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Several thousand people demonstrated on Friday evening against violence against queer people
Photo: Friso Gentsch / dpa
Malte C. posted the last Instagram post on July 17th.
A guinea pig cage can be seen in the photos, probably cobbled together from plywood, underneath it is written: "The new cage for my three cuties is ready." The cage was in Marl, in C.'s new apartment, it was the first apartment of the 25th -year-olds.
It was the last apartment of the young man who was born a woman and who died in a hospital in Münster on Friday.
Malte C., as much is known, was crushed on the edge of the CSD on Sunday when he got involved.
According to a police statement, several women were insulted by a young man wearing a bucket hat as "lesbian whores" who "should piss off".
C. stepped in and is said to have asked the man to stop doing that.
Then he received a slap in the face with the palm of his hand.
C. staggered when a punch hit him in the face.
He fell with the back of his head on the asphalt, suffered a traumatic brain injury and was taken to the hospital.
"The injured person was no longer responsive," says the police report.
He was placed in an induced coma.
On Friday morning, the Münster police reported the young man's death.
One might find it surprising that this act happened in Münster: a pretty city, always a little bit of the ideal world of Westphalia.
Old because of the architecture, young because of the students, wealthy, middle-class and green, the AfD traditionally doesn't get a foot on the ground here.
Münster prides itself on being cosmopolitan; Germany's first homosexual demonstration took place here in 1972.
The fact that the crime happened here also proves that such violence can happen anytime and anywhere.
Here, too, a person can die because of a sexual orientation - at a parade intended to celebrate love.
Malte C. lived in Münster for a long time, says Felix Adrian Schäper on the sidelines of the memorial service.
The 59-year-old is on the board of the TransInter-Münster association, and Schäper has been advising trans people since 2007.
He has closely accompanied Malte C. on his way for about five years.
C. lived with a foster family in Münster until 2019, then moved to a residential group in Dorsten and moved into his own apartment in Marl several months ago.
He was proud to be able to carry the club's flag at the CSD on Sunday, says Schäper.
There's a picture of that too, you see a shirtless young man, goatee, glasses, he's smiling.
The picture was taken a few hours before the fatal attack on him.
A few minutes before the funeral service begins on Friday evening, the police report that a 20-year-old suspect living in Münster has been arrested.
After the crime, videos and pictures were evaluated, an investigator from the homicide squad recognized the suspect at the train station in the afternoon, and he was arrested.
The man is said not to have commented on the crime on Friday.
"Stunned and sad"
According to the police, around 5,000 people are on the Prinzipalmarkt in Münster at the funeral service, which was registered as a demonstration against queer hostility.
800 to 1000 had been expected.
During the course of the day, Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faser (SPD) wrote on Twitter that "such hate violence" must be countered with all severity.
North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst said the man had shown civil courage and courage by helping others in everyday life.
The fact that he lost his life in the process, Wüst continues, “makes me stunned and sad”.
NRW Family Minister Josefine Paul said that discrimination, hate, hate speech and violence are unfortunately everyday experiences for many queer people.
»In an open society we must never accept that«.
Paul has her constituency in Münster. In the evening she stands next to the Mayor of Münster, Markus Lewe, in front of a small stage in front of the historic Hall of Peace, with people crowding around her.
They stand there quietly, close together on the square with the cobblestones.
Rainbow flags on the shoulders, rainbow flags on buildings, placards that say: »We are all meant«.
Or »Hate begins with words and ends with deeds«.
The men, women, queer people, trans people, they do not share the fate of Malte C. But many obviously have an experience: Jens Brüggemann is on the board of the CSD Münster.
When he has the microphone in his hand, he wants to know how many of those present have been insulted in a queer manner in the past, hundreds of hands go up.
"How many of you have been physically attacked?" he then asks.
There are not quite as many hands anymore, their number will still be in three digits.
"It could have happened to any of you," says the 21-year-old.
Malte C. was not beaten to death either, he was beaten.
And then died from it.
hate on the web
Not everyone gives their full name on the microphone, not everyone shows their full face.
But they speak publicly about their experiences and are heard.
For Mali, “it feels so absurd that on the day we celebrate our lives, one of our lives is taken”.
Thousands are here today, "but one is missing."
Some speak of fear, of hiding.
From the worry of attacks or of one's own family.
Saying that what happened to Malte C. is just the tip of the iceberg and that hate is being poured out on the internet.
If you were to ask where this hatred came from, it would be because of greater visibility.
"That's wrong," says one person, "anti-queer acts arise because people are filled to the brim with anti-queer hatred.
We are not the problem.«
Malte C., says Schäper, was shy.
He's been looking for what he is and who he is for a long time.
In the end he was doing well, after an operation "he was happy to be able to live normally".
He would have played sports, kickboxing, and lived the life he wanted to lead.
Schäper visited him in the hospital on Monday and he was lying there peacefully.
Now the queer community would take care of a funeral.
Event manager Brüggemann finally ends the event.
"Please," he says, "don't go home alone."