Marwa Ali El-Sherbini was an Egyptian national handball player and trained pharmacist. She was working as a pharmacist and lived in Dresden with her husband and three-year-old son and was pregnant with a second child at the time of her murder. In August 2008, Marwa El-Sherbini was insulted as an „Islamist“ and „terrorist“ by her later murderer in a Dresden playground. Following a complaint to the police, a trial was held at Dresden District Court on July 1, 2009. When Marwa El-Sherbini wanted to leave the courtroom with her family after her testimony, the defendant, Alex Wiens, a Russian-German, killed her with numerous stab wounds and also seriously injured her husband, who tried to protect her. Their three-year-old son was also in the courtroom.

The fact that the murder could take place in the middle of the courtroom triggered an intense discussion about structural racism and court security. Despite death threats from the defendant, which the court had received, there had been no weapons checks at the entrance to the building or in the courtroom. A police officer who arrived injured Marwa El-Sherbini’s husband, whom he believed to be the attacker, with a shot. The perpetrator was sentenced to life imprisonment for premeditated murder and attempted murder in a further trial in October 2009; the particular gravity of his guilt was established.

Susanne Keichel’s photographs show the crime scene and the memorial services on the occasion of Marwa Ali El-Sherbini’s death from the perspective of witness to the event. In contrast to iconic press images, these are details and fragments that provide only incomplete insights into what happened. Keichel’s photographs document a sense of consternation and powerlessness in the face of an act that took place before everyone’s eyes.

In Dresden the „Gedenken.Erinnern.Mahnen“ initiative commemorates Marwa El Sherbini every year on July 1 with the aim of setting a signal for an open-minded and tolerant society in which no one is discriminated against or attacked on the basis of origin, religion or appearance. The initiative includes various institutions and associations such as the Ausländerrat Dresden e. V., projects Frauentreff and Dresdner Migrationsgeschichten, the Regionale Arbeitsstellen für Bildung, Integration und Demokratie e.V. (RAA – Sachsen e.V.) AFROPA e. V., the Johannstädter Kulturtreff and the Integrations- und Ausländerbeirat. Further information can also be found at Gegen Uns and at the Dresden City website Democracy and Respect.
A selection from the series can be seen until July 7 at the Stadtmuseum Dresden in the exhibition „MENSCHENanSCHAUEN: Von Blicken zu Taten im Stadtmuseum“. More at „Raster der Gewalt. Von Blicken zu Taten“. The entire series „B. 7. Oktober 1977, Alexandria, d. 1. Juli 2009, Dresden (a commentary)” by Susanne Keichel“ will be shown at the robotron canteen from August 30.