A Hand in Brass - Rathausstraße
A small brass plate set into the pavement in front of the Rathauspassagen at Rathausstraße 13 carries the cast of a young man's hand: here, in the early hours of 14 October 2012, twenty year old Jonny K. was beaten to death for stepping in to help a friend.
Su questo luogo
The Rathauspassagen, a 185 metre modernist block built between 1967 and 1972 as East Berlin's socialist shopping showcase, are an unlikely setting for one of the cases that most shook modern Berlin. In the early hours of Sunday 14 October 2012, Jonny K., a twenty year old Berliner born in Khon Kaen in Thailand, was walking home from a birthday party beneath the television tower when his group met six young men on the pavement at Rathausstraße 13. When one of his friends was confronted, Jonny intervened, was punched, knocked to the ground and kicked repeatedly in the head; resuscitated on the spot, he died in hospital the same day of a brain haemorrhage. Four attackers were arrested within days, while the main suspect, nineteen year old amateur boxer Onur U., fled to Turkey and only surrendered at Tegel airport in April 2013. The Berlin Regional Court trial ran from 13 May to 15 August 2013 and ended with four years and six months for Onur U. and two years and eight months each for Bilal K. and Melih Y.; the Federal Court of Justice rejected all appeals in 2014. On the first anniversary of his death, Jonny's sister Tina K. and Governing Mayor Klaus Wowereit unveiled the brass plaque bearing the replica of his hand on this exact spot. Her campaign against youth violence, and the permanent police presence that followed on Alexanderplatz, are the lasting legacy of a death that forced Berlin to ask what it means to look away.
Fatti principali
- 20 years old — Jonny K.'s age when he died on 14 October 2012 after stepping in to help a friend outside the Rathauspassagen.
- 6 attackers — Six young men aged nineteen to twenty four stood trial at the Berlin Regional Court between 13 May and 15 August 2013; the main offender Onur U. received four years and six months.
- 2013 year — On 14 October 2013, the first anniversary of his death, a brass plaque with the cast of Jonny's hand was set into the pavement at Rathausstraße 13.
📍 Rathausstraße 13, 10178, Berlin