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The Syrian Nakba?

Interview: Emma Wallis and Neil King May 6, 2014

British photo journalist Bradley Secker is documenting the plight of Syrian refugees. In his series "Syrian Nakba," he shows refugees holding the keys to homes they were forced to abandon.

https://p.dw.com/p/1BuLo
Foto-Projekt The Syrian Nakba von Bradley Secker
Image: Bradley Secker

The Syrian Nakba?

Bradley Secker has been photographing Syrian refugees along the Turkish-Syrian border since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011. His photo project, called "Syrian Nakba," depicts refugees' hands holding their housekeys.

Their homes back in Syria have often been destroyed or are uninhabitable due to the ongoing fighting, but they keep their keys, a reminder of home.

The word nakba, which means "catastrophe" in Arabic, is associated with the 1948 Palestinian exodus, in which hundreds of thousands of Palestinians left or were forced to leave the fledgling Israeli state. Secker says the use of the term in the title of this photo project is deliberately meant to provoke.

According to the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, some 2.7 million Syrians have sought refuge in neighboring countries. The new Azraq refugee camp was recently opened, for Syrians fleeing to Jordan. The site is designed to hold 60,000 refugees.