There are many traces, memories and references of religious persecution in our history.

In France, for example, Protestants were persecuted by Catholics for a long time in the 15th and 16th centuries.

French Protestants, called Huguenots since 1560, had to hide in order to practice their religion.

One night in August 1572 they were attacked and thousands of them killed.

The events of this Bartholomew Night triggered a wave of hundreds of thousands of Huguenots fleeing into the surrounding Protestant countries.

Aylin Guler

Editor for social media.

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Jews, too, have been marginalized, especially in Europe, since the Middle Ages.

Even in Muslim countries, they are still hostile to this day.

They were not allowed to work in certain professions and had to live in separate residential areas called ghettos.

It was not until the end of the 18th century that Jews were given the same rights as their Christian fellow citizens.

But anti-Semitism did not end there.

The worst persecution of Jews in Germany took place during National Socialism from 1933 to 1945.

Six million Jews fell victim to the extermination policy.

Many of them were murdered in extermination camps such as Auschwitz.

However, religion as a motive for persecution is by no means a thing of the past. Even today, Yazidis are persecuted in Iraq, Muslims are attacked in Myanmar and Christians in Mali are forced to flee. And it happens even in this country: only last week it became known that an eighteen-year-old boy wearing the Jewish headgear, a kippah, was beaten and kicked by a group in a Cologne park. One of the group is said to have taken his kippah, the symbol of his faith, off the victim's head. The young man was admitted to hospital with serious injuries.

The topic of religious persecution has occupied me all my life, because I also belong to a religious minority and would like to tell you my story today: I am Alevite. An estimated twelve to fifteen million Alevis live in Turkey. The exact number cannot be determined because many do not publicly profess their faith. Because Alevism is not officially recognized in Turkey. The name of the Alevis is derived from Imam Ali: The Alevis revere the son-in-law and cousin of the Prophet Mohammed. The religion probably originated in Anatolia in Turkey in the 13th century. But there are several views in science about the time of Alevism. One position is as follows: Alevis, in contrast to the Sunnis, took the view thatShortly before his death in 632, the Prophet Mohammed named his son-in-law Ali as his rightful successor. As descendants of the Prophet Mohammed, the twelve imams also play a central role in Alevi doctrine and culture. They should lead the Islamic community as virtuous leaders after the death of the Prophet Muhammad.