Our Pain IS Our Strength

  • Written by two daughters whose fathers were murdered by the right-wing terrorist group NSU

  • Approachable and authentic: with lots of photos and documents

  • A plea to remain vigilant

Semiya was fourteen years old, Gamze twenty, when their fathers are murdered by the right-wing extremist terrorist cell ‘National Socialist Underground’ (NSU). The two young women, who grew up in Germany, are united by the same pain. The prejudgement of the German police and the lack of interest from the public hit them with full force.
In this non-fiction book for young adults, the young women, bound together by their fate, recount in first-person accounts, telephone calls and chats how they experienced the shocking events at the time and how the murders tore them away from their previous lives. But they also describe how they were able to develop tremendous strength together, which continues to drive them to fight to this day: against forgetting and for a future without exclusion.

Contact Foreign Rights
  • Publisher: Fischer Sauerländer
  • Release: 27.08.2025
  • ISBN: 978-3-7373-7348-7
  • 192 Pages
  • Authors: Gamze KubaşıkSemiya ŞimşekChristine Werner
Buchcover von Our Pain IS Our Strength: Neonazis haben unsere Väter ermordet
Gamze Kubaşık Semiya Şimşek Christine Werner Our Pain IS Our Strength
Portrait von Gamze Kubaşık
© Simon Milz
Gamze Kubaşık

Gamze Kubaşık, born in Pazarcık, Turkey, in 1985, is a political speaker and active in political remembrance work. She lives with her family in Dortmund. Among other things, she is involved in the nationwide solidarity network for victims of right-wing, racist and anti-Semitic violence, fights against racism and tells her story in schools.

Portrait von Semiya Şimşek
© Simon Milz
Semiya Şimşek

Semiya Şimşek, born in Friedberg in 1986, has been living with her family in Turkey since 2012, where she works as a social worker. In 2013, she was awarded the Olympe de Gouges Prize for her speech at the memorial service for the victims of the NSU. Together with Gamze Kubaşık, she is involved in alliances and the nationwide solidarity network.

Portrait von Christine Werner
© Karin Maigut
Christine Werner

Christine Werner, born in Landau/Pfalz in 1967, is an author and freelance journalist. She writes features on social and sociopolitical topics for public radio. She has repeatedly addressed the topic of the NSU and spoken with survivors and victims of right-wing violence.