Memorial service

Gamze Kubasik and Semiya Simsek carried the candle of hope outside at the end of the memorial service at the Concert House in Berlin. As the two young Turkish women, whose father was killed by neo-Nazis, left the building, the 1,200 guests in attendance rose. It was the final gesture of a moving ceremony for the 10 victims of the "National Socialist Underground," a right-wing group active in Germany over the past decade.

A candle was lit for each of the victims and carried to the stage by children from Berlin at the beginning of the service. Chancellor Angela Merkel explained in her speech why there were 11 candles on the stage instead of just 10: "The last one symbolizes our hope for a good future."

A good future was what 21-year-old Halit Yozgat was in search of when he was killed in his Internet cafe in Kassel in 2006. Six years later his father, who emigrated from Turkey, is on the stage of the Berlin Concert House speaking in his native language about his son who died in his arms. He said he was thankful for this ceremony and said he was particularly thankful to the person who should have delivered the main address: Christian Wullf, who resigned as Germany's president last week after a drawn-out benefits scandal. Wulff invited the victims' families to Berlin right after the series of murders was uncovered: "We admire him," said the interpreter standing at Yozgat's side.

Wulff's gesture left a lasting impression among the victims' families; this was palpable at Thursday's ceremony. There is also a deep hope that the empathy present would lead to a feeling of "We" in Germany that's never been there before, one that would last longer than just this one day.

Then Semiya Simsek spoke. Her father was murdered in 2000 and was the first of the known victims. The 39-year-old was shot to death in Nuremberg. "For 11 years we weren't even allowed to feel like victims," lamented Simsek, who said police targeted members of her own family in their misled investigations. And then there was the suspicion that he was a criminal, a drug dealer: "Can you imagine how my mother felt?" she asked. "To be held under suspicion after having lost her husband?"

In her speech, Merkel called the unbelievable suspicion against the victims "disturbing," adding to the victims' families: "This is why I ask your forgiveness." Gamze Kubasik, whose father was murdered in Dortmund on April 4, 2006, added her own thought to the symbol at the heart of Merkel's speech.

"This candle stands for a future that is shaped by more solidarity," she said.

Author: Marcel Fürstenau /glb
Editor: John Blau