Semra Ertan

Semra Ertan (31 May 1956 – 26 May 1982) was a Turkish migrant worker and writer in Germany who, in protest against racism, specifically, the treatment of Turks in Germany, set herself on fire in a Hamburg marketplace.

Biography Semra Ertan was born on 31 May 1956, in Mersin, Turkey. She was the daughter of Gani Ertan and Vehbiya Ertan, who lived in Kiel and Hamburg as foreign workers. She moved to Germany at the age of 15, Ertan doused herself with of gasoline that she had purchased at a petrol station that morning and ignited it. In November 1978, 39% of Germans demanded that foreigners return to their home countries, while two months before Ertan's death, 68% of West Germans were of this opinion. In addition, violence against foreigners in 1982 was no longer an isolated phenomenon. inter alia, to Semra Ertan. Semra Ertan, a 2013 documentary produced by Cana Bilir-Meier, screened at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and received the Innovative Film Award at the YOUKI International Youth Media Festival Austria.