Vietnamese refugees arrive in Germany, 1986

Cap Anamur is a humanitarian

organisation An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose. The word is derived from ...

with the goal of helping refugees and

displaced people Forced displacement (also forced migration) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The UNHCR defines 'forced displacement' as follows: displaced "as a result of persecution, conflict, g ...

worldwide. In 1979, amidst the rising number of Vietnamese

boat people Vietnamese boat people ( vi, Thuyền nhân Việt Nam), also known simply as boat people, refers to the refugees who fled Vietnam by boat and ship following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. This migration and humanitarian crisis was at its h ...

fleeing

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

in unseaworthy crafts, Christel and

Rupert Neudeck Rupert Neudeck (; 14 May 1939 – 31 May 2016) was known for his humanitarian work, especially with refugees. He started his career as a noted correspondent for Deutschlandfunk, a German public broadcaster.Christoph Koch: Wie wird man eigentlich ...

, together with a group of friends, formed the committee "

A ship for Vietnam A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

" to rescue the refugees. For the rescue mission the group chartered the freighter ''Cap Anamur'', named after the French name of

Cape Anamur Cape Anamur is a headland on the Mediterranean Sea coast of Mersin Province, Turkey. Cape Anamur is the southernmost point of Anatolian peninsula at . The ancient city Anemurium lies on the hills to the north of the cape. The town Ören is to t ...

, a cape on the Turkish

Mediterranean coast The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the eas ...

near the city of

Anamur Anamur is a town and district in Mersin Province, Turkey, the westernmost district of that province, bordering on Antalya Province. Anamur contains Anatolia's southernmost point, It is a coastal resort known for its bananas and peanuts. Etym ...

that marks the southernmost point of

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The ...

. The journeys of ''Cap Anamur'' (and her sister ships afterwards) were – against the predictions of many pundits – a huge success: 10,375

were rescued on the open sea and an additional 35,000 were medically treated.

References

External links

Cap Anamur website

Cap Anamur website
Charities based in Germany Vietnamese refugees {{Germany-org-stub