With mementos from beyond the grave, show keeps victims' memories alive

A blood-spattered banknote, a lone shoe, a handwritten note from prison, a last will and testament. For those whose voices and lives have been snuffed out forever, their possessions bear witness.

The traveling Memories Left Behind exhibition opened in Vienna over the weekend featuring over 120 personal items belonging to victims of state repression from the Islamic Republic's 1979 inception to the present.

Starting from the executions in 1979 of monarchy figures and in 1988 of thousands of political prisoners and ranging to the victims of 1999 student protests, the 2009 Green Movement, the 2019 fuel protests and the 2022–2023 Woman Life Freedom protests, the show highlights the serial traumas of the last nearly fifty years.

Lovingly unpacking each item, organizers Elnaz Bardiya and Samareh Parsa shed tears. Each is a painful reminder of the lives lost, the stories silenced, and the strength of those who refuse to let them be forgotten.

Bardiya said the idea for the exhibition started from collecting letters from families of the victims of the 2022 protests and evolved into gathering personal items to reveal the lives behind the numbers.

"Displaying a simple item might seem easy, but under this regime, where graves are desecrated and funerals prevented, it becomes a dangerous task," said Bardiya.

Strict secrecy was required to safely transport these items out of Iran, she added.

“The Islamic Republic is so weak, it fears even a shirt or comb belonging to its victims,” said Samareh, her voice breaking.

Woman Life Freedom

Many items on display belonged to those killed during the most recent uprising in Iran, the Woman Life Freedom protests, sparked by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in which security forces killed 550 protestors.

"With this exhibition, we wanted to support the families of the victims of the Islamic Republic and expose the regime’s crimes," said Dr. Siroos Mirzaei, co-organizer and spokesman for Physicians for Human Rights in Iran-Austria.

Curators especially sought to highlight stories from Iran's social and geographic margins.

Among the items on display is a shawl once owned by Khodanour Lejei who was fatally shot in October 2022 in Zahedan in southeastern Iran. Khodanour was denied treatment at a local hospital and passed away the following day on his 27th birthday.

Another exhibit featured a bloodstained banknote found in the pocket of 16-year-old protestor Mohammad-Eghbal Nayeb-Zehi, who was shot dead by a sniper during the so-called Bloody Friday massacre in Zahedan in September 2022.

Mohammad-Eghbal, a child laborer since the age of nine, had dreamed of buying a smartphone to open an Instagram account, a description next to the bill read, highlighting the struggles of many like him in the deprived areas.

Also on display was a watch, one of the only physical reminders of a slain protester.

Killed by security forces in a raid on his village in southwestern Iran in late 2022, 21-year-old Mahmoud Ahmadi's body was never returned to his family.

"Seeing the items from my small city, Izeh, is hard," said Foad Choobin, human rights activist and uncle of slain teen protester Artin Rahmani.

"It brings back flashbacks of November 16, 2022, when seven people, including my nephew Artin, were shot and killed by security forces," he added. "Just two weeks ago, the Islamic Republic released a report denying their forces killed them."

Also displayed was a jumper worn by Reza Rasaei before a prison visit that their family did not then know would be the last time they would see him.

Rasaei, a 34-year-old Kurdish man and follower of the Yarsani faith, was arrested in November 2022 for allegedly killing a member of the security forces - charges he denied.

In August, he was executed in Dizel Abad Prison in Kermanshah in Western Iran.

Deaths past and present

The exhibition also featured photographs and personal belongings of those who lost their lives during the November 2019 protests sparked by a fuel price spike during which security forces killed up to 1500 protestors.

Among them was 18-year-old Reza Moazami Goodarzi who was shot and killed during the protests, dubbed Aban after the Persian month, in Karaj in central Iran. On display was his vest.

“Despite Reza being killed in 2019, the repression on his family has not stopped. Reza’s cousin, Farzad Moazami Goodarzi is in Evin prison right now only for advocating for justice for Reza,” Soran Mansournia, spokesperson for Aban Families said as he stood next to Reza’s vest.

Another section featured personal belongings of those killed in the downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in January 2020.

"I feel a lot, anger but also happiness that we can keep their memory alive in this exhibition, and also that these items can be used as proof in court in the future,” said Shahnaz Morattab, a board member of The Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims.

She lost her nephew Arvin Morattab and his wife Aida Farzaneh on the flight.

A section of the exhibition featured items belonging to some of the thousands of political prisoners executed in the summer of 1988.

One item was a necklace belonging to 29-year-old political prisoner Bijan Bazargan, who was killed on August 28, 1988.

His sister, Lawdan, who has dedicated her life to advocacy and is also a co-organizer of the exhibition and a board member of the Association of Victims' Families for Transitional Justice, said Bijan made the necklace in prison.

“He never liked making crafts, but one day he surprised us," Bazargan said.

"Its chain is handwoven from threads of a sock, the tulip medallion carved from a food bone, and its frame shaped from garden stones,” she said. “The knots in that chain feel like pieces of his soul. The same hands that made this will one day bloom again in Khavaran," referring to a cemetery for the victims.

Hadi Rad, who has lost seven of his family members around the time of the 1988 executions, was among the attendees.

Pointing to the pictures of his kin killed by the Islamic Republic, he said: “I lost seven members of my family, including my brother, my two sisters, and my unborn niece. My sister was just 23 years, my brother was just 28 years, and two cousins, 18 years and 19 years. We also lost two son-in-laws as well. I just couldn't digest it. One after each other, we lost them.”

Hadi’s said his parents were also imprisoned and subjected torture and barred from attending their loved ones funerals.

“We are all that’s left. And we are here to be their voice–the voice of all these people who got killed and murdered by this brutal regime of Iran,” he said.