On February 19, 2020, Ferhat Unvar, Said Nesar Hashemi, Vili Viorel Păun, Mercedes Kierpacz, Sedat Gürbüz, Kaloyan Velkov, Fatih Saraçoğlu, Gökhan Gültekin and Hamza Kurtović were murdered by a right-wing terrorist. They were remembered nationwide on Thursday.

Hamburg

In Hamburg, numerous rallies with thousands of people took place to commemorate the Hanau victims. Especially on St. Pauli, in Arrivati Park, on Feldstraße, at Millerntorplatz and in the Karoviertel, countless people came together. But also on the Veddel, in Willhelmsburg and other places the victims of the racist attack were commemorated. In the Karoviertel, streets were symbolically named after those murdered.

At Feldstraße, a statement by families and survivors of the Hanau murders was read out.

The February 19 Initiative complains that only they and journalists have investigated, the authorities have contributed almost nothing to the clarification of unresolved issues. Politicians talk a lot about a turning point, but this has by no means been achieved and must be fought for from below.

Serpil Temiz Unvar, the mother of Ferhat Unvar, presented the educational initiative bearing her son's name in an audio message. Numerous signs with the faces and names of the nine victims were held up, and their names were called out again and again.

Rapper Aksu's song, "Tell me, where were you when they came, took them from us?" was sung by people at the rally on an emotional level.

Cohesion of families’ initiatives

Naomi Henkel-Gümbel, survivor of the anti-Semitic attack in Halle, said at the rally in Hamburg that Jewish culture would not have survived without the memory of those murdered. She declared her solidarity with the relatives of those killed in Hanau, as did Jewish artist Talya Feldman.

Candan Yilmaz Özer, the widow of a victim of the racist attack in Cologne's Keupstraße, Attila Özer, reported about the daily racist death threats she has to experience until today. Regarding the collaboration of the judiciary with the murderers of the NSU, she called on the rally participants: "Raise your children to become judges, for example, who don't lock away files for 100 years."

Relatives of the victims of the racist attack in Mölln, Faruk and Ibrahim Arslan, Canan, the niece of Semra Ertan, Gulistan Avci, the wife of Ramazan Avci, who was murdered by right-wing extremist skinheads in Hamburg in 1985, and Osman Taşköprü, the brother of Süleyman Taşköprü who was murdered by the NSU in Hamburg, also expressed their solidarity with the relatives and friends of the victims of Hanau.

The commemoration of Hanau victims in Hamburg was militant and the participation of a large crowd of people, shows that the relatives and friends have managed to show despite the worldwide paralysis by the pandemic: Hanau is everywhere and everywhere people are standing up against it.

Bielefeld

A rally was held in Bielefeld in memory of the victims of the right-wing terrorist attack in Hanau. The rally began at 5 pm at the Kesselbrink. Preparations for the rally took place on a large scale: Numerous left-wing groups in Bielefeld mobilized for it and jointly called for participation.

The rally began with the official welcome of all participants. This was followed by speeches from "Rise up for justice", Bir-Kar, Bündnis gegen Rechts and Antinationale Linke. After a minute of silence, there were further speeches by Café Exil, TCŞ/TEKO-JIN, Jewish University Group and Revolutionary Youth.

In their speeches, the organizations referred to state sponsorship of racist violence, the complicity of state authorities and political parties in the right-wing terrorist attack in Hanau, "everyday racism" in Germany and racism as a cause of flight, the criminalization of left-wing activism, the free organization of right-wingers, and the history of right-wing terror in Germany.

They appealed for organized resistance. Playing sound recordings of families of the victims of the attack enabled the families from Hanau to bring their emotions, thoughts and demands to the wider society.

Up to 500 people took part in the rally, which ended at 7 pm. After the end, the moderators called for active organizing and referred to an anti-fascist city march through Bielefeld. Until this Sunday, text contributions and exhibitions about the assassination in Hanau can be viewed at the following locations in the city: Eulenspiegel Bookstore, IBZ, Kulturhaus, Kurdistan Center, Mädchentreff, Mondo, Potemkin, Rachid's Kitchen, Welthaus.

Celle

A memorial site was set up in Celle to mark the anniversary of the racist attack in Hanau. The pictures of Ferhat Unvar, Hamza Kurtović, Said Nesar Hashemi, Vili Viorel Păun, Mercedes Kierpacz, Kaloyan Velkov, Fatih Saraçoğlu, Sedat Gürbüz and Gökhan Gültekin were hung on a tree in Triftpark and candles and flowers were placed. A large banner pointed out the commemoration to anyone passing by. In the course of the day, more candles were added and many people stopped briefly on their way.

The initiators do not want the victims of racism to be forgotten, they emphasize the importance of remembering them: "The attack and also the perpetrator of Hanau were not an isolated case. Again and again people are murdered for racist reasons - a social context is denied. Racism in authorities and media leads to an environment that legitimizes or at least promotes racist acts of violence.”

“Obvious reference to conspiracy theories and racist ideology always remains without consequences or is played down. We want the problem of racism to be tackled more strongly in Celle as well. In doing so, we do not expect much from the government, but we must be part of the change ourselves. Because in capitalist patriarchy, racism is a basic building block that helps to divide society. We want to overcome this together and therefore we stand clearly and resolutely against racism and every form of discrimination. And the first step in this is to remember together and not to forget those who were murdered."

In addition, attention was drawn to the misogynistic worldview of the perpetrator of Hanau: "Before the perpetrator shot himself, he also murdered his mother, who was in need of care - that was a femicide. In many of the racist attacks, misogyny is part of the murderous ideology."

The location in Triftpark was deliberately chosen because 15-year-old Arkan Hussein Khalaf was also murdered in the immediate vicinity on April 7, 2020. In addition, next to the memorial site is the monument to those murdered in the Celle massacre of April 8, 1945, in which more than 170 concentration camp prisoners who escaped after a train bombing were murdered by the SS and parts of the Celle population.

The commemoration also makes direct reference to the "February 19 Hanau" Initiative, which has conducted research into the background of the attack and is helping to indict the state's culpability. The memorial will still be present for the weekend in the Triftpark in Celle.

Berlin

In Berlin, commemorative events took place on Leopoldplatz, Rathausplatz and Oranienplatz, with the participation of the Council of Free People from Kurdistan, DEST-DAN Women's Council, the Kurdish youth movements TCŞ and TEKO-JIN, Young Struggle, YXK, Migrantifa and numerous anti-fascist groups.

Duisburg

In Marxloh, a demonstration took place at August-Bebel-Platz, followed by a rally in Hamborn-Altmark.