Open House Day -
Saturday, August 3, 2024
News from our 2024 Open House Day
Dear interested parties and friends of the Jemal Nebez Foundation!
Our new representative for Germany and Kurdistan Bashur, the home region of our namesake, was not able to attend the online meeting, but nevertheless let us know from home that our hope of receiving technical assistance and expertise for our library and estate project from there may have real ground.
We will hear the details in due course and then make a statement. We are excited and grateful for this first positive signal from Halo.
Otherwise, as announced, the focus was on the online Zoom meeting with Sirwan. There were participants from the USA, where Sirwan currently lives, and from Kurdistan, more precisely from Rojhelat, which borders Bashur to the east. There, as Hesam from Saqqez reported, Jemal's works are urgently needed for reading, but are completely out of print. We are pleased about Hesam's initiative and would like to cooperate. Sahar, the future student of medicine and sociology, was also there which was really nice.
The other Kurds in the Online meeting - all currently in the US and all working there and leading scientific minds - are connected to the Jemal Nebez Foundation through Sirwan and Yado's initiative of online scientific seminars, either having already given a seminar or being scheduled for one. Aram's specialty is IT and how automated translation programs can make it easier for Kurds to communicate with each other (in writing and via audio). This is a project that is very much in the spirit of our namesake!
We can also well imagine the joy with which Jemal would have listened to the Kurdish professor of genetics when he introduced himself and, after a few sentences, mentioned that he comes from Khorasan in north-west Iran and near Bakur Kurdistan. He reported some new things from this region, namely that the idea that Khorasan is remote, small and rural is not true. He comes from a big city. The assimilation of the Khorasan Kurds is strong, he reported, but his father had consciously raised him and his siblings as Kurds. The suggestion was that he should also talk briefly about his home region during his academic seminar. The participants will be all the more interested to listen to him when he talks about his laboratory work and his special findings, which are being sought in the USA, that is the assumption. The participants in the seminar will find out whether he agrees to the proposal.
Our open day is over. It was our fourth. Seven months and half of our annual program are behind us. We are still undergoing the restructuring announced at the beginning of the year, but all the signs are that it will succeed. After the summer break, we will report in a newsletter on what we have achieved so far.
This was our Open House event on Saturday, August 19, 2023
Like all non-profit foundations, we offer an Open House Day once a year. This was our third such event, and also this year we have had several very interested visitors and guests. We gladly showed our work and enjoyed the discussions.
Those who were still there to the end and did not mind being pictured can be seen below.
In the group photos you can see our newly appointed contact person to all Kurdish groups and associations (see About us), Samera Abdulla Schah, the one in the colorful dress close to the door of our future library.
The wrought iron gate (almost as beautiful as the craftsmanship shown in the book "Wrought Iron from Kurdistan") you can see in all pictures we have had all along, but had to have it fixed. This at last was done just in time for our 2023 Open House, thanks to skillful hands and lots of knowhow.
This was our Open House even t on Saturday, July 16, 2022
Our info flyer "Invitation to get to know us" had been finished shortly before and was ready for the taking.
Convenient viewing and downloading here
The digital version is displayed below in the gallery - in Kurdish in both writing systems, in German and English. And here is the download in English
 | info_english.pdf (3.37MB) |
| info_english.pdf (3.37MB) |
We had less visitors this year than we had imagined, which may still be related to the Corona pandemic, or because of the vacation season.
This year's visitors by name
Rezan Abdullahi, Peyman Abdullah, Bakir Ali, Dr. Irfan Mustafa Amin, Hello Barzinjeyie, Prof. Kenan Engin, Dr. Yashar Kırgız, Aras Marouf, Jutta Neuendorf, Dagmar Neumann, Osman Tofiq.
Event with momentum
Our second Open House definitely had its own momentum as the representatives of the Foundation, Dr. Hanne Küchler, Jan Gosau and Salar Pashaie, and the aforementioned visitors had plenty of opportunity to engage with each other, more than the year before. What started with casual conversations in small groups led to a truly varied exchange.
This may have been due to the fact that we had several visitors who were also happy to actively contribute themselves and their topics. However, the Foundation's self-presentation, its wide-ranging interests and concerns, probably paved the way for the open exchange.
Stimulating open exchange
In any case, many topics came up in the two large discussion rounds. One important major topic was the situation of Kurdish migrants in Germany and elsewhere.
As far as the educational successes of Kurdish migrant children are concerned, these successes are not uncommon, there was agreement on that, provided the family environment is right and provides protection and support for the children.
One visitor brought up that he thought research on "Kurdish migration in Germany" would be valuable and suggested it to be applied to the period after World War I, from 1920 onwards, which was commented on from several sides.
A long-time friend of the namesake of our foundation as well as his brother, who has also been living in Germany for many years, would rather have the life and work of Jemal Nebez researched,
We also had a visitor who has given up his secure academic environment in his home country and is very keen to resume his research here. He asked the key question: what opportunities are there in Germany and elsewhere far from home for researchers in exile?
The Humboldt Foundation might be one place to turn to, was the immediate reaction, which was then considered from several sides. The board of directors pointed out that the Jemal Nebez Foundation could also help capable researchers in exile to obtain a research fellowship. According to §2, paragraph 4 of its statutes, it is entitled, or rather obliged, to further research on specific topics concerning Kurds or Kurdistan. However, it is only able to do so if financially strong sponsors provide the funds.
Unanimously identified urgent need for research
How to alleviate the existing deficit in research concerning the history of the Kurds and Kurdistan in the broadest sense or narrowly tailored to Germany, such as the educational achievements of Kurdish migrant children and how to improve them, was then a long-discussed topic. One possibility would be to raise funds and provide research grants, for example through the Jemal Nebez Foundation.
A rose in memory of Jemal Nebez
In the house where the foundation is housed, our namesake is still personally known. A neighbor came late in the afternoon, together with a friend, and brought a rose in a pot to plant in memory of Jemal Nebez, which was soon implemented in the courtyard garden, near the terrace belonging to the Foundation.
JNS Open House - Saturday/July 17, 2021
All the worries and concerns we had in the run-up to our first Open House evaporated when the first announced guests arrived.
Our new sign at the terrace entrance was a repeated highlight. The entrance via the hallway remained unused that day, instead the terrace was the entrance and the door to the hallway the exit. Many guests also returned to the terrace for a farewell photo. Our space in Spichernstraße surely cannot accommodate many visitors at once. But we have much storage space and - besides the central workstation for the office management - three (3) more workstations for help to come. How we have rebuilt our office for the Foundation’s requirements, what solutions we have found, was often commented positively, which pleased us.
Finally, the weather came to our aid with sunshine at the right moment. After the tour inside, our guests were happy to use the space in front of the windows in the courtyard and on the terrace. Tables and chairs were quickly put out for this purpose. . . .
Here are some Photos:
. . .
Many stimulating conversations in a pleasant atmosphere rounded off the day. We are already looking forward to the agreed continuation of the contacts made after the summer break. We thank all participants for their contribution to the success of our first Open Day, which is a valuable incentive for our next Open Day in July 2022.
