© via Netzwerk Israel
Anna works in Israel for the non-profit organization Project Kesher, which supports female leaders in Ukraine, Belarus, and Israel. These women are committed to Jewish communities, social equality for women, and an active civil society. In light of the wars in Ukraine and Israel, Project Kesher has expanded its focus and is now also involved in humanitarian aid, supporting women-owned small businesses, and mental health.
Here she recounts her experiences in Berlin and how she experienced Quarteera e. V.:
My trip to Germany was not just a series of meetings, but a real immersion in the history and current reality of LGBTIQ, lesbian, and feminist activism in Europe—especially in relation to refugees from the post-Soviet space.
First, I met Margarita Filgus and Isabella Goykhman, who founded the Russian-language LGBTIQ project Quarteera e. V. in Germany almost 20 years ago. Their many years of experience show how crucial it is to create and maintain safe spaces for people seeking protection and belonging in Europe or Israel.
Together with Rabbi Olya Weinstein, director of Project Kesher in Israel, I then attended meetings with lesbian feminists from Germany and France who are campaigning for the rights of refugees. Particularly impressive were the stories of two Algerian women who came to the Lesbians Without Borders project as refugees and later became activists themselves. We also met Karol from Berlin, who supports women from the Middle East and Africa, and learned how this transnational solidarity continues to save lives.
Equally significant were encounters with initiatives that work with the Russian-speaking LGBTIQ diaspora today: Arel Yehuda's project against anti-Semitism and homophobia among migrants, the organization Quarteera, which supports LGBTIQ refugees from Russia, Ukraine, and the region, and Golos, a network of Russian-speaking parents of LGBTQ children.
These encounters made it clear that there are both stories of solidarity and the ongoing struggle for life and freedom. As a continuation of this journey, we are developing a new international project to support Russian- and Ukrainian-speaking LGBTIQ emigrants—a German-American-Israeli collaboration. We have high hopes for this project, its development, and all future developments that will result from it.
Quarteera e. V., the organization where Anna completed her fellowship, is a non-profit association of LGBTIQ people with refugee and migration backgrounds and their supporters. Since 2011, the association has been campaigning for the rights of LGBTIQ people from Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Caucasus. Through educational work and concrete offers of help, they do important activist work and support LGBTIQ refugees and migrants in arriving and finding their way in Germany.
