A public petition before the Bremen state parliament is calling for the creation of a memorial dedicated to the genocide committed against the Ezidi people on 3 August 2014.
The petition, listed under the number L21-333 and titled “Memorial to the Genocide of the Ezidis,” was submitted by Sidan Khudeda, an Ezidi survivor from Shengal in Iraq. The signing period ended on 31 March 2026, with 10 co-signatories listed on the public petition portal. The petition is now marked as being under parliamentary deliberation.
In the petition, Khudeda calls for a public monument to commemorate the genocide committed by ISIS against the Ezidi people in Shengal. He writes that thousands of men were murdered, women and children were abducted, raped and enslaved, and entire families were torn apart as part of an attempt to erase the Ezidi people and their Sharfadin faith.
Khudeda states that he personally survived the genocide and was forced to flee with his family for more than three months before arriving in Germany in 2014. Today, he works publicly on remembrance, education and reconciliation through lectures, readings, art, social media and personal conversations about his life and survival.
The proposed memorial is intended to honour the victims, make survivors visible, educate the public and create a permanent place of remembrance and encounter. The petition also stresses that the memorial should strengthen awareness against racism, religious persecution and genocide, while giving public recognition to the history and suffering of the Ezidi people.
The concept presented in the petition includes several symbolic design elements. Among them are a stone representation of Mount Shengal, a red accent symbolising innocent life and remembrance, and a figure of a woman holding a child as a symbol of loss and survival. Other proposed elements include stone shoes, a broken stele or an abstract red stone, as well as an information panel with the words: “In memory of the genocide of the Ezidis – 3 August 2014.”
The petition also proposes space for personal memorial plaques and calls for the monument to be placed in a public, accessible and dignified location. It explicitly states that the memorial should avoid direct depictions of violence.
Khudeda asks the state authorities to support the project through help with site approval, professional advice on art, monument protection and urban planning, possible funding or co-financing, and cooperation with local initiatives, schools and associations. He also expresses willingness to support a donation campaign together with the state, including public fundraising, charity events and cooperation with foundations and Ezidi organisations.
The petition sets the goal of unveiling the monument on 3 August 2026, the twelfth anniversary of the genocide. According to the proposed timetable, site selection and permits were to be completed by March 2026, artistic planning by May 2026, financing and construction preparation during June and July, and installation by the end of July.
The call for a memorial comes in a country where many Ezidis found refuge after the 2014 genocide. Germany’s federal parliament officially recognised the crimes committed by ISIS against the Ezidis as genocide in January 2023. A public memorial in Bremen would therefore not only honour victims and survivors, but also serve as a visible reminder of Germany’s responsibility to protect memory, dignity and justice.
In his final appeal, Khudeda writes that the monument should give the victims of the genocide a voice and stand as a shared promise not to look away. “Where memory has a place, forgetting finds no place,” the petition states.
