Cengiz Doğu (1 August 1945 – 14 November 2019) was a Turkish

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and

activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

against

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

and

discrimination Discrimination is the process of making unfair or prejudicial distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong, such as race, gender, age, class, religion, or sex ...

who fled from

political persecution Political repression is the act of a state entity controlling a citizenry by force for political reasons, particularly for the purpose of restricting or preventing the citizenry's ability to take part in the political life of a society, thereby ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Life

Cengiz Doğu went to school in

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

and studied

Turkish language Turkish ( , , also known as 'Turkish of Turkey') is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, a member of Oghuz languages, Oghuz branch with around 90 million speakers. It is the national language of Turkey and one of two official languag ...

and literature from 1965 till 1974 in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

. He was politically active since 1966, as he approached the Workers' Party of Turkey ideologically and co-founded the "Student Association of Turkish Studies" in 1968. After the

1971 Turkish military memorandum The 1971 Turkish military memorandum (), issued on 12 March that year, was the second military intervention to take place in the Republic of Turkey, coming 11 years after its 1960 predecessor. It is known as the "coup by memorandum", which the mi ...

, all student associations were banned, and Cengiz Doğu was jailed for 20 days. He completed his military service from 1975 to 1977, but his studies were cancelled in 1977. He worked as a newspaper proofreader and emigrated to Germany in 1978, but returned to Turkey after a few months. However, after the

1980 Turkish coup d'état The 1980 Turkish coup d'état (), headed by Chief of the General Staff General Kenan Evren, was the third coup d'état in the history of the Republic of Turkey, the previous having been the 1960 coup and the 1971 coup by memorandum. During ...

, Doğu had to fear for his life and fled to Germany for good. From 1981 to 1988 he lived in the

asylum seeker An asylum seeker is a person who leaves their country of residence, enters another country, and makes in that other country a formal application for the right of asylum according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 14. A per ...

camp in

Neuburg an der Donau Neuburg an der Donau (Central Bavarian: ''Neiburg an da Donau'') is a town which is the capital of the Neuburg-Schrobenhausen district in the state of Bavaria in Germany. Divisions The municipality has 16 divisions: * Altmannstetten * Bergen, N ...

where he wrote the book of poems ''Das Lager gleicht nicht den Kerkern Anatolien''. Since his asylum application was rejected, he was expecting

deportation Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people by a state from its sovereign territory. The actual definition changes depending on the place and context, and it also changes over time. A person who has been deported or is under sen ...

to Turkey for years, although many

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

notable people and organizations supported his right to stay. In 1989 he married Lili Schlumberger, then spokesperson of the Bavarian Refugee Council, and moved to Dachau. In 1991, he was recognized as an asylum seeker and received German citizenship in 1997. Cengiz Doğu was active in Germany with readings, civic actions for

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

and

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

, speaking engagements against racism and discrimination, while earning his living as a storage worker. Together with

Osvaldo Bayer Osvaldo Bayer (18 February 1927 – 24 December 2018) was an Argentine writer and journalist. He lived in Buenos Aires. In 1974, during the presidency of Isabel Perón, he went into exile, residing in Linz am Rhein, Germany, throughout the Nationa ...

and Urs M. Fiechtner he developed the documentary short film ''Asylum'' (1984). The film was shown at the International Festival of the Film Schools in Munich (Internationales Festival der Filmhochschulen München) and won a prize of the German Film Critics at the International Short Film Festival in Oberhausen (Internationale Kurzfilmtagen Oberhausen). In 1989 Doğu became a member of the "Verband deutscher Schriftsstellerinnen und Schriftsteller" and later was engaged in the Munich group of the "Werkkreis Literatur der Arbeitswelt", a writers' group in Germany that not only involved professional but also freelance writers. Doğu also participated in the events at the memorial site of the

Dachau concentration camp Dachau (, ; , ; ) was one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany and the longest-running one, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents, which consisted of communists, s ...

. Cengiz Doğu died in Dachau after a long illness on 14 November 2019 and now rests at the Waldfriedhof.

Poetry

Doğu's lyrical poems, prose contributions and book publications in

and Turkish come from his experiences of imprisonment, flight, camp,

racial discrimination Racial discrimination is any discrimination against any individual on the basis of their Race (human categorization), race, ancestry, ethnicity, ethnic or national origin, and/or Human skin color, skin color and Hair, hair texture. Individuals ...

and exile. People flee "when the human hunters begin their chase ... when the voice of torture takes the place of laughter ... " Dogu wrote in a poem. His poem ''Why did you flee your country?'' has been reprinted several times. In 1988 Doğu published

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

collection of poems ''Das Lager gleicht nicht den Kerkern Anatolien.'' In seven years in the collection camp in

, he had created poems in which he sings the sad song of asylum, the longing for home and freedom for his country, but also powerful verses of love, life and death. He opposes the long nights in the camp to "the small, wretched cells of the Anatolian dungeons in which humanity bleeds." A forest near the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

, that he got to know "for three and a half years," is also reflected in his further book of poems ''Neuburg Lieder.'' Just like the forest, Doğu feels confined to a location and "can not change his place."

Bibliography

Books

* ''Das Lager gleicht nicht den Kerkern Anatoliens. Benzemiyor Anadolu hapishanelerine Neuburg'un mülteci kampı.'' Gedichte zweisprachig, Deutsch und Türkisch, Übersetzung Herbert Kugler, Verlag Schanzer Journal, Ingolstadt 1988. Zweite korrigierte und erw. Aufl. übers. v. Cengiz Dogu, Herbert Kugler und Lili Schlumberger-Dogu, Frieling, Berlin 2008, * ''Neuburg-Lieder'', Edition Pergamon, Selbstverlag, Dachau 1998 * ''Der Mensch'', Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2009, * ''Flüchtlinge: Die Straßenkinder der Menschheit.'' Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2009,

Contributions

* Bericht aus Mamak. In: Anja Tuckermann (Hrsg.): In die Flucht geschlagen : Geschichten aus dem bundesdeutschen Asyl (= Sammlung Luchterhand. Nr. 0852). Luchterhand Literaturverlag, Frankfurt 1989, , pp. 144–150. * Warum sind Sie aus Ihrem Land geflüchtet. In: Anja Tuckermann (Hrsg.): In die Flucht geschlagen : Geschichten aus dem bundesdeutschen Asyl (= Sammlung Luchterhand. Nr. 0852). Band 0852. Luchterhand Literaturverlag, Frankfurt 1989, , pp. 151–157.

Screenplay

* Asylum, Dokumentarfilm; Kurzfilm 1984; Regie: Friedrich Klütsch

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dogu, Cengiz 1945 births 2019 deaths 20th-century Turkish poets Turkish male poets Turkish refugees Turkish human rights activists Turkish emigrants to Germany German anti-racism activists Writers from İzmir