and 9/11 was carried out, four members disappeared in Afghanistan and Pakistan, while the others were captured or arrested in various countries. Most were imprisoned, while Mzoudi was acquitted, and bin al-Shibh and Darkazanli never faced full trials. The U.S. accused Mohamedou Ould Slahi , a Mauritanian businessman, of helping the cell visit al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. He was arrested, sent to the U.S. detention camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, and tortured by camp officials . After 14 years, he was freed when a court found him to be innocent. Bin al-Shibh, held at Guantanamo for 19 years, was also tortured there.

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