With Participation of Syriac Writers… Syriac Cultural Directorate Holds Memorial Evening for Writer and Historian Behnam Hababa

On the evening of Tuesday 24 September 2024, the General Directorate of Syriac Culture and Arts and the Union of Syriac Writers and Authors organised a memorial evening on the occasion of the fortieth day of the death of the great writer and historian, the late Bahnam Salim Hababa, at the Syriac Heritage Museum’s hall in Ankawa District Centre.

The memorial evening began its activities with a minute of silence for the deceased’s soul, followed by a speech from the Director General of Syriac Culture and Arts, Kaldo Ramzi Oghanna, in which he confirmed that, “today we bid farewell to a well-known writer and a great historian, who worked in the history of our Church and our people’s existence and presence in the city of Mosul,” noting about the deceased that, “many well-known figures at the level of our Churches, including His Beatitude our father, the Most Revered Patriarch Mar Louis Sako, studied under him and drank from his knowledge and abundant information.”

At the end of his speech, Oghanna stressed that, “Although death physically takes you away from us today, your deeds and works remain present in our minds, for people like you, Abu Georgina, do not die.” This was followed with a speech from the Syriac Writers and Authors Union, which confirmed that the deceased’s works and writings will become a reference for future generations to research the Christian presence in the city of Mosul.

This was followed by a message from the Chaldean Catholic Patriarchate mourning the deceased, then a speech from Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul and its dependencies Mar Mikhael Najib, and another from the deceased’s daughter, journalist Georgina Behnam Hababa, delivered by writer Peter Hermiz Nabati, in which she discussed his deeds and literary works, which focused on Mosul and the history of the Christian families that inhabited it, especially his books “Christian Families in Mosul” and “Origins and Branches.” After this, a special documentary film about his life, prepared by Valentina Youarish, was screened.

Following that, a number of figures participating in the memorial evening presented live testimonies about the deceased, including Dr. Laith Hababa, Noel Al-Tabbakh, and Maroun Said Tumani. In addition, musical pieces were played and candles were lit in his memory. The evening’s activities concluded with a speech from the late Behnam Hababa’s family, who thanked everyone that remembered him and participated in the evening’s activities.

The memorial evening was attended by Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul and its dependencies Mar Mikhael Najib, Director General of Syriac Culture and Arts Kaldo Ramzi Oghanna, the deceased’s family, president of the Syriac Writers and Authors Union Rawand Paulus, in addition to a group of writers, intellectuals and those interested in our people’s cultural and literary affairs.

It is worth noting that the General Directorate of Syriac Culture and Arts in the Kurdistan Regional Government had been mourning the writer and historian Behnam Salim Habbaba, who passed away on the morning of Tuesday 13 August 2024, at an advanced old age in the regional capital Erbil.

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