Hafsa Özkan fought hard for self-determination. That didn't make her hard. Full of empathy, she stands up for other people.

Hafsa Özkan in her apartment in Neukölln Photo: Doro Zinn

When she was still wearing a veil, she received hateful comments from the right. Now that he no longer uses it, he receives reproaches from strict Muslims. From this you can learn what he really means, he says.

Outside: A settlement with 2,400 apartments on the outskirts of Berlin-Neukölln. Gray buildings from the 80s connected by pedestrian bridges. All the streets look the same. Some young people are standing in front of a shopping center. They smoke and play sayings. A woman asks another with a small child in her hand on a street. She replies, “I'll walk you there!” her and immediately she tells the stranger that she is not having a good day: “Really bad blood values.”

Inside: The house where Hafsa Özkan lives with her 13-year-old daughter is quiet. The daughter opens the door to the two-bedroom apartment and invites us into a modern living room with a large sofa, a large plasma screen and white wall furniture: “Mom will be coming soon.” Hafsa Özkan rushes: “I just got home. Also.” It's 7:30 pm The medical assistant and educator worked at the health department until 5 pm, then she had another appointment.

Work: During the pandemic, this 38-year-old woman completed her training as an educator and, despite obtaining the best grades, decided to intervene as a medical administrator: “It was a time when hundreds of people died every day. She wanted to help stop the pandemic. And the media said the health department was short-staffed.”

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Compatibility: Her daughter prepares Turkish tea in the kitchen and Hafsa Özkan sinks tiredly into the cushions. She says that she is very lucky with her daughter: “she is very independent, she goes to school and the doctor alone. If she wasn't so independent, she wouldn't be able to put it all together.” Hafsa Özkan became a mother at 22, her 15-year-old son lives with his grandparents: “That's what he wanted, but we see each other often.” There If her income doesn't cover all the fixed costs, the single mom spends an extra nine hours waiting tables each week. And then there's volunteering, as she calls her diverse commitment.

Volunteering: He does so many things that when asked about it he doesn't know where to start. As a teenager she helped in the kitchen of a women's club, as a young mother she translated from Turkish to German at parent-teacher meetings at school and participated as a parent representative, for example to ensure safe access to the school. For years she has visited elderly people, eaten with homeless people, worked as a member of the neighborhood council and neighborhood management for social coexistence in her settlement and organized neighborhood meetings. For all this, she received the district mayor's badge of honor in 2023.

Honor: Hafsa Özkan takes the term volunteering literally. Solving problems or being able to provide closeness to people is a matter of honor for them. He once helped clean the apartment of her deceased neighbor. When the woman's brother tried to give her an envelope full of bills for three days' support, she said: “That was a fact. She was my neighbor! Rather I have to thank you. The fact that you trusted me is a great gift to me.”

Heart for the people: Making others happy makes them happy: “When I see older people smiling at me just because I'm there, because I spend time with them, my heart opens.” It's not about moments, but about Commitment: “Most people on the street or older people only have a few contacts. They are happy when they know that someone thinks of them and comes back.” She says she visited a homeless man in front of a supermarket every Thursday for more than a year and taught him letters step by step using children's school supplies: “Reading and learning was her greatest desire.” During her last aerial visit, she was able to read something: “At some point he was no longer sitting there.”

He received the Neukölln Badge of Honor for his social commitment Photo: Doro Zinn

Empathy: When asked where his great ability to empathize comes from, he talks about his brother, who was a year younger: “He was my best friend. We did everything together.” When she was six years old, he died: “And strangely enough, because I was a child, back then I learned to appreciate just being alive, feeling the sun. And enjoy what I have.” Most people, she says, always compare themselves: “But only with people who seem to have more.” She doesn't believe in comparisons: “But I can see when “Others are worse.” and try to help.”

Karma: Hafsa Özkan believes in karma, that is, that everything you do comes back to you: “A few years ago my car just stopped on the way home.” He asked a man for help: “Brother, my car is broken down. and I have to go with my children.” And he said, “Sister, take mine.” The man was Syrian: “And he actually gave me his car. I mean, who does that? Just give up your car?

Proud: Hafsa Özkan's daughter is lying on the couch, looking at her mobile phone while her mother talks. Suddenly she intervenes: “Tell me about Giffey, mom! Mom and the Giffeys are best friends.” Hafsa Özkan laughs: “What nonsense. I upset Mrs. Giffey so much that she wanted to get rid of me.” She says she was so horrified by the dirty floors at her daughter's elementary school that she went to Red Town Hall every day to complain. “At some point, Franziska Giffey, who was mayor at the time, came to the school. A new floor was installed soon after.”

Example: Hafsa Özkan wants a liberal life for her daughter. To boost her self-confidence, last year she enrolled her daughter in a Taekwondo studio: “Then I asked myself, “Why don't I do that too?” Her daughter explains, laughing: “I never made it there. Instead, mom is leaving now.” Through Taekwondo training, Hafsa Özkan has not only gained a different sense of security, but also more self-confidence: “I no longer feel helpless. Men tend to be physically stronger. But with the right grips it doesn’t matter.”

Self-determination: Self-determination is not a given for Özkan. She grew up as the seventh child in a strict religious family; Her parents had originally come to Germany to work. She applied a strict corset of rules. Shortly after finishing school she got married. Getting divorced later was a struggle that lasted years. She currently has no contact with her family.

Modern color accents in Hafsa Özkan's two-bedroom apartment Photo: Doro Zinn

Freedom: When her daughter, at age ten, wanted to wear a headscarf, she explained: “You have to be old enough to be able to make that decision.” Although at that moment she was wearing the scarf herself. She left him a year ago. She now she's tired of asking why. She believes that as long as this remains a problem, society will not be free: “It is a very private decision.” She does not feel more free without a veil than with: “There is no freedom in this society. There is always social pressure.” When she was still wearing a veil, she says, she constantly received hate messages from AfD voters on social media: “They wrote that she was not free as long as she wore it. Since I have been living more liberally, Muslims have written to me telling me that I am a bad role model and not a true Muslim.”

Positive reactions: She is a devout Muslim, but above all a human being and pacifist. She immediately distanced herself from Hamas' attacks on social media. She simply ignores the hateful comments and clings to the positive reactions she receives both in analog life and on the Internet: “They often call me an angel.” She laughs enthusiastically: “I always say: I'm just a human being.” . Like you and them.”