1984 Duisburg arson attack

The Duisburg arson attack was an attack on a Turkish house in Duisburg, Germany in 1984.[1] It was the first arson attack on a Turkish migrant family in Duisburg and Germany.[2]

1984 Duisburg arson attack
LocationDuisburg
Date26 August 1984
Attack type
arson
Deaths7 (including 4 children)
Injured23
PerpetratorsEvelin D.
Motivedisputed

In the 1980s, there was several attacks on migrants in Germany.[3]

It was reported in local and regional media that the fire spread quickly throughout the building from the ground floor through the wooden staircase of the old building.[1] Seven members of the Satır family died,[4] and 23 people were wounded. Only the two daughters of the family managed to flee by jumping out of the window, and were seriously injured.[5] The father Ramazan Satır, who was not at the house, was unharmed.[2] The victims were Döndü Satır, (40), Zeliha and Rasim Turhan (18) and their son Tarık Turhan (1 month), Çiğdem Satır (7), Ümit Satır (5) and Songül Satır (4).[6] The family was originally from Adana, Turkey,[7] and they were buried in the village of Köprülü in Ceyhan.[1]

The case was closed in 1996 when Evelin D. was identified as the perpetrator. She was the perpetrator of another previous attack in Duisburg in 1993 on a migrant family as well. She was a pyromaniac, which caused the court to drop the possibility of the attacks being racially motivated. However the victims and activist organizations have claimed that the attack was caused by xenophobia.[2][7][8]

The short film Made in Germany 3 was inspired by the event.[9] The “Initiative Duisburg 1984” organization founded in 2018 has the aim to bring the forgotten arson attack back into the public consciousness.[10] The attack was commemorated in 2019, and a podcast was made with the survivors.[6][7]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Yılmaz, Enise (2020-08-25). "Duisburg Wanheimerort Saldırısı: Irkçı Kundaklama ve Unutulan Yedi İsim". Perspektif (in Turkish). Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  2. ^ a b c Bilgü, İlhan (2021-07-02). "Almanya'da Irkçı Saldırıların Kronolojisi: Cinayetler, Kundaklamalar, Silahlı Baskınlar!". Camia (in Turkish). Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  3. ^ "Racist violence in West Germany before 1990 – Centre for Analysis of the Radical Right". Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  4. ^ Foundation, Roma (2023-08-21). "Duisburg: Forgotten". rroma.org. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  5. ^ "35 yıldır acımız dinmiyor". Sabah (in Turkish). Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  6. ^ a b "Fighting for memory as a tour de force – Şahin Çalışır – Doing Memory". Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  7. ^ a b c Nogueira, Nogueira, Katarzyna. "Guest Workers" in Mining: Historicising the Industrial Past in the Ruhr region from the Bottom Up?" (PDF). Zeitschrift für Biographieforschung, Oral History und Lebensverlaufsanalysen. 31 (2).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ Kluhs, Johanna-Yasirra; Rodonò, Aurora; Saavedra-Lara, Fabian; Tanç, Nesrin (2021). What we can relate to. StrzeleckiBooks. ISBN 978-3-946770-89-3.
  9. ^ "International Short Film Festival Oberhausen Made in Germany 3 - WDDS Cyprus". www.wddscyprus.com. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  10. ^ "Initiative Duisburg 1984". www.inidu84.de. Retrieved 2024-02-18.