Sinjar My Soul, To You I Belong takes us on a journey into the culture and religion of the Yazidi (Ezidi) community in Sinjar after the genocide. Thousands of people were murdered in 2014 and more than 400,000 people were forced to flee their homes. In the wake of the recent wars in Ukraine and Israel/Gaza, the fate of the Yazidis (Ezidis) has received little public attention here. The series shows impressions of everyday life on the ground and gives a voice to people who hold on to their homeland.

The exhibition is based on the collaboration between photographer Miriam Stanke and anthropologist Benjamin Raßbach in spring 2021. Miriam Stanke is a freelance photographer and artist. In addition to her own photographic and multi-media projects, she works for magazines and newspapers as well as in the field of education. She currently lives and works in Mannheim.

Vernissage: Thursday, 7 November 2024, at 18.00

Finissage: Thursday, 12 December 2024, at 16.00

Location: Corridor of the Asia-Africa Institute of the University of Hamburg, Edmund Siemers-Allee 1, Flügelbau Ost, 2nd floor,

Organiser:

– German-Iranian Society in Northern Germany e. V., Hamburg
– Department of History and Culture of the Middle East (Iranian Studies) at the University of Hamburg

On 4 December, an event entitled “Femicide and the resistance of Yazidi (Ezidi) women” took place in Zurich. It was organised by Medico International Switzerland. The speakers were Awaz Abdi, a survivor of the genocide of the Yazidi (Ezidi) population, Maja Hess, President of Medico International Switzerland, and our representative Dr Leyla Ferman.

During the event, Dr Leyla Ferman explained how the Yazidi (Ezidi) society experienced the attack by the self-proclaimed Islamic State on 3 August 2014. The attack was followed by a genocidal femicide that shocked humanity worldwide. Our association Women for Justice e.V., whose work was also presented by Dr Leyla Ferman, was also founded on this basis.

The genocide of Yazidis (Ezidis) was also a targeted femicide. Yazidi (Ezidi) women were killed and raped by “IS” fighters, around 7,000 women and girls were abducted and exploited as slaves. Many of them have been freed, but around 2700 are still in captivity or are considered missing. Yazidi (Ezidi) women are resisting this violence. Today, they play a central role in building new social structures in Sinjar and are fighting internationally for justice and against oblivion.

On 28 November, FC St. Pauli and Women for Justice e.V. held a tree-planting campaign in memory of all Yazidis (Ezidis) who fell victim to the genocide in 2014 and the 2,600 women and children who are still missing today. The campaign is part of the “1 Tree 4 Sinjar” campaign, in which hundreds of trees and seedlings have already been donated and planted with women in Sinjar.

Our representative Dr Leyla Ferman explained the campaign: “Nature and especially trees are sacred to the Yazidis (Ezidis). For many survivors, rebuilding their homes is also a matter of justice. With the ‘1 Tree 4 Sinjar’ campaign, we want to commemorate thousands of murdered people and the 2,600 Yazidis (Ezidis) who are in captivity or are still missing. We are very pleased about the cooperation with FC St. Pauli, which is always strongly committed to diversity, peace and humanity. No to mass murders, racism and marginalisation. Yes to enlightenment, respect and togetherness.”

Luise Gottberg, Vice President of FC St. Pauli, emphasised the importance of the work of Women for Justice e.V. in supporting survivors in Europe and especially in Germany: “Many survivors need reliable information about their rights, especially with regard to family reunification.” FC St. Pauli would like to support this work and the commemoration of the crimes committed in 2014. “Systematic sexualised violence is a weapon that is used deliberately in many wars,” said Gottberg. In particular, the joint campaign sends out a signal against these crimes and in favour of humanity. FC St. Pauli will also use its Bundesliga home match against Holstein Kiel to draw attention to the week of action against violence against women.

Every year on 25 November, many people around the world take a stand against violence against women. So do we as Women for Justice e.V.

On this day, we would like to remember all murdered women and women affected by violence. It is the duty of all of us to end this violence in every place in the world – be it on the street, at home or in war.

A symbol of violence against women in its most brutal form is a mass grave near Sinjar City in Iraq.

In 2014, the so-called Islamic State committed genocide against the Yazidi (Ezidi) community in Sinjar. In order to make the specific form of violence against women visible, we also refer to these acts as genocide-femicide.

One testimony to this is a mass grave near Sinjar City, in which the bodies of 80 women and two babies were found. It bears witness to a massacre of women in which some of the bodies were buried alive. It bears witness to the mentality of the “Islamic State” that despises women and life.

2,600 women and children are still missing and suspected of being held captive by “IS”. The search for them must not stop.

Dozens of the more than 90 mass graves in Sinjar have still not been opened and/or exhumed. Families must be given the opportunity to bury their loved ones.

Attacks, mainly by Turkish drones, are still taking place in and on Sinjar. The Yazidi (Ezidi) community has a right to peace, the bombings must stop.

Ruptured Atlas (December 2023 – December 2024) is an innovative spatial architectural heritage of more-than-inhabitation project that employs creative, participatory mapping techniques to document the intricate and multi-layered built-environments and journeys of the Yazidis over the past ten years (since the 2014 Yazidi Genocide).

Our representative Dr Leyla Ferman took part in the project’s final symposium on 3 October.

Women for Justice e. V., the Interkulturelle Werkstatt e. V. and the Landeszentrale für politische Bildung Hamburg have organised a series of events in Hamburg entitled “Ten years after the genocide against the Yazidis (Ezidis) | Remembering – Coming to terms – Consequences”. The event formats are varied: Exhibitions, lectures, film screenings and discussion events. Some of them are organised in cooperation with other partners.

All dates and the idea behind the series of events can be viewed here.

On 3 August, AK Asyl held an information stand in Bielefeld. The occasion was the 10th anniversary of the genocidal femicide of the Yezidis in Shingal. Interested people took flyers and looked at the photo exhibition organised by the Kurdish university group in Bielefeld. The donations collected were handed over to Women for Justice and will be used for the organisation’s projects. Thank you very much for this!

In June, we organised a workshop on creating podcasts with Sina Reisch as a speaker. Together with Indigo, Sina Reisch makes the German-language podcast “Geschichte der kommenden Welten” and shared her knowledge and expertise with our members. In the coming months, two young Yazidi women from Women for Justice want to produce a podcast from their own perspective.

Members of Women for Justice exchanged ideas with the “Wiener Holocaust Library” about working with archives. The exchange is an important part of further developing the work on an archive regarding the genocidal femicide of the Yazidis (Ezidis), which was started 10 years ago by the self-proclaimed Islamic State.

The “Exhibition Panel: Archiving” ISIS can be viewed here.

“After `Die Sommer`, Ronya Othmann presents a contemporary testimony of international relevance with her second novel. She wants to find a form for the unspeakable, the genocide of the Ezidi population, the seventy-fourth, committed in 2014 in Shingal by IS fighters,” writes the Literaturhaus Hannover. Members of Women for Justice, including genocide-feminicide survivors, attended the reading in Hanover together.

There are several associations and institutions in Hamburg that are organising and implementing events and activities to mark the 10th anniversary of the genocide of the Yazidis (Ezidis) for one year from 3 August this year. The Hamburger Landeszentrale für politische Bildung (Hamburg State Agency for Civic Education), Women for Justice e.V. and IKW e.V. are the organisers.

As part of this focus, we want to plant trees in Hamburg together with others in memory of Yazidis (Ezidis) and their children who are still in “IS” captivity. The idea is to plant trees and life for them.

We understand meetings with female survivors as the basis of all our work. We have been meeting female survivors from Sinjar (Şengal) both as inviduals and in groups. Besides social care and legal advice, we try to find out methods to enable Yazidi (Ezidi) survivors to make their own decisions in life here in Germany.