Remembering the Love Parade 21
Life is already way too short. When I saw the live news reports about the deaths in Duisburg 3 weeks ago at the Love Parade 2010, I just couldn’t help but think what a terribly tragic loss and a horrible waste of life. I called some friends in the UK and they were just as shocked and sickened. I had planned to go for the past 2 years and this years event was on my calendar, but work and personal stuff got in the way so I didn’t manage to make it there.
This is just my small tribute to the bright young lives that were taken that weekend. Photos and bios have been garnered from numerous sources and credited where I can.
They came from all over Germany and from as far as Australia, Bosnia and China. Fourteen young Germans and seven foreigners died in the hellish crush at the Love Parade in Duisburg on July 24.
Elmar Laubenheimer
German Elmar Laubenheimer, 38, was a respected lawyer with his own firm in Düsseldorf and appeared as a legal expert on broadcaster Westdeutsche Rundfunk, according to daily Bild. He loved techno and house music, and drove 30 kilometres from his home to be part of the Love Parade. [Photo: Facebook]
Marie-Anjelina Sablatnig
Bielefeld lost 19-year-old baker’s apprentice Marie-Anjelina Sablatnig, daily Neue Westfälische reported. One friend wrote on her Facebook profile: “I am still in shock. She had so many dreams. Why her?” [Photo: Facebook]
Clancie Ridley
Australian Clancie Ridley (left), 27, from Sydney, had just begun a three-month European adventure for which she planned for two years. She had quit her job in health insurance to take the trip. “She was the life of the party,” close friend Carla Perovich, a 22-year-old singer, told Australian news website ninemsn. “She was everyone’s little ray of sunshine. She was giving and loving and very, very social. She always wanted to do things like this. It’s just the kind of person she was.” [Photo: Facebook]
Giulia Minola
Italian Giulia Minola, 21, a fashion student from Brescia, was on a European tour with a friend, Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported. It is unclear whether her friend was also at the festival. On her MySpace page, she went by the name Purple Haze, a reference to her love of rock great Jimi Hendrix. She listed her favourite writers were Hunter S. Thompson, Chuck Palahniuk, Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. [Photo: Facebook]
Anna K.
Anna K., 25, from Heiligenhaus near Essen in North Rhine-Westphalia, had a four-year-old son. A friend told daily Bild: “She wasn’t actually a techno fan and had only gone to Duisburg with friends because she was looking forward to the party so much.” Anna died in hospital on Tuesday from injuries she sustained in the crush. [Photo: www.bild.de]
Fenja Siebenlist
A family member of German 23-year-old Fenja Siebenlist from Gelsenkirchen in North Rhine-Westphalia told daily Bild of how the family had desperately searched for their loved one. “After I had heard about the catastrophe, I immediately tried to reach her,” the relative said. “She didn’t answer the phone. We all called the hospitals and she wasn’t to be found there either. This morning (on Sunday) the police came and told us the terrible news.”[Photo: www.bild.de]
Christian Müller
Christian Müller, 25, from Hamm in North Rhine-Westphalia, had just found an apprenticeship position but lost his life in the crush.[Photo: www.bild.de]
Clara Zapater
Spanish friends Clara Zapater (shown here) and Marta Acosta, both 22, had lived as exchange students for several months in Münster. The Love Parade was meant to be their farewell party with friends, according to Spanish daily El Mundo.[Photo: El Pais]
Marta Acosta
Marta Acosta, 22, died along with her friend Clara Zapater while they were at the Love Parade with a group of about 30 Spaniards. Many of their friends knew nothing of the tragedy until they left the festival around 9 pm.[Photo: El Pais]
Kathinka Tairi
Kathinka Tairi, 20, from Stadecken-Elsheim in the Rhineland-Palatinate, had just got her school certificate and wanted to start an apprenticeship, according to Bild.[Photo: www.bild.de]
Eike M.
A young German man, 21-year-old Eike M. from Belm in Lower Saxony, died in the crush while his friends were around him. They were in the middle of the tunnel when the crowd started to lose control. Friend Patrick N. told Bild: “I tried to get hold of him. At some point I realised that his breathing had stopped and his chest had stopped moving.”[Photo: www.bild.de]
Svenja R.
Svenja R., 22, from Castrop- Rauxel in NRW, was adored by her colleagues for her friendliness, Bild reported. The young law student financed her studies as an employee at McDonald’s and had taken a week-long vacation to attend the Love Parade, the paper reported. On her StudiVZ profile she had listed “partying, dancing, shopping, studying, working and naturally laughing” as interests. In an obituary published by her family said: “A victim of the Love Parade – such a thing should not happen.”[Photo: www.bild.de]
Marina
Marina, 21, was celebrated by her friends on Youtube as a “wonderful woman who was loved by all.” The goodbye added: “You were a joyful, young and beautiful woman, loved by all, and all that is left are the good memories.”[Photo: www.bild.de]
Lidia Zafirovski
Lidia Zafirovski, 21, was from Bosnia-Herzogovina, according to Duisburg police. As of August 2, the Bosnian embassy said it was still trying to confirm her identity and nationality. According to daily Bild she had planned to move to Berlin with her older sister, attend university, and become a fashion model.[Photo: www.bild.de]
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