This episode remembers Blanka Zmigrod, a holocaust survivor and business woman in Frankfurt. Our guests Ruben Gerzikow and Marina Schulz talk about the possibilities of remembering even many years after a violent act from the right, the diversity of Jewish life paths and the de-thematization of the right-wing ideology of the perpetrator, also on the part of the judiciary.
About the event
The Jewish woman and Shoa survivor Blanka Zmigrod is shot dead by a Swedish neo-Nazi on 23 February 1992 in Frankfurt am Main on her way home from work.
For a long time, little attention was paid to the murder of Blanka Zmigrod. It was not until 2018 that a court sentenced the perpetrator to life in prison. Recently there have been increased activities leading to the establishment of an official memorial site.
Literature, links and background information
Petition on change.org by Ruben Gerczikow
Laumer Lounge by Ruben Gerczikow and Monty Ott on Instagram
Ronen Steinke (2020): Terror gegen Juden – Wie antisemitische Gewalt erstarkt und der Staat versagt – Eine Anklage. Berlin: Piper Verlag.
Magazin Jalta – Positionen zur jüdischen Gegenwart
Festival Of Resilience website
Kutlu Yurtseven is a rapper with the group Microphone Mafia from Cologne, a teacher, a social worker and a participant in the Keupstraßen trilogy at Schauspiel Köln. With his music and as an activist he works towards an active culture of remembrance and against racism. He also speaks in the podcast episode about Şahin Çalışır.
The “Hannibal” network was a right-wing chat group with members of the Bundeswehr, police and the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, in which so-called preppers prepared for “Day X”. An association called Uniter e.V. was also founded to teach military tactics to civilians.
More information on Blanka Zmigrod:
Antifa Infoblatt
Jüdische Allgemeine
TAZ
Links to the culture of remembrance:
Frankfurter Rundschau
Hessenschau
hr fernsehen
Information on the trial against the perpetrator:
FAZ
NSU Watch Hessen
Spiegel
Süddeutsche
Organisations, associations, institutions:
Jüdisch & Intersektional, Initiative für jüdische Bildungsarbeit
Jüdisches Museum Frankfurt
Bildungsstätte Anne Frank
Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland
Amadeu-Antonio-Stiftung
Verband der Beratungsstellen für betroffene Rechter, rassistischer und antisemitischer Gewalt e.V.
NSU Watch
Podcasts on anti-Semitism and right-wing violence:
de:hate
Fünf Folgen über Extremismus – Folge 4: Antisemitismus
BR Podcast Rechter Terror
Podcastserie von NSU Watch und VBRG e.V. Vor Ort – gegen Rassismus, Antisemitismus und rechte Gewalt
Credits
Editors: Tanja Thomas, Fabian Virchow and Tobias Fernholz
Co-conceptualization and production: grasshopper kreativ
Hosts: Tanja Thomas and Fabian Virchow
Sound logo: Martin Pfeilsticker and Pia Fruth
Cover photo: Photo by Indymedia , CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, cropping and color editing by grasshopper kreativ.
Picture in the article: R. Gerczikow.
The event review was produced by Master’s students from Eberhard Karls University Tübingen and Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences.
Credits event review
Sound bites: Nathalie Friedlender & Ruben Gerczikow
Speaker: Pia Fruth
Project manager: Tran Trieu
Storyboard & voice over text: Sophie Gurland
Interview & editing: Carolin Hoos
Shownotes: Lea Rodenburg
Excerpts: Celine Desel und Anna Warnholz
This podcast was created as part of Doing Memory, an interdisciplinary project in the field of memory culture – by Tanja Thomas, Matthias Lorenz and Fabian Virchow. The “Doing Memory” project was funded by the VolkswagenStiftung (Volkswagen Foundation).
