Memories of Murder: A Jewish Mother Speaks Out

Jerusalem Post, December 14, 2018

This was her first in-depth interview since her daughter’s brutal murder and alleged rape by an Iraqi illegal immigrant. She has shied away from reporters, unsure of their agenda and whether the reportage might jeopardize the upcoming trial of Ali Bashar, 21, the confessed murderer. She wants the harshest punishment possible in Germany: life imprisonment without parole. The trial will begin early next year.

I met her through an activist of a local movement that speaks out against the refugee policy that is ostensibly responsible for Susanna’s murder. As an Israeli Jew, I felt a sense of family between us. Hence, the openness and easy tears. My shoulder was outstretched for her constant cries.

Susanna’s was the type of murder people encounter only in TV specials. In true murder-mystery style, her body was found in a makeshift ditch near the train tracks in Wiesbaden-Erbenheim across the Rhine River from Mainz, her hometown. The region was the center of medieval Jewish life in Germany and now is home to a few thousand Jews.

Click here to read the exclusive interview in the Jerusalem Post.

Read the PDF version, here.

 

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