Şahin
Çalışır

27. December 1992

Motorway 52 near Meerbusch (North Rhine-Westphalia)

Life of Şahin Çalışır

Şahin Çalışır was born on 17 October 1972 in the village of Ulu in the Kastamonu province of Turkey. He eventually came to Germany as a small child and spent his childhood and youth in Duisburg-Marxloh.

Şahin was a quiet, reserved person who showed great talent in technical tasks. For example, he was able to solve a Rubik’s cube correctly within a very short time. His enthusiasm for technology led him to train as a locksmith at the renowned Duisburg steel company Thyssen. He was a reliable, punctual and successful apprentice.

Şahin was also ambitious in sport. During a visit to his home village in the province of Kastamonu, he challenged a relative to a pull-up competition. Although he lost at first, he trained tirelessly over the following days until he clearly outperformed his opponent.

Shortly before his death, Şahin had obtained his driving licence. He proudly borrowed the car of his sister and brother-in-law, who were visiting from Ludwigsburg. He wanted to go on a trip with his friends. It was the last time he left his parents’ house in Duisburg-Marxloh.

Forms of remembrance

The memory of Şahin Çalışır has been kept alive by anti-racist activists and his family members, who have been raising awareness of the circumstances of his death and demanding justice on various social media channels and in publications, blog posts, speeches at memorial events, etc. for several years.

On 27 December 2020, the 28th anniversary of Şahin Çalışır’s death, a public memorial event was held for the first time in front of the district court in Neuss. Around 50 people took part in the event to remember his fate and set an example against right-wing violence. In his speech, Orhan Çalışır, Şahin’s cousin, described the Neuss district court as a ’second crime scene’, as the political motive for the crime was not recognised and negotiated in the court proceedings. The relatives were searched in court with sniffer dogs “while the perpetrators behaved as if they were at home”, Orhan said.

On 27 December 2022, the 30th anniversary of his death, another memorial demonstration was held in Solingen-Gräfrath. The participants gathered at the Gräfrath market and then marched to the former location of the karate school financed by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, where the perpetrator had trained. This demonstration was organised by various anti-fascist and anti-racist groups to commemorate Şahin Çalışır and draw attention to the continuity of right-wing violence.

In memory of the murdered man, the commemoration and a conversation with Orhan Çalışır were also released as a short film in January 2021.

As part of its “ToreG NRW” project (those affected by right-wing violence in NRW), the State Criminal Police Office of North Rhine-Westphalia examined 30 past violent offences from the years 1984 to 2020 for a possible political motivation, including the case of Şahin Çalışır. However, it had no access to the files, which is why the case is still not considered right-wing motivated.

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.

On 27 December 1992, three people with links to the neo-Nazi martial arts group Hak-Pao in Solingen-Gräfrath and the right-wing hooligan scene pursued Şahin and his two companions on the 52 motorway near Meerbusch (North Rhine-Westphalia). They targeted Şahin’s vehicle, aggressively harassed him and put him under pressure until he lost control of his car and crashed into the crash barriers. Panicked, Şahin and his companions left the car and fled onto the motorway. Şahin was hit by another vehicle and fatally injured.

Despite the partial confessions of two of the perpetrators, the district court in Neuss did not recognise a racist motive for the police chase and only classified Şahin’s death as a traffic accident. The driver of the perpetrator’s vehicle was eventually sentenced to 15 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter and road traffic offences. During his time in prison, the perpetrator wrote about Şahin Çalışır: “He’s done with running around.” However, this heinous statement was not honoured in court. This political and legal judgement has not changed even after 31 years. The Neuss district court is therefore seen as a second crime scene – a place where Şahin Çalışır was symbolically “killed” once again.

Sources

Çalışır, O. & Demir, Z. (2024). Remembering and commemorating Şahin Çalışır. IKG Science Blog, Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence, Bielefeld University. https://blogs.uni-bielefeld.de/blog/ikgscience/mediaresource/8b4dea3e-d676-4f04-a0dc-f320c2c36376

Çalışır, Orhan (2024): 27 December 1992, Neuss. 30. Anniversary of the attack in Solingen. In: A. Şirin (ed.), Remembering means fighting – No final stroke under our voices (pp. 81-83). Münster: Unrast Verlag.

Çalışır, Orhan (2023): “Perhaps the Solingen arson attack could have been prevented” – A remembrance of Şahin Çalışır and critical thoughts on a questionable trial. In: B. Demirtaş, A. Schmitz, D. Gür-Şeker, C. Kahveci (eds.) Solingen, 30 years after the arson attack: Racism, extreme right-wing violence and the scars of a neglected reappraisal (pp. 119-126). Bielefeld: transcript Verlag.

Demir, Zeynep (2024): Racism in Germany- past, present and future. In: R. Becker, G. Damat, E. Georg, T. Johann, & B. Milbradt (eds.) Lessons learnt? The right-wing terrorist attacks in Halle and Hanau: Coping and coming to terms with them through civil society and politics, education and counselling (pp. 201-218). Frankfurt am Main: Wochenschau Verlag.

Çalışır, O. (2020). In memory of Şahin Çalışır, 27 December 2020, Neuss. Speech in front of the district court. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuPqbDhGCcM

Postrak, D. (2020): Documentation/Orhan Çalışır in the context of an anti-racist memorial event “Remembering Şahin Çalışır”. https://vimeo.com/497312093 

https://doing-memory.de/sahin-calisir/