German translation of NESoHR’s book on pre-2009 massacres released in Frankfurt

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 October 2012, 15:51 GMT]
The German translation of a compilation of large-scale massacres of Eezham Tamils by Sinhala forces from 1956 to 2008, brought out by the North East Secretariat on Human Rights (NESoHR), has been released at the famous Frankfurt Book Fair, reputed to be the largest book festival in the world, on Sunday. The book release of “Damit wir nicht vergessen” saw the participation of Peter Schalk, Professor Emeritus Uppasala University, Christian Weiss, the owner of the publishing house that brought out the book, apart from several Eezham Tamil activists. Speaking at the release, Prof. Schalk said that this book contained important evidence indicting the GoSL of human rights violations and genocide and it would be an asset in hauling the Sri Lankan state before the International Criminal Court.

Prof. Schalk had written an introductory note to this publication of NESoHR’s compilation.

The German version of the compilation includes data on IPKF massacres, which had been excluded in the English version of the same published in 2009.

The IPKF massacres, documented by the NESoHR were however brought out in a separate publication, “In the Name of Peace: IPKF Massacres of Tamils in Sri Lanka”, by Delhi Tamil Students Union in April 2011.

Eezham Tamil youth who attended the book release felt that this book would be an important document for second generation Eezham Tamils involved in activism not just to get a broad picture of what happened in the past, but also to use in their work to secure justice for their suffering brethren.

Chronology: