The Halabja Memorial Trail

The Halabja Memorial Trail will introduce a new way of dealing with the crimes of Saddams Regime.

On March 14, 2024, there will be another commemoration of the 1988 poison gas attack in Halabja. Together, the city administration of Halabja, our local organization NWE and Wadi will present a new remembrance project that has been planned for years and is now finally being implemented: The Halabja Memorial Trail. Supported by the solidarity fund of the Hans Böckler Foundation and the Gerda Weber Fund of the VVN-BdA Bavaria, this marked path through the city is intended to connect remembrance with the reality of life for the local people.

The Memorial Trail leads through the streets and neighborhoods of the city, telling the countless stories of those who lived there before the city fell victim to the 1988 gas attack and who now live there decades after its reconstruction. The starting point is the Halabja memorial, which is dedicated to the victims of the poison gas attack. From there, the trail extends through the city center, the cemetery and the former Jewish quarter.

Along the trail, panels with texts and pictures provide information about the events of March 16, 1988 as well as various aspects of Halabja’s history. Educational elements highlight the city’s rich heritage and artistic expressions to create a deeper understanding and a stronger connection to the past.

The first boards have been erected since the beginning of February. By Remembrance Day, five of a total of fifteen information boards are to be erected this year.

At the same time, the “Halabja Trail” website was launched, on which the stations are explained in various languages and further background information can be downloaded for each board.

This project is part of a larger remembrance campaign in Iraqi Kurdistan. In recent years, a number of NGOs and individuals have joined forces to develop a new form of commemorative work. Away from superficial remembrance and towards participatory remembrance shaped by survivors. In this context, they are currently working on archiving interviews and objects relating to the Anfal campaign on site. These are to be compiled into a museum. Together with survivors, a culture of remembrance is to be created that corresponds to their grief and needs.

The commemorative work on Halabja and Anfal will also be developed in Europe. Commemorative events, delegations and exhibitions in Germany are intended to generate attention, interest and serious sympathy.

This will begin with a commemorative exhibition in Landshut on 16/17.03.24 in Haus International. In addition to the facts about the poison gas attack on Halabja on March 16, 1988, poems and interviews with surviving relatives and survivors will also be shown.

This year, too, the exchange between people in Kurdistan and in Europe who are doing commemorative work is to be intensified. In a first step, Kak Hemn from the Anfal documentation project mentioned above will come to Germany to present his project. And in a second step, a memorial delegation of people with a lot of experience in the field of memorial work will exchange ideas with survivors and activists in Kurdistan. The main aim is to talk about best practice examples and hurdles, but also to involve the people directly on the ground.

The Halabja Memorial Trail is a good start for this important development dealing with new forms of rememberance of the past.