Forms of remembrance
Enver Şimşek symbolises the pain caused by racism and right-wing extremist violence, but also the need for remembrance, solidarity and social commitment against discrimination. His family is still fighting for justice today and is committed to education and remembrance work to ensure that such acts are not forgotten and repeated.
His daughter Semiya Şimşek has become known throughout Germany since her speech at the memorial service for the NSU survivors and those killed at the beginning of 2012 in the Konzerthaus Berlin and has since become known as the “face of the families of those affected”. In her book published in 2013, “Schmerzliche Heimat. Deutschland und der Mord an meinem Vater” (Painful homeland: Germany and the murder of my father), published in 2013, she shares her moving story, explains the background to the racist investigations and the traumatic consequences for the families of those affected and reflects on her ambivalent relationship with Germany. She also talks about her experiences at public events: Together with other relatives and survivors, she campaigns against forgetting and the trivialisation of NSU terror and for the fight for justice.
In addition, numerous campaign groups and some German cities have created memorials and places of remembrance to keep the memory of Enver Şimşek alive.
One year after the NSU was uncovered, the mayors of the cities of Kassel, Nuremberg, Munich, Rostock, Dortmund, Heilbronn and Hamburg, where the murders were committed, decided to erect memorial plaques.
On 21 March 2013, the “International Day against Racism”, a memorial stele was unveiled in Nuremberg, a tall freestanding gravestone commemorating all those killed by the NSU. It is located in the immediate vicinity of the “Street of Human Rights” and was developed by the City of Nuremberg in close co-operation with the relatives. In addition to the stele, the memorial includes four ginkgo trees, three of which stand for those killed in Nuremberg by the NSU terror cell and the fourth for all other persons affected by right-wing extremist violence.
In September 2014, a memorial plaque for Enver Şimşek was placed at the crime scene in Nuremberg. This was later stolen by unknown persons, whereupon the group “Breaking the Silence” installed a sign with Şimşek’s picture.
The Alliance for Democracy and Tolerance in Zwickau planted a European oak tree in memory of Enver Şimşek on 8 September 2019, but it was felled by unknown persons a few weeks later. Ten new memorial trees were then planted and memorial plaques installed on 3 November 2019. However, the inauguration was met with criticism owing to a spelling mistake in the name Şimşek and the lack of invitations to relatives and survivors.
In addition, several symbolic places have been renamed Enver-Şimşek-Platz since 2020, including a square in Jena-Winzerla, where the perpetrators grew up, and the Damaschkeweg public transport stop in Jena. The Liegnitzer Straße crime scene in Nuremberg, where Enver was murdered, has also been called Enver-Şimşek-Platz since 13 September 2021. The neighbouring communities of Altenfurt, Moorenbrunn, Langwasser and Fischbach have joined forces to ensure that the crime, which took place in their immediate vicinity, is not forgotten. In June 2024, the “Schattenwurf” memorial site, designed by Stuttgart artist duo Dagmar Korintenberg and Wolf Kipper, was also inaugurated in the immediate vicinity of the Thuringian State Parliament. With the memorial site for those killed by the NSU, the Free State of Thuringia acknowledges its special responsibility for the unprecedented series of murders and attacks.
In 2020, theatres and institutions from 15 cities joined forces to realise the interdisciplinary theatre project Kein Schlussstrich! with the aim of artistically addressing the crimes and background of the NSU. The nationwide theatre project commemorates those killed by the NSU and focuses on the perspectives of their families and (post-)migrant communities through productions, exhibitions, concerts, musical interventions in public spaces, readings, discussions, workshops and much more.
