Berlinale: Documentary film “The Moelln Letters” celebrates its world premiere

07 February 2025

• Documentary film tells the stories of the victims and survivors of the racist arson attacks in Mölln in 1992
• Hundreds of letters of solidarity went unnoticed for decades
• Cologne migration archive DOMiD preserves the letters

Cologne/Berlin, February 7, 2025 - The documentary “The Mölln Letters” by director and author Martina Priessner will celebrate its world premiere at the Berlinale on February 14, 2025: the film will be shown in the Panorama section of the 75th Berlin International Film Festival. Filming also took place in Cologne, where the Mölln letters are permanently stored.

In November 1992, three people were killed by German neo-Nazis in the racist arson attacks in Mölln: ten-year-old Yeliz Arslan, 14-year-old Ayşe Yılmaz and 51-year-old Bahide Arslan in an attempt to save the two girls. Before that, she managed to wrap her seven-year-old grandson İbrahim Arslan in wet cloths and save him from death. Numerous people were injured.

Film embarks on a journey down memory lane

In the aftermath, hundreds of people wrote letters to the bereaved. Many children drew pictures and even Holocaust survivors contacted the family to express their solidarity. But the letters went unnoticed for decades. By chance, they were rediscovered a few years ago in the archives of the town of Mölln. After the letters had passed into the possession of the bereaved, the family handed them over to the Cologne Migration Archive DOMiD for safekeeping.

The documentary film by the award-winning director opens up a new perspective on remembrance - one that focuses on the stories of the survivors. The film follows İbrahim Arslan and his siblings and paints a complex picture of the ongoing trauma that continues to shape their lives. Interwoven with İbrahim Arslan's poignant journey of memory and his encounters with three women letter writers, these long-forgotten messages form an impressive visual bridge between past and present. Through his fight against racism and his commitment to the victims, İbrahim Arslan has found a way to channel his pain. His brother Namık, on the other hand, is still struggling with the scars of the past.

“The Mölln Letters” not only gives the survivors and victims a better voice, but also reveals the hidden solidarity that they were unaware of for decades. Today, İbrahim Arslan says: “If we had known about the sympathy and solidarity in society, it would have helped us back then and given us a little comfort.”

DOMiD preserves the letters for research and educational work

DOMiD added the first letters to the collection at the beginning of 2021 and digitized them completely. A further bundle discovered later was inventoried in 2023. In total, there are 908 documents. Researchers can search the DOMiD archive by appointment. A selection of the Mölln letters will be on display in the permanent exhibition at the Selma Museum. DOMiD will open the nationwide migration museum in Cologne in 2029.

THE MOELLN LETTERS

A film by Martina Priessner
96 min / Germany 2025 / Documentary film

World premiere: 14.02.2025, 12:30h, Location: Stage Bluemax Theater am Potsdamer Platz as part of the Berlin International Film Festival 2025 in the Panorama section.

NRW film festival premiere: 01.04.2025, Dortmund, International Women's Film Festival Dortmund+Cologne.

The theatrical release distributed by Real Fiction in Germany is planned for fall 2025.

The director Martina Priessner and the main protagonist İbrahim Arslan are available for interviews.