Die Möllner Briefe

On the night of 23 November 1992, three members of the Arslan family were killed in a racially motivated arson attack in the small German town of Mölln. İbrahim Arslan, who survived the attack as a toddler, has found a way to cope with the trauma through activism and sharing his testimony with students in schools. His work has also empowered other survivors of racist violence, encouraging them to come together and organise collectively.

The starting point of this documentary is an accidental discovery made by a student in the Mölln municipal archives, which brings another injustice to light. The town had not only kept thousands of letters addressed to the victims’ families hidden, but had also opened and answered them, falsely claiming to have forwarded them to the bereaved family. These letters expressed solidarity and support that, İbrahim Arslan is convinced, would have helped his family at the time. He confronts the mayor and the town archivist, ultimately ensuring that the documents are transferred to DOMiT, the Documentation Centre and Museum of Migration in Cologne.