Married to a martyr

On April 18 2007, three Christians were brutally murdered in an office block in Malatya, Turkey. One of those killed was German missionary, Tilmann Geske. His widow, Susanne, has now co-operated with a book, Married to a Martyr, in which she tells the story not only of that dreadful day but of her life of faith and their marriage.

Born in Germany, Susanne was converted as a young woman, and soon found herself at Bible college. Work for a small church followed, and there she met a man who initially did not impress her at all — Tilmann Geske. As she wrote in her journal, ‘This guy is embarassing. He just mumbles all the time. I can’t understand what he is saying, and his haircut is awful.’

Embarrassment gave way to friendship, however, and friendship gave way to love. Tilmann fulfilled the three criteria Susanne had for a potential husband — he had to be a believer, to have been a believer for longer than she had, and to be set on reaching Muslims with the gospel. This had become her desire at Bible college — and she discovered that Tilmann met every one of her criteria. They were married and, after further training and preparation, went out to Turkey to spread the good news.

Brutal murder

Initially they settled in Adana, and later they moved, with their three children, further to the east, to Malatya. It was there that Tilmann was to meet his death, together with Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel, both of whom had converted to Christianity from Islam. Necati and Ugur had been meeting with some men who had expressed an interest in learning more about Jesus. Despite being concerned about some of those coming along, and whether they were sincere in their interests, the men continued the meetings. On April 18, their concerns were confirmed, when Necati, Ugur and Tilmann were tied up in their office, tortured and then murdered by having their throats slit.

The news leaked out slowly, and Susanne was not the first to know. Instead, she had to suffer the anguish of people phoning her, saying something had happened, but not knowing exactly what it was, or why she couldn’t get hold of Tilmann on his mobile. Finally, the police told her the news she so dreaded — that her husband was dead.

Talk about the death

Initially, after Tilmann’s death, Susanne wanted to avoid media attention. On the day after Tilmann had been killed, as is the custom in Turkey, visitors, many of them Christian leaders, had come to see her from all over the country, and it was their advice that led Susanne to decide to talk about Tilmann’s death. ‘The leaders in my home had more wisdom than me, and they said, maybe this is an opportunity to share. And I always want to bring the gospel out somehow — so I prayed a quick prayer and said, “Lord, what do you want me to say?” because I had no idea, my brain was just empty. And then the words came in my mind, what Jesus said on the cross: “Father, forgive them, because they don’t know what they are doing.” And I thought, yes, and I decided there and then to say I forgave them.’

The media attention was relentless from then on and, after a year of it, Susanne hopes to be able to avoid it in future, particularly as she has discovered that the truth is not always printed. And her forgiveness was not always understood: in fact, as a Christian worker in Turkey commented to Susanne’s biographer, Jonathan Carswell, ‘The Turkish people could not understand how anyone, let alone a vulnerable woman, could say such things and claim them to be true. It is very much an “eye for an eye” culture. Their struggle to understand led them to believe that either she didn’t mean it or maybe she didn’t love her husband.’

Why we must forgive

In fact, of course, Susanne would argue strongly that forgiveness is not an option for Christians, or for the super-spiritual: it is commanded in the Bible, it has to be done. So where did she find the strength to forgive such a terrible crime? ‘In Jesus. It doesn’t change the pain at all, but you know you are doing what you should be doing. The forgiveness is in one world, and struggling to live without a husband and father is the other. You cannot reduce the pain, you just have to find a way to live with it, but if, on top of that, you don’t forgive and you have anger and bitterness in your heart, it makes it worse. As Christians, we have the opportunity to live without that.’

Not only has Susanne determined to forgive the men who killed Tilmann, she also wants to share the gospel with them — a desire shared by her children. ‘Miriam at first was really angry’, Susanne says, talking of her younger daughter, ‘but all the children now want to see these men and to give them a Bible, because they believe that they can change.’ And in fact it was the children’s determination not to give up on Turkey after their father’s death that has contributed hugely to the family’s decision to stay in the country. The children were adamant: ‘Dad died for Jesus in Malatya; and we are here to build a church; so we should stay and build a church.’ And, despite the difficulties, that is what they are determined to do.

All that I have

Almost from the moment she became a Christian, Susanne was determined to give up everything to God. One evening she was praying. ‘All my earthly possessions were laid out in front of me. There wasn’t much but it was all I had, and I gave it all to the Lord.’

So — now that God has taken her up on her word and taken her husband — does she feel she is paying too high a price, has given up too much? She doesn’t. ‘It is as it says in the Bible — Jesus said that if we follow him, we will be tortured, persecuted, killed. We know it will happen, or we should do.’

But despite her readiness, she says that potential martyrdom was not on her mind when she and Tilmann decided that God was calling them to Turkey. The last Protestant missionary to be killed in Turkey at that time was, as far as they were aware, David Goodman, who died over 25 years ago. ‘You don’t think about it, because if you did, you’d be scared and you wouldn’t go. It is better to think about Jesus and how he said that whatever happened, he would be with us, and that whatever happens, it is good for us, whatever that means. We often have a different idea of what is good for us from what Jesus says is good for us and for the rest of the world. We were afraid of being thrown out of the country, and we thanked God for every day we were able to stay, but we were never afraid for our lives.’

God’s defence

Is Susanne afraid now for herself or her children? She doesn’t appear to be. ‘We have a policeman outside the house but I don’t want him there. For me, they can leave. The authorities thought I should have a 24-hour guard, and I had a woman for four days, before I decided, “Lets forget about that!” So if I want a guard, I can have one, but if I go outside Malatya, I have to sign a piece of paper saying that I’m happy to take the responsibility.’ Susanne obviously trusts God to defend her, or rather to submit herself to whatever God’s will is — and she realises that if someone wanted to murder her, they could easily murder any guard she might have as well.

Susanne strongly believes there will be a harvest from the three men’s deaths and she is not impatient to see that harvest. ‘The Bible says that unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, there is no fruit. But it can be a long time between the grain falling to the ground and dying, and then seeing any harvest.’ In the meantime, she is facing the future with courage, hope and a strong faith. She is also facing it with humour and life — a truly remarkable woman.

Married to a Martyr: a story of tragedy and hope , by Jonathan Carswell, is published by Authentic Media at £8.99.

Brutal murder

Talk about the death

Why we must forgive

All that I have

God’s defence

Alison Hull

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