We commemorate Jozef Berditchevski, who was shot by police in the Ostheim district of Cologne on August 3, 2022. He was 48 years old.

Jozef Berditchevski was born in St. Petersburg as the son of a famous Russian violinist and was of Jewish descent. He studied classical music in St. Petersburg for four years. When the first Chechen war began in the 1990s, he fled to Cologne to avoid being drafted into the Russian army. There he continued his studies at the Academy of Music.

For a long time Jozef Berditchevski was a street musician and played with his xylophone in front of the Cologne Philharmonic Hall, among other places. However, the ban on performing at the Corona Lockdown and the resulting loss of his income threw him off track and turned him into an alcoholic.

On August 3, 2022 the musician was to be evicted from his apartment. Because he is said to have announced that he would resist the eviction, the bailiff arrived accompanied by the police. Allegedly, Jozef Berditchevski was armed with a knife and behaved aggressively. The use of pepper spray was "unsuccessful", whereupon the officers opened fire. Two shots hit him in the shoulder and the thigh. The cause of death was determined to be bleeding to death. In early February 2023, the public prosecutor's office in Cologne announced the closing of the investigation against the police officers.

Sources: www.report-k.de, www.labournet.de, twitter.com