Lissy Schmidt

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lissy Schmidt (born January 19, 1959 ; † April 3, 1994 at Sulaymaniyah , Iraq ), also known under the pseudonyms Milena Ergen and Petra Sert , was a German journalist who u. a. for the Frankfurter Rundschau the Tagesspiegel and AFP ( Agence France-Presse ) worked. She and her driver were killed in an ambush in the Bachchian Valley, Sulaymaniyah, Iraq while she was reporting on the Iraqi Kurds . The publication of one of her books in Turkish was immediately followed by a ban in Turkey .

Personal

Lissy Schmidt went to school in Wiesbaden . She was a member of Pax Christi in Limburg . Schmidt mastered two Kurdish dialects, Sorani and Kurmanji , and according to the weekly Die Zeit she was well known among the Kurds. She was murdered at the age of 35. A memorial was erected in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, in memory of Lissy Schmidt .

Career

Before reporting from Iraq, Schmidt had written for the Frankfurter Rundschau on Kurdish issues and problems in Turkey . Since 1991 she has been traveling in Kurdish Iraq on behalf of Agence France Presse . Schmidt published two books on Kurdistan under the pseudonym Milena Ergen: Kurdistan in 1989 and How expensive is freedom? , which only appeared posthumously in 1994. In Turkey it was published in 1997, Turkey banned Schmidt's book and initiated proceedings against its Turkish editor Ayşe Nur Zarakolu and the two translators.

death

Lissy Schmidt was killed with her driver and bodyguard Aziz Kadir Farag on April 3, 1994, when fire was opened from a passing car.

The Independent reported that two Iraqis later admitted the murders. The reason given was that their own families were held hostage and that the Iraqi government had called for the killing of foreigners. So they were concerned with the safety of their relatives. Both men were executed for murder. Lissy Schmidt was buried in the cemetery in Wiesbaden-Igstadt.

context

The US accused the Iraqi government of suspending bounties for killing foreigners in the Kurdish regions. A month before Schmidt was murdered, two Swedish reporters were wounded by a car bomb, and two Czechs and two Austrians were injured in further attacks.

Publications

  • as Milena Ergen: Kurdistan . Ed .: Campaign "Produce for Life - Stop Armaments Exports!" And Communication Center Idstein eV (KOMZI), Idstein 1989 ISBN 978-3-928082-01-3 .
  • as Milena Ergen: How expensive is freedom? Reports from the self-governing Kurdish region 1991–93 . ISP, Cologne 1994 ISBN 978-3-929008-56-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lissy Schmidt Collection . International Institute of Social History.
  2. ↑ a b c Lissy Schmidt . Committee to Protect Journalists. April 3, 1994. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
  3. ↑ a b c d The murder of Lissy Schmidt . Medico. 2001.
  4. ↑ a b Newsday: Hussein had been stepping up pressure on Kurds prior to accident . In: Milwaukee Journal , April 15, 1994, p. A8. Retrieved October 5, 2013. 
  5. ↑ Newsletter . Pax Christi International Newsletter. May 1994. Retrieved on October 5, 2013.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / 217.136.251.239  
  6. ↑ Peace prayer in the Nikolai Church in Brandenburg / Havel . Pax Christi. May 6, 2011. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. 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 October 5, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.berlin.paxchristi.de
  7. ↑ Shahow Wali: Lost a Friend , Die Zeit. October 14, 1994. Retrieved October 5, 2013. 
  8. ↑ a b c Alan Elsner: Iraq offers bounty on foreigners, says US . In: The Age (Melbourne) , April 7, 1994. 
  9. ^ A b Hugh Pope: Iraq accused over murder of German reporter . In: Independent (UK) , April 5, 1994. 
  10. ↑ Milena Ergen (aka, Lissy Schmidt): Tatort Kurdistan , 1st edition. Edition, KOMZI, Idstein 1989, ISBN 3-928082-01-9 .
  11. ↑ Milena Ergen (aka, Lissy Schmidt): How expensive is freedom? : Reports from the self-administered Kurdish region 1991–93 ( German ), orig. Edition, 1st edition. Edition, ISP, Cologne 1994, ISBN 3-929008-56-4 .
  12. ^ Killers 'acted on Iraqi orders' . In: Independent (UK) , April 13, 1994. 
  13. ↑ 26 Killed Over Iraq , Ottawa Citizen. April 15, 1994. 
  14. ↑ Arthur J. Dommen: Reporters Keep Faith With Kurds in Iraq . In: New York Times , April 24, 1994. Retrieved October 5, 2013. 
personal data
SURNAME Schmidt, Lissy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ergen, Milena (pseudonym); Sert, Petra (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German journalist
DATE OF BIRTH around 1959
DATE OF DEATH April 3, 1994
Place of death near Sulaymaniyah , Iraq