Hamburg Foundation for Politically Persecuted People

We look forward to the next foundation guests!

Rana The scriptwriter and filmmaker Rana (pseudonym) produces each of her films under high stress and says she always has to expend a lot of energy to avoid thinking about the consequences threatened in her country. In Germany, she would like to think about a new screenplay.
Pressemitteilung Rana (Pseudonym)

Nazanin As a contemporary composer and musician, Nazanin (pseudonym) also faces major problems in her country. Although she is considered a great talent in her field, public performances in her home country remain forbidden to her. She wants to get to know the work of her European colleagues, make new contacts and be able to work “without scissors in her head” for once.
Pressemitteilung Nazanin (Pseudonym)

Mary Wine (Pseudonym) (name has been changed) is a new guest of the Hamburg Foundation for the Politically Persecuted People. She is a courageous TV and print journalist whose story we cannot publish here for security reasons.
Link to Press release

Current guests 2020-2022

Heval Bozbay. The Kurdish archaeologist Heval Bozbay successfully searched fo testimonies of the past civilization on the territory of today’s Turkey. Because of his public criticism of the Turkish Minister of Culture, Bozbay has been banned from all archaeological excavations since 2013.
Link to Press release

Masrat Zahra is a photojournalist comes from the disputed region of Kashmir which is claimed by both India and Pakistan. Since 1989, an armed insurgency led local Kashmiris and supported by Pakistan has been raging in the scenic region against the Indian rule. She has already been honoured with important international awards for ex. in 2020 the ” Peter Mackler Award” and the “Anja Niendringhaus Award” for courageous photojournalism.
Link to Press release

Tatsiana Tkachova. The award-winning photographer quit her permanent job at a state-owned daily newspaper, her contribution not being part of the system.

„STIMMEN FÜR DIE FREIHEIT”
The podcast of the Hamburg Foundation.
Johannes von Dohnanyi introduces – but not only – current and former guests of the foundation.

Shammi Haque from Bangladesh
Kamal Chomani – We will not be silenced! The young journalist and analyst Kamal Chomani had to flee his homeland after opposing the referndum for independance called by the Kurdish leadership. Even though today he is living in Germany, the former guest of the Hamburg Foundation for politically perscuted people hasn’t stopped fighting for democracy and human rights just in Kurdistan. „Iraqi from all walks of life are fed up with the system!“
Shahindha Ismail – No place form me in paradise!
Heval Bozbay – „I have still dreams.“
Farzad Pak- Filmproduzent – Oppression and restrictions only foster creativity
Farida Nekzad: – Dark times are coming back

Aleksei Bobrovnikov: – Ukraine: „Ich hasse es, wenn meine Informanten getötet werden“
Tanya Tkachova – Belarus: „ Ich habe getan, was ich konnte“.

Ellen Tordesillas – Philippinen: „Mord hat nichts mit Demokratie zu tun!“

Masrat Zarah – Kashmir: „Nobody is safe in Kashmir“

All episodes can also be found here:

36 years Hamburg Foundation for Politically Persecuted People

The Hamburg Foundation supports politically

persecuted people who, because of advocating

democracy, freedom and human rights,

find themselves in a dangerous, often life-threatening

situation in their native countries.

WELCOME