Döbeln. Grieving people from Döbeln have laid a sea of flowers and cuddly toys in front of the corner house on Friedensstrasse and Schillerstrasse. There is enough space on the sidewalk in front of the almost only unrenovated building in the Wilhelminian quarter. Valeriia lived with her mother just around the corner, and her grandmother lives next door. “Valeriia often went to her mother’s house and played around with us,” says Susan Meyer, who lives in the house with her grandmother. Several Ukrainian mothers and their children live in the neighborhood. “They are lovely people. The children wave to us. Now it’s terribly quiet in the courtyard,” says Susan Meyer.
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Flowers, stuffed animals and candles remind us of Valeriia.
Source: Sven Bartsch
Many students from the Lessing-Gymnasium look at the place of mourning on their way home from school. People have written little messages and letters to the dead girl. Ameli Schöne (15) and Josephin Teuchert (17) also pause. The two high school students have just returned from the “Youth trains for the Olympics” judo competition. The two judo ladies from the Döbelner SC know Valeriia from seeing her at judo competitions. The nine-year-old also trained judo at the children’s and youth sports club (KJSC) in Döbeln. “The death of the girl shocks us. Here we see that many people feel the same way we do,” says Josephin Teuchert. The search for the girl with hundreds of police officers throughout the city gave the two students in the ninth and eleventh grades goosebumps.
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“I didn’t know Valeriia personally, but I feel very connected to her,” says Iryna Shuliak. Like Valeriia’s mother, she fled the war in Ukraine with two children. She came to Döbeln in March 2022, heavily pregnant. Her daughter Yesenia was the first Ukrainian refugee baby to be born in the small Saxon town of Döbeln in April 2022. She lives in Döbeln with her three children and her husband Valentin. Valentin drove her to the memorial site for Valeriia so that she could light a candle.
Valeriia Seminjok is a freelance journalist from Kiev who currently lives in Berlin. She is reporting on the death of the Ukrainian girl from Döbeln for a Ukrainian television station. “The case is a big topic in newspapers and on radio and television in Ukraine,” she says, taking pictures of the candles, flowers and stuffed animals. She has spoken to Ukrainian refugees in Döbeln and to the mayor Sven Liebhauser. “Such a great city with very nice people – and such a sad occasion to get to know this city,” she says.
Funeral and church service in front of the town hall
A picture of the murdered Valeriia has also been put up under the balcony of the Döbeln town hall. A large fresh bouquet of flowers stands in front of it and grave candles are all around. A banner with a burning candle hangs from the town hall balcony. In the mayor’s office, people are talking about the upcoming memorial service for Valeriia. The town is holding it on Friday evening at 6 p.m. on the Obermarkt directly in front of the town hall. All citizens are invited to come to the town hall with a candle for the murdered girl and to remember her.
The building yard will set up a small stage at the town hall in the morning. The mayor will say a few words there, the Evangelical Church’s brass band will play a few songs for Valeriia and balloons will be released. The small shrine under the town hall balcony will be a memorial for the people of Döbeln over the next few days.
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On Sunday there will also be an ecumenical service for Valeriia on the small stage in front of the town hall, which will be hosted by the Evangelical Lutheran and Catholic parishes of Döbeln. It begins at 10 a.m.
Guests from Unna mourn with
A small delegation including Mayor Dirk Wiegand and his first deputy Sandro Wieggerich from Döbeln’s twin town Unna will also be coming to the memorial service for Valeriia. The Westphalian partners actually wanted to come to the town festival with a large delegation and celebrate 35 years of twin town twinning with a celebratory event on Saturday morning. However, the town festival was cancelled due to the tragic events. The twin town anniversary is to be held in the autumn, probably on German Unity Day. But the people of Unna still want to come in a small group to mourn with the people of Döbeln.
DNN
2024-06-13 17:47:16
#Döbeln #mourns #murder #Valeriia
