Letters of Solidarity: "Moelln Letters

Solidarity in the form of letters

After the attacks, the city of Mölln called for people to express their sympathy to the family. Hundreds of private individuals, including children and young people, but also institutions, schools and associations, as well as public figures and representatives from politics and business, wrote to the families, expressing their grief and horror. Even concrete offers of help were made. Only: these letters probably did not reach large parts of the two families. It was not until 2019 that İbrahim Arslan, one of the nine injured and survivors of the arson attack, became aware of the letters, which were stored in the Mölln city archives, and demanded that they be handed over to the family. The city complied with the request.

Dignified remembrance called for

To this day, it has not been possible to reconstruct why the letters were not known to the families, according to their statements, although they were kept in the city archive and were also used there as part of educational programs. Today, Arslan says, "If we had known about the sympathy and solidarity in society at the time, it would have helped us then and given us a little comfort." For decades, the families have been advocating a dignified remembrance in which those affected are at the center.

The “Mölln letters”

We use the same term for the collection of material given to us by the families: the “Möllner Letters”. The collection consists of a total of 908 documents such as letters, postcards, mourning cards, faxes, telegrams, poems, signature lists and drawings. This does not include the condolence books, press collections, exhibition boards, resolutions, posters and reply templates from the town of Mölln, which are also part of the collection. At the beginning of 2021, DOMiD had already added hundreds of documents to the collection and completely digitized them. In 2023, after further letters and accompanying material were found and handed over to dOMiD, a second collection followed. Researchers can conduct research in the archive premises in Cologne-Ehrenfeld by appointment.

Preservation against oblivion

The Arslan family has long been a lender to DOMiD's collection of photographs and documents. Both families found it easy to decide that the letters should be kept at DOMiD, says İbrahim Arslan: "DOMiD is the place where migration history is told, processed and studied. For our family, it was clear that the letters should also be kept there, where not only the white dominant society tells its story, but where the stories of our families are also told." Bengü Kocatürk-Schuster, Collection Expansion Officer at DOMiD: "The letters are valuable testimonies of recent contemporary history. For us, it is an important sign of trust in DOMiD that the families know their stories, as well as their emotionally charged archival materials, are in good hands with us." Both DOMiD and the families are open to educational collaborations with the material.

In February 2025, the documentary film “The Moelln Letters” by director and author Martina Priessner will celebrate its world premiere at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival.