Hossein Fahmideh

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presumably Hossein Fahmideh

Hossein Fahmideh (* 1966 or 1967 in Pamenar ( Iran ); † November 10, 1980 in Khorramshahr ) was an Iranian child soldier who - according to official sources - threw himself in front of an Iraqi tank with hand grenades in the battle of Khorramshahr during the First Gulf War blew up and was killed in the process.

incident

According to Iranian sources, Hossein Fahmideh is said to have been the third of seven / eight children in the Fahmideh family. A week before the war began, he was sent to the Iraqi border as a volunteer. After the war began, Iraqi tanks advanced into the city of Khorramshahr. He was injured in the leg during the fighting, then he picked up hand grenades and threw himself under an attacking Iraqi tank and destroyed it, according to the official version.

Instrumentalization

The slow mobilization of the Iranian troops, especially of volunteers, prompted Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to address the people in 1981:

“In this holy war the devils of the fifth column are trying to lure you with the lack of gasoline, heating material, sugar and fat - do our sons only die for gasoline and sugar? Are they not rather dying for Islam and our heroic nation? Do you only want to serve Islam and the nation so that you can fill your bellies? I praise the twelve-year-old hero who tied hand grenades around his body and threw himself under the armor of the devil Saddam. "

- Ruhollah Khomeini . Quoted from Hans-Peter Drögemüller , Iranisches Tagebuch, page 280

“Our leader is the twelve-year-old boy who braced himself against the enemy with his little heart. It's worth more than 100 pens and 100 tongues. "

- Ruhollah Khomeini . Address to the people on the Second Anniversary of the Revolution, February 1, 1981

All pupils from the eighth grade onwards received military training. The most suitable students and volunteers were taken over by the organization of the Basij and were first used in a targeted manner in 1982 in the Iranian counter-offensive.

aftermath

The idealization of the plot of Hossein Fahmideh was presented to the Iranian population on wall posters. Ruhollah Khomeini always appears in the background. In Iranian school books (from 2004) the topic “Fahmideh and his deed” is dealt with intensively. Fahmidehs martyrdom is in a line to Imam Ali and other infallibles the Twelver Shiites brought. His death was not only praised as a role model in the Iranian media, but also honored with a postage stamp. In addition, a trophy with the image of the boy will be donated, which will be awarded to the best Iranian team in the Iranian first division . On the occasion of the sacrifice of Hossein Fahmideh, Ali Khamenei named October 30th as the “ Day of Basij ”.

Western reception

Robert Baer describes the act of Hossein Fahmideh not from the standpoint of the soldier or martyr, but from a different perspective and describes him as the “first suicide bomber”. This is also discussed in his film "The Cult of the Suicide Bomber" (2005).

Remarks

  1. ↑ Iranian sources put the place of birth near Qom
  2. ↑ While Ruhollah Khomeini gives the age of Hossein Fahmideh as "twelve" in his address to the people, in the Iranian media the age is given as "thirteen", in Iranian school books from 2004 Hossein Fahmideh is "fourteen". The date of death is equally contradictory: November 10, 1980 (in Iranian school books), September 30, 1980 in Iranian media. Here the day of death is obviously connected with the "day of the Basij", which was introduced later.
  3. ↑ Different information
  4. ↑ According to Iranian sources, Hossein Fahmideh was allowed to go to war without the permission of his parents.
  5. ↑ According to a commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard who fought near Khorramshahr, there is said to have been a student who was good at handling an RPG-7 , who destroyed Iraqi tanks and died in the process. There is also said to have been a boy named Fahmideh who ran away from home, came to the front at Khorramshahr and disarmed two Iraqi soldiers. He is said to have died later. Both stories were interwoven into one in the sense of propaganda, the "tank episode" associated with Fahmideh. See → Scott Peterson: Let the Swords Encircle Me: Iran A Journey Behind the Headlines , Simon + Schuster 2009, ISBN 978-141659-728-5 , p. 111

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ farsnews.com. Retrieved January 7, 2013
  2. ↑ impact-se.org (PDF; 1.6 MB) accessed on January 7, 2013
  3. ↑ mit.edu (PDF; 388 kB) Iran Analysis Quarterly, accessed on January 7, 2013
  4. ↑ Ali Sadrzadeh: The Pasdar. 1987. page 155
  5. ↑ flickr.com Ayatollah Khomeini and Hossein Fahmideh, accessed January 7, 2013
  6. ↑ impact-se.org ( memento of the original from January 6, 2009 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; 1.6 MB) accessed on January 7, 2013  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.impact-se.org
  7. ↑ naderdavoodi.net ( Memento of the original from November 11, 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. Retrieved January 7, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.naderdavoodi.net
  8. ↑ Christopher Deacy / Elisabeth Arweck (eds.): Exploring Religion and the Sacred in a Media Age, Ashgate 2009, ISBN 978-075466-527-4 , p. 77
  9. ^ "The Cult of the Suicide Bomber" (2005)
personal data
SURNAME Fahmideh, Hossein
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Iranian child soldier
DATE OF BIRTH 20th century
PLACE OF BIRTH Pamenar, Iran
DATE OF DEATH November 10, 1980
Place of death Khorramshahr , Iran