Tilman Zülch is a German human rights activist. He is the founder and general secretary of the Society for Threatened Peoples

Society for Threatened Peoples

Society for Threatened Peoples is an international NGO and human rights organization based in Göttingen, Germany. It seeks to create awareness of and protect minority peoples around the world who are threatened by oppressive governments. The group states on its website that it "campaigns against...

.

Life

In 1945 he moved with his family during the postwar expulsion of Germans

Expulsion of Germans after World War II

The later stages of World War II, and the period after the end of that war, saw the forced migration of millions of German nationals and ethnic Germans from various European states and territories, mostly into the areas which would become post-war Germany and post-war Austria...

 out of the Sudetenland. As a boy he belonged to the Bündische Jugend, part of the German Youth Movement

German Youth Movement

The German Youth Movement is a collective term for a cultural and educational movement that started in 1896. It consists of numerous associations of young people that focus on outdoor activities. The movement included German Scouting and the Wandervogel...

 in Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

. He completed his Abitur

Abitur

Abitur is a designation used in Germany, Finland and Estonia for final exams that pupils take at the end of their secondary education, usually after 12 or 13 years of schooling, see also for Germany Abitur after twelve years.The Zeugnis der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife, often referred to as...

 at the Gymnasium Louisenlund in the Kreis Rendsburg-Eckernförde. He studied politics and economics in Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

, Graz

Graz

The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...

, and Heidelberg

Heidelberg

-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...

. He was active in college political groups and the Außerparlamentarische Opposition.

In June 1968, he along with Klaus Guerke founded “Aktion: Biafra Hilfe” so as to draw attention of the world to the genocide happening in Biafra

Biafra

Biafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a secessionist state in south-eastern Nigeria that existed from 30 May 1967 to 15 January 1970, taking its name from the Bight of Biafra . The inhabitants were mostly the Igbo people who led the secession due to economic, ethnic, cultural and religious...

, in present day Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

.

From this Aktion group emerged the Society for Threatened Peoples

Society for Threatened Peoples

Society for Threatened Peoples is an international NGO and human rights organization based in Göttingen, Germany. It seeks to create awareness of and protect minority peoples around the world who are threatened by oppressive governments. The group states on its website that it "campaigns against...

 (STP) in 1970. The main office of the STP has been located in Göttingen

Göttingen

Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...

 since 1979. The STP is one of the largest human rights organizations in Europe (2006) and has advisory status at the United Nations Economic and Social Council

United Nations Economic and Social Council

The Economic and Social Council of the United Nations constitutes one of the six principal organs of the United Nations and it is responsible for the coordination of the economic, social and related work of 14 UN specialized agencies, its functional commissions and five regional commissions...

 and participant status at the Council of Europe

Council of Europe

The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...

.

Tilman Zülch feels that it is an obligation to campaign for religious and ethnic persercuted people especially for Germany in Austria given the crimes of Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

. He feels that the way for Germans to deal with the past is not to stay silent in face of other crimes such as: those of the Stalin era, the mass expulsions of Germans after 1945, or the genocides of today.

Zülch is an author of the magazine bedrohte völker (earlier the pogrom).

Awards & Honors

• GeoEnvironment Prize 1982
• The Lower- Saxony Prize for Journalism 1996
• The Silver Order of the Arms of the Presidency of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina 1996
• The Annual Award of the Federation of Expulsees 2001
• The Federal Cross of Merit am Bande 2002
• The Human Rights Prize of the Sudeten Germans Welfare and Culture Association 2003
• The Göttingen Peace Prize in recognition of his lifetime work 2003
• The Medal of the Iraqi-Kurdish National Assembly 2005
• The Srebrenica Award against Genocide of the three women's and mothers' associations 2006
• The Sarajevo Anti-War Centre#s Freedom Prize for Human Rights 2006
• Honorary Member of the Saxony-Anhalt Federation of the Victims of Stalinist Persecution
• Honorary Member of the Union of Women camp Detainees of Bosnia Herzegovina
• Member of the Jury for the Weimar Human Rights Prize
• Member of the Jury of the “Centre Against Expulsions” Supporters Association

Publications

Texts are only available in German

• Guerke, Klaus and Tilman Zülch. 1968. Biafra, Todesurteil für ein Volk? Berlin: Luttner-Verlang.

Biafa, Death sentence for a People

• Zülch, Tilman. 1979a. Von denen keiner spricht. Verfolgte Minderheiten Reinbek: Rowohlt.

The People That No-one Talks About

• Zülch, Tilman. 1979b. ‘‘In Auschwitz vergast, bis heute verfolgt - zur Situation der Sinti und Roma in Europa Reinbek: Rowohlt.

Gassed in Auschwitz, still persecuted today – the Sinti and Roma in Europe

• Zülch, Tilman. 1991. Völkermord an den Kurden Hamburg: Luchtehand.

Genocide of the Kurds

• Zülch, Tilman. 1993. Ethnische Säuberungen" - Völkermord für Großserbien Hamburg: Luchterhand. Sarajevo 1996.

Ethnic Cleansing – Genocide in the cause of Greater Serbia

• Vollmer, Johannes and Tilman Zülch. 1996. Aufstand der Opfer - Verratene Völker zwischen Hitler und Stalin Göttingen: pogrom Taschenbücher.

Resistance of the Victims – Betrayed people between Hitler and Stalin