Hamza Kenan
Kurtović

19. February 2020

Hanau

Life of Hamza Kenan Kurtović

Hamza Kenan Kurtović was born on 4 April 1997 as the son of Dijana and Armin Kurtović in Hanau and grew up there. Hamza grew up with his sister Ajla and his two brothers Aziz and Karim.

In June 2019, Hamza completed his vocational training as a warehouse specialist and was at the beginning of his professional life. He was overjoyed with his job. He told his parents that he wanted to work there until he retired.

Hamza was a wonderful, likeable, loving and always cheerful person. Responsible, helpful and reliable were his core characteristics. The well-being of other people was the top priority.

For example, he lent his neighbour his car when it broke down, although he would have needed it himself to drive to work. It was very important to him that the neighbours didn’t have to go to any trouble. He therefore organised car pools for himself.

Hamza always stood up for people in need. He donated his first trainee salary to charity. With his big heart, he kept everyone together and in a good mood. He was a rock for friends and family. He loved meeting and chatting with his friends and had a penchant for cars. He overcame his fear of flying and soon planned further trips with friends, including long-haul flights.

But he had certainly imagined his last journey differently. He did not set off alone, but left with some of his closest friends.

Forms of remembrance

In addition to the first anniversary of the attack, on which demonstrations and commemorative events took place in Hanau and nationwide (“Hanau is everywhere”), a monthly commemoration was established at the two crime scenes by the relatives of the 19 February Hanau Campaign group. In addition, a memorial with all the pictures of those killed was installed at both crime scenes. Later, the city of Hanau also installed memorial plaques at both crime scenes. On the Day of Civil Courage 2020, a cross was also erected in memory of Vili Viorel Păun, and a year later Vili was awarded the Hessian Medal for Civil Courage by the State of Hesse. Vili Viorel Păun had tried to stop the perpetrator on the night of the crime and paid for it with his life. In Dietzenbach, a memorial stele was also erected for Sedat Gürbüz after a long struggle by the Gürbüz family. A memorial plaque in Erlensee also commemorates Kaloyan Velkov, who lived there. in 2022, the Hamza Kurtovic Award was presented to 14 winners in Hanau in honour of Hamza.

“Remembering means changing”

The Campaign group 19 February Hanau worked together with Forensic Architecture/Forensis on the civil society investigation of the case and, together with the Campaign group in Memory of Oury Jalloh, initiated the exhibition “Three Doors”, which has since been shown at the Kunstverein Frankfurt, HKW Berlin, Depo Istanbul and other venues. The theatre play “And now Hanau”, which was created in collaboration with theatre maker Tuğsal Moğul, also serves to commemorate those affected by the attack. 2024 also saw the first “Say their names Cup”, a charity match between the U19 teams of Eintracht Frankfurt and FC. St. Pauli.

What happened

This memorial chronicle addresses right-wing, racist and anti-Semitic violence, including specific incidents, backgrounds and consequences. The content may contain incriminating descriptions of violence, discrimination and suffering.

The following fold-out section “Description of the offence” describes specific acts of violence. We would therefore like to point out to those affected and readers that dealing with this content can have a re-traumatising effect. Before accessing the content, please check whether you feel mentally and emotionally able to deal with such topics and, if necessary, do not do so alone.

In the terrorist attack in Hanau on 19 February 2020, nine people were murdered in two locations for racist motives. Ferhat Unvar, Hamza Kurtović, Said Nesar Hashemi, Vili Viorel Păun, Mercedes Kierpacz, Kaloyan Velkov, Fatih Saraçoğlu, Sedat Gürbüz and Gökhan Gültekin.

At the first crime scene in the city centre on Heumarkt, the perpetrator murdered Kaloyan Velkov in the La Votre bar, where Kaloyan worked as a bartender. He then shot Fatih Saraçoğlu on the street, who had brought a friend there. Sedat Gürbüz was murdered in his bar Midnight.

Vili Viorel Păun drove into the street looking for a parking space and the perpetrator fired several shots at his car. Vili chased after the perpetrator, first preventing him from parking and then following him to Kesselstadt. On the way, he tried to call 110 several times in vain. He was shot dead in his car in the car park at Kurt-Schumacher-Platz in Kesselstadt.

The perpetrator then murdered Mercedes Kierpacz, Gökhan Gültekin and Ferhat Unvar in the 24/7 kiosk. In the neighbouring Arena Bar, he shot Said Nesar Hashemi and Hamza Kurtović. There were numerous survivors at the crime scenes, some of whom were explicitly threatened or survived seriously injured.

The attack lasted just over 5 minutes in total. The perpetrator was known to the police and the public prosecutor and had a legal firearms licence despite self-disclosure. Days earlier, he had used graffiti to draw attention to his website, where his racist manifesto could be viewed. He later murdered his mother before killing himself. His father, who is known to have shared his son’s extreme right and racist worldview, was the only survivor in the house. He claimed not to have seen or heard anything. The police already knew the address of the perpetrator shortly after the attack, but they did not enter the house until four and a half hours later.

Sources

19feb-hanau.org
no-final-report.org