Amadeu Antonio Kiowa

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A plaque commemorates Amadeu Antonio at Eberswalder Straße 24a.

Amadeu António Kiowa (born August 12, 1962 in Quimbele , Angola , † December 6, 1990 in Eberswalde ) was a contract worker from Angola . He was one of the first known deaths of right-wing extremist violence in the Federal Republic of Germany since reunification . The judgments in court against the perpetrators have been criticized many times. While the court sentenced the perpetrators to a maximum of four years imprisonment for bodily harm resulting in death , the political public and the media have often classified the act as murder to this day .

Life

Kiowa was born in Quimbele, northeast of the Angolan capital Luanda , in 1962 . He was the oldest of twelve children born to his mother Helena Alfonso. He completed training in Brazil , Portugal and the Soviet Union . First, on August 3, 1987, Kiowa came to the German Democratic Republic together with 103 other Angolan contract workers . He hoped to study aircraft technology, but, like many Angolan contract workers at the time, was trained as a butcher . Kiowa worked in the Eberswalde slaughter and processing combine . He lived in the Brandenburg town of Eberswalde, where he also met his girlfriend. The situation of the young couple, who were expecting a child in 1990, changed suddenly with the turnaround . During this time, many former contract workers lost their jobs. Her residence status was unclear due to the cancellation of the contracts with the countries of origin.

Sequence of events

On the evening of November 24, 1990, neo-Nazi skinheads from several towns gathered in the apartment of a neo-Nazi in Eberswalde. They teamed up with around 50 other young people from a discotheque with the aim of “knocking up anyone who looked different”. On the night of November 24-25, 1990, the group encountered Kiowa and two men from Mozambique . Kiowa was brutally beaten by members of the group. One of the perpetrators jumped Kiowa on the head with both feet. The 28-year-old suffered severe head injuries. He did not wake up from the coma and died eleven days later from the aftermath of the attack. The two Mozambicans attacked by the same group, who were also attacked with knives, escaped seriously injured.

During the crime, 20 fully equipped police officers stayed nearby without intervening. Three armed plainclothes police who followed the group did not intervene either. One of the police officers testified that he had called his two colleagues back because he "wanted to prevent them from coming into conflict with the group." An indictment against the police officers for "bodily harm resulting in death by failure" was filed in 1994 by the Frankfurt (Oder) regional court irrevocably rejected.

Process flow

The trial was opened against six of the perpetrators. The Geneva International Commission of Jurists had sent an observer because it feared that the guilt could be blamed on the victim and that the perpetrators could go unpunished. Convictions only came about on the basis of the testimony of an accomplice, who initially went into hiding, but then broke an agreement of silence among the perpetrators.

Five of the juvenile offenders were sentenced in 1992 by the Frankfurt (Oder) district court to a maximum of four years in prison for bodily harm resulting in death , some to suspended sentences. There was no evidence of who had carried out the fatal blows. 21 other participants against whom a criminal complaint had been filed were not convicted.

These judgments met with mainly negative criticism from the political public. The Brandenburg commissioner for foreigners, Almuth Berger, feared that such reasons for judgment could be interpreted as “encouragement for xenophobic attacks”. The Rhineland-Palatinate Justice Minister Peter Caesar (FDP) warned that acts of violence against foreign fellow citizens are not “juvenile crooks”.

In this sense, the criminal law scholar Monika Frommel also classified the crime in 1992 :

"When the Angolan Antonio Amadeu was murdered by Skins about two years ago in Eberswalde at the latest, it was actually clear that the protests in the former GDR are not just a form of youth riots."

- Monika Frommel

She expressed doubts as to whether the lawyers were really willing to “judge right and left crimes according to the same criteria if possible”. She attested to differences in the sentencing of "right [r] and left [r] criminal offenses" and therefore referred to the judiciary in Germany as " political justice like [...] at the time of the Council Republic  [...]".

The act was classified as murder in many media , except by Frommel, among others, by Die Zeit , die Welt am Sonntag , Spiegel Online , the taz , the Berliner Zeitung , the Norddeutscher Rundfunk , the Netzeitung , courage against right-wing violence , the network against Nazis , the Amadeu Antonio Foundation and in the book Bürgerstiftungen in Deutschland.

Commemoration

There are many ways of remembering Kiowa and his death. In order to strengthen civil society against the problem of right-wing extremism in everyday life, the Amadeu Antonio Foundation named after Kiowa was founded in 1998 . Since 2007 the Barnimer Initiative Light me Amadeu has been organizing demonstrations and events against xenophobia and holding commemorative events on the occasion of the day of death. A memorial plaque for Kiowa was erected at the site of the crime. The African cultural association Palanca designed an exhibition on the “History of the Angolan Contract Workers in Eberswalde”. Amadeu Antonios is portrayed as one of five people.

The singer Konstantin Wecker dedicated a ballad to Kiowa based on his song Willy , in which he describes the act and denounces xenophobia.

In early 2012, the “Light me Amadeus” initiative collected 926 signatures from people who wanted the street where Kiowa was murdered to be renamed. These signatures were given to the mayor. Thereupon messages appeared, according to which a list also exists, from people who spoke out against the planned naming. However, these have not yet been released to the public. The decision on a renaming was postponed several times by the responsible city councilors. Most recently, on April 26, 2012, it was decided to commission the city administration to develop a concept, the aim of which is to create “a path to a worthy memory”. In cooperation with residents of Eberswalde, with the participation of initiatives and politicians, the city administration presented the city council with a “reminder concept”. The proposal is made to name the civic education center after Kiowa. In addition, the city should offer a prize for civic engagement. The memorial plaque should be redesigned. This submitted concept was adopted by the city council in Eberswalde with a large majority in November 2012. The citizen education center was opened on August 9, 2014. In addition to the city library located there, numerous associations and educational initiatives are active in the building.

family

Kiowa left behind his heavily pregnant partner Gabriele Schimansky. Their son was born on January 9, 1991, the same day that Kiowa's body was transferred to Angola. There he was buried in the cemetery of Sant'Ana in Luanda. Since September 3, 2011 a wooden cross has adorned the grave, which was previously only covered by earth.

Kiowa's son and mother were exposed to further hostility in Eberswalde. Among other things, the pram was smeared with swastikas and later destroyed. Schimansky later married a Congolese , with whom she had three more children. Because of their hatred of foreigners, the Eberswalde family left and moved to Berlin . Gabriele Schimansky died in 2015. The cause of death is unclear. Kiowa's son lived in Eberswalde in 2015 and played for the local soccer club FV Preussen.

Kiowa's mother, who belongs to the Bakongo people , lives with her family in the poor neighborhood of Rocha Pinto in the Angolan capital Luanda . In 2001, with the support of donors, she came to Germany with a son to do a blood test to clarify Amadeu António Kiowa's paternity of his son in order to secure his victim compensation pension . They received 3600 Deutsche Mark donations from the Amadeu Antonio Foundation in Berlin. Of this, they were robbed of $ 800 at Friedrichstrasse station , which they had exchanged in an exchange office.

In 2011 there was another call for donations for the burial and repair of the grave, in which the mother was given 1,500 euros. In 2011, it was examined whether promised financial support for the family, which the Eberswalder district council had already decided in 1990, was sent to the relatives. In order to prove the relationship between Antonio and his relatives beyond any doubt, his mother gave in 2011 a hair sample for a genetic comparison. In addition, the Eberswalde district council decided on September 30, 2011 to provide the Antonios family with EUR 5,000 in support on the 20th anniversary of their death.

media

  • 1993: Film Amadeu Antonio. Berlinale, forum film; Germany 1992, 50 min; Director: Thomas Balzer ; Distribution: ZDF

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Christoph Dieckmann : "... all the negroes in town". July 10, 1992, accessed November 26, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Ben Reichardt: "Eberswalde was a bad nest" , online article from November 23, 2015 on www.welt.de ; accessed on August 13, 2019
  3. ^ Marie-Luise Braun: 25 years after the murder. Amadeu Antonio: His death changed Eberswalde , online article from December 3, 2015 at www.noz.de ; accessed on August 13, 2019
  4. ^ Spiegel TV magazine : Eberswalde and the murder of Amadeu Antonio Kiowa. Article from August 27, 2012, available on youtube; accessed on August 13, 2019
  5. ↑ Who was Amadeu Antonio? Tolerant Eberswalde
  6. ↑ a b c 20 years ago Amadeu Antonio Kiowa was slain in Eberswalde. deutschlandradiokultur.de from December 1, 2010, accessed on November 30, 2018
  7. ↑ Susanne Lenz: Right-wing extremists often remained unmolested. In: Berliner Zeitung , August 2, 1994
  8. ↑ Falko Drescher: Who controls the police ?: An investigation into problems of police control in the state of Brandenburg. GRIN, 2008, ISBN 3-638-92882-9 , p. 172 ff.
  9. ↑ Oliver Tolmein : Dr. Oliver Tolmein - Texts and the Sea ( Memento from October 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), Konkret, No. 12/92, page 26
  10. ↑ Remembrance of the brutal attack in Eberswalde , dw.com , November 25, 2008
  11. ↑ And a full bottle . In: Der Spiegel . No. 47 , 1992, pp. 89 ( online ).
  12. ↑ This is political justice . In: Der Spiegel . No. 49 , 1992, pp. 16 ( online interview with Frommel about dealing with right-wing violent criminals).
  13. ↑ a b That is political justice . In: Der Spiegel . No. 49 , 1992, pp. 17 ( online ).
  14. ^ Anne Klesse: From Berlin via Beirut to the Barnim. In: Welt am Sonntag Online, November 23, 2008.
  15. ↑ Holger Kulick: Eberswalde sees red . Spiegel-Online, June 3, 2001.
  16. ↑ Lalon Sander, Mike Schmidt: The dream of tolerance. Eberswalder youth alliance against neo-Nazis. In: taz , February 25, 2010.
  17. ↑ stef / suz: Amadeu Antonio died five years ago. In: Berliner Zeitung , November 27, 1995
  18. ↑ a b Thomas Berndt, Antonio Cascais: Robbed and insulted - relatives of the murdered Amadeu Antonio for the first time in Germany. Panorama , June 7, 2001, accessed November 26, 2019 .
  19. ↑ nz: commemoration of killed Angolans. ( Memento of October 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) In: Netzeitung , December 6, 2005
  20. ↑ Sarah Schulz: 149 dead by right-wing violence - Amadeu Antonio Foundation publishes a new census of the fatalities of right-wing extremist and racist violence since 1990. ( Memento of the original from October 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 68 kB) mut-gegen-rechte-gewalt.de, press release March 4, 2010. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mut-gegen-rechte-gewalt.de
  21. ↑ Dana Fuchs, Laura Frey: Killed by the Nazi mob while the police watched: Twentieth anniversary of the death of Amadeu Antonio Kiowa. netz-gegen-nazis.de, November 24, 2012.
  22. ↑ Nora Winter: 20 years after the hunt . amadeu-antonio-stiftung.de, 2010.
  23. ↑ Stefan Nahrlich, Rupert Graf Strachwitz, Eva Maria Hinterhuber, Karin Müller (eds.): Community foundations in Germany. Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften (VS), 2005, ISBN 978-3-531-14601-0 , pp. 237-238
  24. ^ History of the Angolan contract workers in Eberswalde. (PDF; 10.9 MB) Palanca, March 23, 2009.
  25. ↑ The Ballad of Antonio Amadeu Kiowa Lyrics
  26. ^ Sven Klamann: Doubts about Amadeu-Antonio-Strasse . moz.de, February 25, 2012.
  27. ↑ Many Eberswalder people apparently against Amadeu-Antonio-Straße ( memento from September 9, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) rbb online, April 19, 2012
  28. ↑ Eberswalde postpones debate on Amadeu-Antonio-Strasse. Märkische online newspaper , May 1, 2012.
  29. ↑ "We have accepted our responsibility". RE: GUBEN, March 21, 2013
  30. ↑ The Amadeu Antonio Civic Education Center in Eberswalde opens its doors ( Memento from August 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) on the Amadeu Antonio Foundation's website
  31. ↑ "Zuville Bananen jejess'n". Der Spiegel 13/1998, March 23, 1998
  32. ↑ Thomas Berndt, Antonio Cascais: Inconvenient Memory - Eberswalde and the Nazi Victim , December 14, 2000
  33. ↑ a b Thilo Schmidt : When everyone was silent. Deutschlandradio Kultur , country report, 25 November 2015.
  34. ↑ The Revolt of the Decent. Märkische Oderzeitung, December 8, 2015.
  35. ↑ a b Antonio Cascais : At Helena Afonso and at the grave of Amadeu Antonio. (PDF; 20 kB) 2011.
  36. ↑ 10 years ago her son Amadeu Antonio was murdered by Skins in Eberswalde. Now Helena Alfonso from Angola came to Germany for the first time - it was not a nice trip , BZ , June 1, 2001
  37. ↑ Call for donations: Light me Amadeu supports mother of Amadeu Antonio ( Memento from October 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Amadeu Antonio Foundation, 2011.
  38. ^ District council approves financial support for Amadeu Antonio's family. ( Memento from October 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Eberswalder Blitz-Online, September 30, 2012.
  39. ^ Film data sheet Berlinale 1993
personal data
SURNAME Kiowa, Amadeu Antonio
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kiowa, Amadeu António
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Angolan victim of violence
DATE OF BIRTH August 12, 1962
PLACE OF BIRTH Quimbele , Angola
DATE OF DEATH December 6, 1990
Place of death Eberswalde