Lissy Schmidt (ca. 1959 – 3 April 1994), also known by her pseudonyms Milena Ergen and Petra Sert, was a German journalist who worked for the

Agence France Presse Agence France-Presse (AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency. AFP has regional headquarters in Nicosia, Montevideo, Hong Kong and Washington, D ...

, ''

Frankfurter Rundschau The ''Frankfurter Rundschau'' (FR) is a German daily newspaper, based in Frankfurt am Main. It is published every day but Sunday as a city, two regional and one nationwide issues and offers an online edition (see link below) as well as an e-p ...

'' (

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its ...

), and ''

Der Tagesspiegel ''Der Tagesspiegel'' (meaning ''The Daily Mirror'') is a German daily newspaper. It has regional correspondent offices in Washington D.C. and Potsdam. It is the only major newspaper in the capital to have increased its circulation, now 148,000, ...

'' (

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

). She and her driver were both killed in an ambush outside of

Sulaymaniyah Sulaymaniyah, also spelled as Slemani ( ku, سلێمانی, Silêmanî, ar, السليمانية, as-Sulaymāniyyah), is a city in the east of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, not far from the Iran–Iraq border. It is surrounded by the Azmar, ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

, while she was reporting about the Iraqi Kurds. The publication of one of her books in Turkish led to its ban in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

and provoked a freedom of expression case in Europe.

Personal

Lissy Schmidt was from

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

. She was a member of

Pax Christi Pax Christi International is an international Catholic peace movement. The Pax Christi International website declares its mission is "to transform a world shaken by violence, terrorism, deepening inequalities, and global insecurity." History ...

Limburg Limburg or Limbourg may refer to: Regions * Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium * Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands * Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...

and founded chapters in Wiesbaden and

Idstein Idstein () is a town of about 25,000 inhabitants in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany. Because of its well preserved historical Altstadt (Old Town) it is part of the ''Deutsche Fachwerkstraße'' ...

. Schmidt knew two Kurdish-language dialects,

Sorani Central Kurdish (), also called Sorani (), is a Kurdish dialect or a language that is spoken in Iraq, mainly in Iraqi Kurdistan, as well as the provinces of Kurdistan, Kermanshah, and West Azerbaijan in western Iran. Sorani is one of the two ...

and

Kirmanji Kurmanji ( ku, کورمانجی, lit=Kurdish, translit=Kurmancî, also termed Northern Kurdish, is the northern dialect of the Kurdish languages, spoken predominantly in southeast Turkey, northwest and northeast Iran, northern Iraq, northern Sy ...

, and according to ''

Die Zeit ''Die Zeit'' (, "The Time") is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History Th ...

'' newspaper, she was well-known among Kurds. She was murdered when she was 35 years old. A monument in her memory was constructed in

, Iraq.

Career

Lissy Schmidt worked for Agence France Presse, ''Frankfurter Rundschau'', and ''Der Tagesspiegel''. Before reporting from Iraq, she had reported on Kurdish issues in Turkey for ''Frankfurter Rundschau''. She had been assigned by the AFP to work in Kurdish Iraq on Kurdish issues and had been based there since 1991. Under her pseudonym Milena Ergen, Schmidt published two books on Kurdistan, ''Tatort Kurdistan'' (Translated: "Crime Scene Kurdistan") in 1989 and ''Wie Teuer Ist Die Freiheit?'' (Translated: How Expensive is Freedom), which was published after her death in 1994. Her latter work was also published posthumously by Turkish publisher

Ayşe Nur Zarakolu Ayşe Nur Zarakolu (née Sarısözen) (9 May 1946 – 28 January 2002) was a Turkish author, publisher and human rights advocate. She was co-founder, with her husband Ragıp Zarakolu, of notable Turkish publishing house Belge and, in the 1980s, ...

in Turkish in 1997. The Turkish government banned Schmidt's book and pressed charges against Zarakolu, although Zarakolu died while the case was in progress before the

European Commission of Human Rights The European Commission of Human Rights was a special body of the Council of Europe. From 1954 to the entry into force of Protocol 11 to the European Convention on Human Rights, individuals did not have direct access to the European Court of H ...

Death

Lissy Schmidt was killed along with Aziz Kadir Farag, her driver and bodyguard, on 3 April 1994 when a car with a driver and an armed attacker passed their vehicle and the perpetrator shot into their car. ''The Independent'' (UK) reported that two Iraqi men later confessed to their Iraqi Kurdish interrogators that they killed Lissy Schmidt and her driver because their family members were held captive and the Iraqi government ordered them to kill the foreigners to ensure the protection of their loved ones. Two men were later hanged for her murder.

Context

The

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

accused the Iraqi government of putting prices on the killing of foreigners in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq. The month before Schmidt's murder, two Swedish reporters were injured after a bomb exploded in their empty car and two Czechs and two Austrians were injured by other attacks. Two other UN guards were injured two days after Schmidts murder.

Impact

The murder of German journalists does not occur frequently but Schmidt is part of a growing number to have been killed in conflicts abroad.

Reactions

German politician Angelika Beer wore ribbons in her hair of the Kurdish national colors in honor of her friend Lissy Schmidt and for this was criticized by the Turkish government while on an official visit.

References

External links

Newseum entry
* Von Höges, Clemens

''Der Spiegel'' (21 June 1999)

''Focus Magazin'' (21 May 1994)
"Rares Gut"
''Die Zeit'' (6 May 1994) {{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidt, Lissy 1959 births 1994 deaths Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights Deaths by firearm in Iraq European Court of Human Rights cases involving Turkey German women journalists Assassinated German journalists People from Wiesbaden 20th-century German women writers 20th-century journalists 20th-century pseudonymous writers Pseudonymous women writers 20th-century assassinated people