An exhibition with photographs by Regina Schmeken
Süleyman Taköprü was murdered on June 27, 2001, in his grocery store on Schützenstraße in Altona by terrorists of the National Socialist Underground (NSU). He was one of ten victims of a brutal series of attacks perpetrated by right-wing extremists in eight German cities between 2000 and 2007. The victims were nine men of Turkish and Greek descent, as well as a policewoman. Two bomb attacks carried out by the NSU in Cologne also left many injured, including seriously injured. The crimes, which remained hidden for a long time, left deep scars on society.
Photographer Regina Schmeken visited the NSU crime scenes in 2013 and 2015/2016. Her large-format black-and-white photographs capture the disturbing normality of these scenes of hatred and violence in the heart of German cities. Through her camera, they become silent testimonies to the crimes that took place there.
The exhibition title refers to the National Socialist propaganda slogan "Blood and Soil" and thus to the ideological background of the right-wing extremists. Thus, the exhibition not only becomes an artistic exploration of the NSU, but also a warning monument against racism and right-wing extremism in the present.
With this exhibition, the Altona Museum commemorates the series of murders of Enver imek, Abdurrahim Özüdoru, Süleyman Taköprü, Habil Klç, Mehmet Turgut, smail Yaar, Theodoros Boulgarides, Mehmet Kubak, Halit Yozga and Michèle Kiesewetter, which began 25 years ago with the murder of Enver imek in 2000.
June 27, 2026, marks the 25th anniversary of the murder of 31-year-old Süleyman Taköprü, which took place in the immediate vicinity of the Altona Museum.
