When Time Stood Still

Menekse Upcin

Menekse Upcin was born in 1969 in the Eastern Anatolian province of Dersim,
now better known by its Turkish name, Tunceli. Her family belongs to the Zaza
ethnic minority. She spent her childhood in the remote villages of Armane and
Cirtig, amidst a magnificent mountain landscape. This tranquillity, however, is
deceptive, for the region is politically very turbulent. Following the Turkish military
coup of 1980, conditions all but descend into civil war. At just 16 years of age, on
2 September 1985, Menekse Upcin witnesses her mother being shot dead at home.
The secret police and the military then arrest the teenage Menekse and one of her
older brothers, falsely accusing them of having links to the Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK). During several months in detention, they are harassed and tortured
with electric shocks before being released - severely traumatised. Yet her mother's
violent death is never solved, let alone atoned for. After a series of detours, Menekse
Upcin arrives in the Rhine-Main region in 1990 as an asylum seeker. She finishes
her schooling, successfully completes vocational training as a kindergarten teacher,
and finds work in kindergartens in Mainz, Wiesbaden and Frankfurt. One area of
particular focus for her is museum education and intercultural work. Menekse Upcin
holds her own in everyday life. But the terrible events of her youth continue to
haunt her. She experiences flashbacks time and again, reliving the dramatic scenes
of her past. Yet Upcin never loses her zest for life. In her book, she takes readers
with her on her travels - for instance to the USA, Canada and Australia, which part
of her family, now scattered across the globe, calls home. Menekse Upcin lives in Frankfurt am Main.