Statue of Gad Gross

Located at one end of Iskan Street, the statue is dedicated Gad Gross, a foreign journalist who was martyred in March 1990 in Kirkuk while covering the Kurdish genocide. He was an only child who was killed before he had a chance to find out he had just been accepted into Columbia and Yale law schools. His mother Edith Gross attended the dedication of his statue.

In March 1991, at the age of 26 or 27, Gad Gross and a 27 year old Peshmerga guide named Bakhtiar Abdel Rahman were killed together by Iraqi troops in Kirkuk. He was with Frank Smyth and Alain Buu, covering the Kurdish uprising for Newsweek. They were at the frontlines when an artillery and helicopter assault began a barrage on their area and Gross and Baxtiar took refuge in a house. Iraqi troops searched the house and shot Gross and Bakhtiar, carrying out Gross'' blood-soaked passport and camera bag. (Smyth and Buu hid in a trench, and after seventeen hours heard he execution, then an hour later were discovered and sent to Abu Ghraib prison.)

Born in Romania, Gross graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard in March 1990, and had both Romanian and German passports (he used the former on his fatal assignment). He was accepted to Columbia and Yale law schools for the fall; he wanted to study for a doctorate in international law and help people through Amnesty International. It was his first professional assignment for Newsweek and he wanted to get frontline material. At the time, the only way to get copy and photos out was via courier to Turkey or Iran and from there it was filed. His mother is the internationally known artist Edith Gross, who attended the dedication in Hawler of his statue.