Matthias Harman becomes second mayor of Assyrian background in Germany
German-Assyrian Matthias Harman has been elected mayor of the town of Ahlen in Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia region - making him the second mayor in Germany with an Assyrian background.
Matthias Harman, an Assyrian, has been elected Mayor of Ahlen, a town with a population of just over 50,000 in Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia region. His election makes him the second mayor in Germany with Assyrian roots, following Mike Josef, who became Lord Mayor of Frankfurt am Main in March 2023.
The Assyria Post
The 45-year-old father of two has been active in local politics for over a decade. He has served on the municipal council of Ahlen since 2014, and was appointed Deputy Mayor in November 2022 as a member of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU). His father was a well-respected priest in the local Syriac Orthodox Church and Matthias Harman's election win has been celebrated by the local Assyrian community.
In his declaration as a candidate, Harman expressed his deep love for his hometown: "Ahlen is my home. I grew up here, I live here with my family, I have friends here. I will work with all my might to ensure that Ahlen remains a liveable, sustainable city."
Harman’s family roots trace back to the town of Kfar Boran (Turkish: Dargeçit) in the Tur Abdin Region of the Assyrian homeland, now part of Turkey. The town of Kfar Boran, originally Assyrian, today has no Assyrian inhabitants and a Kurdish majority population – a result of the 1915 Assyrian genocide and the subsequent killings of Assyrians in the following decades.
More than 300 thousand Assyrians are estimated to live in Germany today, making it the European country with the largest Assyrian diaspora community.
