Hamburg Honors Holocaust Survivor Esther Bejarano and Jina Mahsa Amini with Street and Park Renaming

Hamburg is honoring two significant women by renaming a street and establishing a park. The Bergiusstraße will be renamed Esther-Bejarano-Straße, and a new park will be named Jina Mahsa Amini Park, the city announced.

The Senate Commission for the Naming of Traffic Areas decided, based on a proposal from the Hamburg-Altona district assembly, to rename Bergiusstraße. Esther Bejarano, born in 1924 and who died in 2021, was a survivor of Nazi persecution and the Shoah. She was a singer, witness to history, activist, and long-time chairwoman of the Auschwitz Committee in Germany. Living in Hamburg since the 1960s, her memories, political engagement, and music made her a powerful voice against forgetting, antisemitism, racism, and right-wing extremism.

The renaming of Bergiusstraße is due to the Nazi-era associations of its namesake, chemist and entrepreneur Friedrich Bergius. Historian David Templin's study confirmed this historical burden. The state archives commissioned this investigation in 2017.

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Esther Bejarano and Jina Mahsa Amini both stand for the courage to confront oppression and to advocate for freedom and human dignity.

Jina Mahsa Amini, born in 1999, died on September 16, 2022, in Tehran. She was arrested by the "morality police" for allegedly not wearing her headscarf correctly. Reports indicate her arrest involved severe physical abuse, leading to a coma and her death three days later. Her death ignited widespread protests in Iran under the slogan "Woman, Life, Freedom," met with a violent response from the government. A memorial called "Jinas Beet" has commemorated Amini and the movement since May 2026.

Carsten Brosda, Hamburg's Senator for Culture and Media, stated, "Esther Bejarano and Jina Mahsa Amini both stand for the courage to confront oppression and to advocate for freedom and human dignity." He added, "By naming these places, we not only preserve the memory of two remarkable women, but we also make their stories and what their names represent permanently visible in Hamburg's urban space." Brosda emphasized that their life stories serve as a reminder that democratic values and freedoms are never guaranteed and require determined advocacy.

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By naming these places, we not only preserve the memory of two remarkable women, but we also make their stories and what their names represent permanently visible in Hamburg's urban space.