Amadeu Antonio
Amadeu Antonio (1962–1990) was an Angolan man who lived in East Germany and later in reunified Germany as a contract worker. He worked as a butcher in Eberswalde, Brandenburg, and hoped to study aeronautics.
In late November 1990, neo-Nazis attacked Antonio and two Mozambican men in Eberswalde. Antonio was badly beaten and fell into a coma; he died eleven days later. Several police officers nearby did not intervene during the attack.
In 1992 a local court sentenced five of the attackers to up to four years in prison for bodily injury that caused death; others were not imprisoned. The verdicts were criticized as too lenient, and many called for murder charges. An international observer attended the case to monitor fairness.
The case helped spark protests against xenophobia in eastern Germany. In 1998 the Amadeu Antonio Foundation was created to fight far-right violence and support civil society. Memorials followed, including a plaque at the site, annual commemorations, and a civic education center opened in 2014. In 2022, a street in Eberswalde was renamed after Amadeu Antonio.
Antonio’s partner at the time, Gabriele Schimansky, was pregnant and gave birth to their son, also named Amadeu. The family faced racism in Eberswalde. They later moved to Berlin; Gabriele died in 2015. Amadeu Antonio’s mother, Helena Alfonso, received support and compensation in the years that followed.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 02:51 (CET).