Editing Mohamed Atta (section)

===Academic studies===
At the Hamburg University of Technology, Atta studied under the guidance of the department chair, Dittmar Machule, who specialized in the Middle East.{{Sfn|McDermott|2005|p=24}} Atta was averse to modern development. This included the construction of [[high-rise building]]s in Cairo and other ancient cities in the region. He believed that the drab and impersonal [[Tower block|apartment blocks]], built in the 60s and 70s, ruined the beauty of old neighborhoods and robbed their people of privacy and dignity. Atta's family moved into an apartment block in 1990; it was to him but "a shabby symbol of Egypt's haphazard attempts to modernize and its shameless embrace of the West."<ref name="newsweek" /> For his thesis, Atta concentrated on the ancient Syrian city of [[Aleppo]]. He researched the history of the urban landscape in relation to the general theme of conflict between Arab and modern civilization. He criticized how the newfangled skyscrapers and other modernizing projects disrupted the fabric of communities by blocking common streets and altering the [[skyline]].

Atta's professor, Dittmar Machule, brought him along on an archaeological expedition to Aleppo in 1994.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/atta/interviews/machule.htm |title=Interview with Professor Dittmar Machule |publisher=ABC (Australia) |date=18 October 2001 |access-date=1 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080618213410/http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/atta/interviews/machule.htm |archive-date=18 June 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The invitation had been for a three-day visit, but Atta ended up staying several weeks that August, only to visit Aleppo yet again that December.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/atta/maps/europe/default.htm |title=A Mission to Die For – Europe Map |publisher=ABC (Australia) |date=18 October 2001 |access-date=1 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080930145530/http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/atta/maps/europe/default.htm |archive-date=30 September 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> While in Syria, he met Amal, a young [[Palestinian people|Palestinian]] woman who worked for a planning bureau in the city. Volker Hauth, who was traveling with Atta, described Amal as "attractive and self-confident. She observed Muslim customs, taking taxis to and from the office so as not to come into close physical contact with men on buses. But she was also said to be 'emancipated' and 'challenging'. Atta and Amal appeared to be attracted to each other, but Atta soon decided that "she had a quite different orientation and that the emancipation of the young lady did not fit." His nascent infatuation with her, begrudgingly realised, was the closest thing Atta knew to romance.<ref name="hooper"/>

In mid-1995, he stayed for three months in Cairo, on a grant from the Carl Duisberg Society, along with fellow students Volker Hauth and Ralph Bodenstein. The academic team inquired into the effects of redevelopment in the [[Islamic Cairo]], the old quarter, which the government undertook to remodel for [[Tourism in Egypt|tourism]]. Atta stayed in Cairo awhile with his family after Hauth and Bodenstein flew back to Germany.{{Sfn|McDermott|2005|pp=29–31}}{{Sfn|Corbin|2003|p=122}}

While in Hamburg, Atta held several positions, including a part-time job at the urban planning firm Plankontor beginning in 1992. He was let go from the firm in 1997, however, because its business had declined and "his draughtsmanship was not needed" after it bought a [[computer-aided design|CAD]] system.<ref name="hooper"/>{{Sfn|McDermott|2005|p=47}} Among other odd jobs to supplement his income, Atta sometimes worked at a cleaning company and sometimes bought and sold cars.<ref name="Washpost">{{cite news |title=A Fanatic's Quiet Path to Terror; Rage Was Born in Egypt, Nurtured in Germany, Inflicted on U.S. |newspaper=The Washington Post|date=22 September 2001 |author=Finn, Peter}}</ref> Atta had harbored a desire to return to his native city ever since he finished his studies in Hamburg, but he was prevented by the dearth of job prospects in Cairo, his family lacking the "right connections" to avail the customary [[nepotism]].<ref name="cbs-20030305">{{cite news |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-mastermind/ |title=The Mastermind |date=5 March 2003 |publisher=CBS News |access-date=16 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080930153018/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/10/09/60II/main524947.shtml |archive-date=30 September 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="prospect">{{cite news |url=http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=5362 |title=Portrait: Atta in Hamburg |work=Prospect |date=29 August 2002 |author=Lappin, Elena |access-date=16 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080930205629/http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=5362 |archive-date=30 September 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref> Further, after the Egyptian government had imprisoned droves of [[Activism|political activists]], he knew better than to trust it not to target him too, with his social and political beliefs being such as they were.{{Sfn|Corbin|2003|p=123}}