Photo © Rottkay
Shahzamir Hataki (*2000) was born in Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan, his parents’ only son, and fled to Germany at the age of fifteen. As a result of the war, he was not able to attend school at home. In Greece, Shahzamir unexpectedly met his sister and her family. The siblings had not known that they had left at the same time, as they lived in different cities in Afghanistan. In 2016 they arrived in Berlin together. Shahzamir’s journey lasted three months in all, and he almost drowned on the crossing to Greece. Shahzamir means “royal place”, an expression of his father’s pride. High expectations are placed in him, as the only son. He has already gained his middle school certificate, has found a foster family and now lives in shared accommodation. His right to remain is not yet secure, and Shahzamir is much occupied with the question of whether he can stay or not. In 2018 he was awarded the Else Lasker-Schüler Poetry Prize and in 2019 the Theo prize in the poetry category.