On Whit Monday, May 29, 1993, four young men from Solingen from the extreme right-wing milieu carried out an assassination attack on the Genç family in the early hours of the morning. They set a fire in the entrance area of their house on Untere Wernerstraße. Saime Genç (4 years old), Hülya Genç (9 years old), Gülistan Öztürk (12 years old), Hatice Genç (18 years old) and Gürsün İnce (27 years old) died in the flames.
Other family members were injured, some seriously. Mevlüde Genç, the mother of Hatice and Gürsün, grandmother of Saime and Hülya, aunt of Gülistan, called for reconciliation and friendship shortly after the attack. She campaigned for tolerance and peaceful coexistence until her death in 2022.
A memorial was erected at the Mildred Scheel Vocational College on occasion of the first anniversary of the attack. It was initiated by the „Jugendhilfe-Werkstatt“ and inaugurated on May 29, 1994 with great participation of the Solingen citizens. On the 30th anniversary of the attack, the memorial was supplemented by six steles commemorating the five victims and Mevlüde Genç.
In 1994 the city of Solingen, together with the association „SOS Rassismus”, planted five young chestnut trees on the property on Untere Wernerstraße. Since then, a memorial stone commemorates the five murdered. In 2023 it was supplemented by an information board showing, among other things, the family home as a three-dimensional relief.
On the eve of the 30th anniversary of the attack, Mercimek Square near the Solingen City Hall was renamed Mevlüde-Genç-Platz. Here, too, a plaque commemorates her commitment to understanding and peaceful coexistence.
The placques and this website were sponsored by the Gerd-Kaimer-Bürgerstiftung and the Jugendhilfe-Werkstatt Solingen e.V. in 2023.
