The funeral of Ferhat Ünvar took place in Hanau on Monday. He was one of the nine young people who were murdered in a racist attack by a German on 19 February.

Before the funeral, the relatives met with other mourners at the Heinrich Heine School in Kesselstadt. Flowers were placed on a table with photos of the deceased.

Afterwards, the funeral took place in the main cemetery with a high level of attendance. The mayor of Hanau, Claus Kaminsky, gave a speech. In further speeches measures against the increasing fascism in Germany were demanded.

Ünvar's mother Serpil Temiz told ANF that her son had been born and raised in Germany, saying that he had been at home here. "My child is dead. All I want now is that he and the others did not die in vain. I have other children, there are other young people. I don't want them to die because of racism. For my son, this was his land. He was a Kurd, but he saw himself as German. Was he murdered out of xenophobia? He wasn't a foreigner. Please, no more young people should die. I'm really very afraid of this. Something must be done."

Mercedes Kierpacz laid to rest in Offenbach

On the other hand, the funeral service for 35-year-old Mercedes Kierpacz, mother-of-two, also took place today at the Mülheim Hauptfriedhof in Offenbach. The woman, mother of two, had been shot dead last Wednesday together with four other people in a kiosk in the Kesselstadt district of Hanau. Several hundred people participated in the funeral service. Relatives and friends said goodbye to the woman of Romany Polish descent, who was also a German citizen.