Amadeu Antonio Kiowa

Amadeu Antenio Kiowa (born 12 August 1962 in Quimbele, Angola; died 6 December 1990 in Eberswalde) was a contract worker (Vertragsarbeiter) from Angola. He is one of the first known victims who were killed in the course of far-right violence in the Federal Republic of Germany since reunification. The lenient verdicts in the trial of the perpetrators were widely criticized. The court charged the perpetrators with "battery resulting in death" (Körperverletzung mit Todesfolge). They were sentenced to a maximum of four years in prison. Since then members of civil society and the media have referred to the crime as murder. [1][2][3]

Life

Kiowa was born in 1962 in Quimbele, northeast of the Angolan capital Luanda. He was the eldest of twelve children of his mother Helena Alfonso. He was trained in Brazil, Portugal and the Soviet Union. On 3 August 1987, Antonio, together with 103 other Angolan contract workers, came to the German Democratic Republic (GDR). He hoped to study aircraft engineering, but, like many Angolan contract workers at the time, was trained as a butcher. Antonio worked in the slaughterhouses and processing plants in the town of Eberswalde to the North-East of Berlin. It was there he met his girlfriend with whom he was expecting a child at the time of his death. The situation of the young couple abruptly changed with the Peaceful Revolution in the GDR. During that time, many foreign contract workers lost their jobs and their residence status suddenly became unclear as contracts with their countries of origin were cancelled in the course of German Reunification.

Death

On the evening of November 24, 1990, neo-Nazi Skinheads from several villages had gathered in the Eberswalde apartment of a local Neonazi. [4] In a night club they banded together with about 50 others with the intention of beating up anyone who looked "different". On the night of November 24 to 25, 1990, the group ran into Kiowa and two men from Mozambique. Kiowa was brutally beaten up by members of the group and one of the perpetrators jumped on his head with both feet as he was lying on the ground. The 28-year-old Kiowa suffered serious head injuries and fell into a coma. He never woke up again and died in hospital 11 days later. The two Mozambicans who were attacked with knives by the same group managed to escape alive albeit with serious injuries.

Media
  • 1993: Film Amadeu Antonio, Berlinale, Forumfilm; Deutschland 1992, 50 min; Director: Thomas Balzer; Sales: ZDF[5]

References
  1. Ben Reichardt: 'Eberswalde was a bad nest, online article of 23 November 2015 on www.welt.de;accessed 13 August 2019
  2. Marie-Luise Braun: 25 years after the murder. Amadeu Antonio: His death has changed Eberswalde', online article of December 3, 2015 on www.noz.de; Retrieved August 13, 2019
  3. Spiegel TV Magazine: Eberswalde and the Murder of Amadeu Antonio Kiowa, article from August 27, 2012, available on youtube; accessed August 13, 2019
  4. http://www.deutschlandradiokultur.de/before-20-years-was-amadeu-antonio-kiowa-in-eberswalde.1001.de.html?dram:article_id=157189
  5. Filmdatenblatt Berlinale 1993


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