Berlin, November 2025 — The exhibition Memories Left Behind, the fifth installment in the traveling series curated by “Victims’ Families for Transitional Justice,” was held last week at the Technical University of Berlin. The event drew a remarkable turnout from the public, human rights activists, academics, artists, and international supporters. Scores of bereaved families, former political prisoners, and Iranian and international advocates participated, creating a powerful space for collective memory, civic resistance, and historical testimony.

The program opened with a tambourine performance by Kimia Bani, whose rhythmic beat echoed like the heartbeat of justice in the hall. Families of victims then welcomed the audience, followed by a message from Frankfurt’s mayor, Narges Eskandari. Afterward, the exhibition doors opened, inviting visitors into a path that revealed forty years of suffering, bravery, and resistance.

The first section began with a wall of newspapers and images from the early revolution years, public executions, military officers and ministers tried in minutes-long courts, and headlines blacked out by censorship, showing clearly that state violence was systematic from day one.

At the far end of the hall stood a haunting wall of handwritten fragments, wills, final letters, short notes, and last farewells from political prisoners. A single empty wooden chair and a red rose symbolized the absence of thousands who never had the chance to say goodbye. This section was one of the most emotionally impactful; visitors stood silently, reading, crying, and whispering the names aloud.

In commemoration of the fall of the Berlin Wall, a special installation featured symbolic boxes arranged to form a “wall”, representing the barrier the Islamic Republic has built between women and men, between truth and lies, between humanity and oppression. The message was clear: no wall stands forever.

These boxes were adorned with the faces of those killed in the Women, Life, Freedom uprising. Inside each box were their personal items, shoes, small keepsakes, photographs, notebooks, T-shirts, and everyday belongings. This “wall of memory” honored life, not death, each box telling the story of a young woman, a student, a worker, a son or daughter. This section created an immediate, human connection between the audience and the victims.

Other sections of the exhibition included:

• A wall listing thousands of victims executed in the 1980s
• Documentation of state crimes in Kurdistan, Baluchistan, and Khuzestan
• Items and images of those killed in November 2019 and December 2017
• Photographs of protesters blinded by state forces and others injured
• Images of political prisoners and individuals on death row
• A dedicated installation on Flight PS752
• Evidence of mass arrests and abuses against the Baha’i community
• Over four decades of women’s resistance against gender apartheid
• Testimonies of bereaved mothers and families
• Documentation of transnational repression and the chain murders
• Imagery from the 2009 uprising and the attack on Tehran University dormitories

During the event, the German choir Ripitiki performed two pieces, “Women, Life, Freedom” and Shervin Hajipour’s “Baraye”, voluntarily, as an act of solidarity with victims’ families. Their participation was not just artistic; it was a tribute to grief, resistance, and the shared hope for a freer, more humane future.

A local band performed protest songs, and Dariush, an Iranian-German pianist, played selections that filled the space with quiet, emotional resonance.

The sincere efforts of “Echo Iran”, who supported venue coordination, installation, and event preparation, are gratefully acknowledged.

Memories Left Behind is not merely an exhibition; it is a legal record, a historical testimony, and a moral stand. It declares:

“They killed them, but could not erase them.

They silenced them, but could not quiet them.

Their names remain. Memory remains. We remain.

We will keep the banner of justice raised,

We will neither forgive nor forget.”