Noël Martin

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Noël Martin (born July 23, 1959 in Jamaica - † July 14, 2020 in Birmingham ) was a British-Jamaican building contractor from Edgbaston, Birmingham. He was the victim of a racist attack in Mahlow, Brandenburg , on June 16, 1996 and has been a serious nursing case ever since.

Act and legal processing

A 17- and a 24-year-old German insulted him and two black colleagues at Mahlow train station . In order to avoid fistfights, Martin got his friends into his car. In contrast to what the police said at the beginning, the two men pursued a stolen car. First they tried to push Martin's car off the lane, then they threw a field stone into the rear side window. Martin lost control of his vehicle, which overturned and crashed into a tree. From then on, Noël Martin was paraplegic from the head down . His two passengers were only slightly injured.

In December 1996 the Potsdam Regional Court sentenced the perpetrators to prison terms of five and eight years for dangerous interference with road traffic and serious bodily harm. Noël Martin received financial compensation and a monthly pension from Germany.

Activities against racism

In Mahlow, these and other attacks gave rise to the establishment of the AG Tolerantes Mahlow initiative as well as the emergency entrance campaign , which was awarded the Aachen Peace Prize in 2000 . In 2001, Martin initiated an exchange between young people from the region and his hometown Birmingham. The state of Brandenburg is donating money to the Noël and Jacqueline Martin Fund .

Noël Martin lived in Birmingham again. He was cared for there for five years by his partner Jacqueline Shields. Jacqueline died on 12 April 2000, two days after her marriage, a cancer suffering. After the above Fund had been continued as a foundation by the Great Orphanage in Potsdam , transferred the Brandenburg state government, represented by the Minister for Education, Youth and Sport, Holger Rupprecht , the management of the foundation "Great Orphanage in Potsdam", represented by the deputy managing director Gesine Hanebuth- Schubert and Noël Martin transferred the fund to the Jacqueline and Noël Martin Foundation on July 14, 2008 .

Since 2006

In June 2006, Martin announced that he would voluntarily part with the Swiss organization Dignitas on July 23, 2007 (his 48th birthday) . The project was suspended because Martin was unable to travel and still had to settle a few things with the foundation he had set up in England. In the end he decided against suicide because he could still achieve something with his foundation. The tasks in connection with his foundation and the hope of a wheelchair adapted to his needs, also with more communication options, always gave him a little will to live.

Despite his paraplegia, Noël Martin continued to breed racehorses. He caused a sensation in Ascot in 2006 when his horse Baddam won the most important horse race in the world.

On April 23, 2007, his autobiography was presented to the public by the Prime Minister of Brandenburg Matthias Platzeck in the presence of Noël Martin's son Negus Martin. His life and especially his book were received with great sympathy in Germany and in many other countries. The filming of his book is planned.

Noël Martin died in a Birmingham hospital nine days before his 61st birthday.

literature

  • Noël Martin, Robin Vandenberg Herrnfeld: Call it: my life . by Loeper Literaturverlag, 2007, ISBN 978-3-86059-332-5

Items:

Web links

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ Neo-Nazi victim Noël Martin died , Der Tagesspiegel, July 14, 2020
  2. ↑ Noël Martin in his book Call it: My Life , page 180: “As soon as you notice the black men, you start to curse them. Arthur and Michael want to fight them. 'No', says Noël. ,Get in. We ignore these bastards. '"
  3. ↑ https://taz.de/Noel-Martin-ist-tot/!5700904/
  4. ↑ The young people admitted in court that they called the three construction workers - among them Noël Martin - "niggers". They also confessed to throwing the stone into the vehicle. However, the accident did not occur until the British started chasing the Germans after throwing a stone. (Claudia Bröll: They took everything from me , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, May 7, 2007)
  5. ↑ Federal Court of Justice confirms judgment of the Higher Regional Court Brandenburg : Noël Martin received a monthly basic pension and care allowance according to the Victims Compensation Act from the Office for Social Affairs and Supply in Cottbus , and the opposing car insurance company was sentenced to pay DM 400,000 in compensation for pain and suffering. ( Right-wing extremism: "Claim also against liability insurance" (Interview), Der Tagesspiegel, August 18, 2000; Sandra Dassler: The Noel Martin case: Insurance has to pay compensation , Der Tagesspiegel, September 19, 2001; Noel Martin receives compensation , Der Tagesspiegel , December 24, 2002)
  6. ↑ website of NOEL and Jacqueline Martin Foundation
  7. ↑ Neo-Nazi victim Martin “I'm only head” : Shortly before his planned suicide in Switzerland, he also talked about his last wish and how he imagines his death.
  8. ↑ "I leave these two types to God". Retrieved July 15, 2020 .
  9. ^ Noël Martin on his 50th birthday . Website Foundation & Sponsoring Verlag (online). Retrieved on April 7, 2010 ( Memento of July 28, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ↑ Noël Martin is the first black whose racehorse was successful at Ascot. Noel Martin: “I showed it to the aristocrats. I was in heaven with happiness. ”( Arno Luik : " I will die a satisfied man " , Stern, May 30, 2007)
personal data
SURNAME Martin, Noël
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Jamaican-British building contractor, victim of right-wing violence in Germany
DATE OF BIRTH July 23, 1959
PLACE OF BIRTH Jamaica
DATE OF DEATH July 14, 2020
Place of death Birmingham