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Hoyerswerda 1991 – Film screening and discussion

At the beginning of the 1990s, the extent of right-wing extremist violence in reunified Germany reached a new dimension. Every day neo-Nazis attacked migrants, alternative youth or other people who did not fit into their world view – often with deadly consequences. Between the 17^th and 23^rd September 1991, a hostel for contract workers and a refugee shelter were attacked in Hoyerswerda, Saxony. Sometimes up to 500 people stood in front of the homes and took part in the attacks. The police were not willing to stop the attacks and the riots in Hoyerswerda marked the beginning of a series of xenophobic riots in Germany in the early 1990s.

Journalist and documentary filmmaker, Julia Oelkers and cameraman, Lars Maibaum from the collective OUT OF FOCUS will present their films, which were shot with witnesses and survivors of the attacks and are part of the web documentation that can be found at www.hoyerswerda-1991.de

One of those targeted is Emmanuel Adu Agyeman, a refugee from Ghana who was housed in Hoyerswerda in early 1991. After the film projection, there will be a discussion with him (to be confirmed) and the two filmmakers.

The event marks the start of the week-long series of events and the exhibition “Germany your children – continuities of right-wing violence”, which will take place on the occasion of the 30^th and 31^st anniversary of the pogroms of Rostock-Lichtenhagen and Hoyerswerda from the 17^th – 23^rd September.