{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}} {{Short description|German communist (1995–2015)}} {{Infobox military person |name = Ivana Hoffmann |image = Ivana Hoffmann - Indymedia - cropped.jpg |alt = |caption = |other_name = Avaşin Tekoşin Güneş |birth_date = {{birth-date|1 September 1995 }} |birth_place = Emmerich am Rhein, Germany |death_date = {{death date and age|2015|03|07|1995|09|01|df=y}} |death_place = Tell Tamer Subdistrict, Syria |burial_place = |allegiance = {{flagicon image|Flag of Rojava.svg}}{{flagicon image|De facto SA-NES Flag.svg}} Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria |branch = 17px Marxist–Leninist Communist Party (Turkey) (MLKP) |service_years = |service_number = |rank = |unit = |commands = |awards = |signature = |signature_size = |module = }}
'''Ivana Hoffmann''' (1 September 1995 – 7 March 2015), also known as '''Avaşin Tekoşin Güneş''', was a German feminist communist who fought with the Marxist–Leninist Communist Party (Turkey) (MLKP) in the Rojava conflict of the Syrian civil war. She was the first female foreign fighter in the Syrian Democratic Forces to die in the conflict.
==Biography== Hoffmann was born in Emmerich am Rhein to a German mother and Togolese father.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|title=Extremismus : Ivanas Kampf – DER SPIEGEL 12/2015|url=https://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-132328291.html|access-date=22 November 2020|newspaper=Der Spiegel| date=13 March 2015 | last1=Backes | first1=Laura | last2=Diehl | first2=Jörg }}</ref> The mother and Ivana later moved to Duisburg<ref>{{Cite web|last=Hoffmann|first=Kevin|title=Sie konnte Ungerechtigkeit nicht ertragen (neues deutschland)|url=https://www.neues-deutschland.de/artikel/1081615.sie-konnte-ungerechtigkeit-nicht-ertragen.html|access-date=21 November 2020|website=www.neues-deutschland.de|language=de}}</ref> where they lived in the Meiderich neighborhood and Hoffmann began to get involved into left-wing politics and came into contact with the movement of the MLKP.<ref name=":0" />
Hoffmann travelled to Syria to join the Rojava conflict in late 2014. In a video published after her death, Hoffman gave her reasons for joining: "I decided to come to Rojava because they are fighting for humanity here, for rights and for internationalism that the MLKP represents. We are here as the MLKP to fight for freedom. Rojava is the beginning. Rojava is hope."<ref>{{Cite news|title=German woman killed fighting ISIS in Syria {{!}} CBC News|language=en-US|work=CBC|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ivana-hoffmann-german-woman-killed-fighting-isis-in-syria-1.2986784|access-date=21 November 2020}}</ref>
Hoffmann was killed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) while fighting alongside the People's Protection Units near Tell Tamer during the Eastern al-Hasakah offensive.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Osborne|first=Louise|date=9 March 2015|title=First female western fighter dies fighting Islamic State|language=en-GB|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/09/first-female-western-fighter-ivana-hoffmann-dies-fighting-islamic-state|access-date=21 November 2020|issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=15 March 2015|title=Funeral for German woman Ivana Hoffmann killed fighting IS|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31893356|access-date=21 November 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://anfenglish.com/news/tribute-to-martyr-ivana-hoffmann-on-her-25th-birthday-46350|title=Tribute to martyr Ivana Hoffmann on her 25th birthday|website=ANF News}}</ref> Anti-ISIL activists commemorating Hoffmann were later arrested in İzmir, Turkey.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Body of killed German socialist fighter returned to family from Syria|url=http://www.middleeasteye.net/fr/news/ivana-hoffman-549927894|access-date=21 November 2020|website=Middle East Eye édition française|language=fr}}</ref> To date, Hoffmann was the youngest foreign fighter killed fighting for the SDF.
The public prosecutor's office in Duisburg confiscated the body in order to have it autopsied.<ref>{{cite web |title=Staatsanwälte werden aktiv |url=http://www.jungewelt.de/2015/03-14/065.php |website=junge Welt |access-date=21 August 2021 |language=de |date=14 March 2015}}</ref> The Federal Prosecutor's Office has vouched to prosecute the Marxist–Leninist Communist Party (MLKP). It considered supporters of the organization should be charged because of their support to a foreign terrorist organization.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ivana Hoffmann: Staatsanwaltschaft Duisburg ermittelt |url=http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/ivana-hoffmann-staatsanwaltschaft-duisburg-ermittelt-a-1023393.html |access-date=21 August 2021 |work=Spiegel.de |language=de}}</ref> In response, The Solidarity Committee for Ivana Hoffmann terms this as a "scandal".<ref name="RedGlobe">{{cite web |title=RedGlobe – Abschied von Ivana Hoffmann |url=https://www.redglobe.de/naher-mittlerer-osten/kurdistan/6736-abschied-von-ivana-hoffmann |access-date=21 August 2021 |date=10 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310054208/https://www.redglobe.de/naher-mittlerer-osten/kurdistan/6736-abschied-von-ivana-hoffmann |archive-date=10 March 2016 }}</ref>
On March 14th, 2015, a rally followed by a funeral march was held in Duisburg in commemoration of Hoffmann, with participants from the Marxist-Leninist spectrum. Different sources reported a turnout of somewhere between 500 and 6000 participants. <ref>{{cite news |title=Trauerkundgebung für Ivana Hoffmann |url=http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/trauerkundgebung-fuer-ivana-hoffmann-1.2393708 |work=sueddeutsche.de |language=de |access-date=14 May 2024 |archive-date=16 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150316212127/http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/trauerkundgebung-fuer-ivana-hoffmann-1.2393708 |url-status=dead }}</ref> <ref name="WAZ1700">[http://www.derwesten.de/staedte/duisburg/1700-menschen-bei-trauermarsch-zu-ivana-hoffmanns-beerdigung-id10457099.html Trauermarsch zu Ivana Hoffmanns Beerdigung in Duisburg] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160127014131/http://www.derwesten.de/staedte/duisburg/1700-menschen-bei-trauermarsch-zu-ivana-hoffmanns-beerdigung-id10457099.html |date=27 January 2016 }} derwesten.de</ref> <ref name="SPON Trauer">[http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/gesellschaft/2000-menschen-erweisen-ivana-hoffmann-die-letzte-ehre-a-1023582.html Deutsche Anti-IS-Kämpferin: 2000 Menschen erweisen Ivana Hoffmann die letzte Ehre] Spiegel Online (in German)</ref> <ref> {{cite news |title=In Berlin und Duisburg: Gedenk-Demonstrationen für Ivana Hoffmann |url=http://www.rf-news.de/2015/kw11/in-berlin-und-duisburg-gedenk-demonstrationen-fuer-ivana-hoffmann |language=de}} Rote-Fahne News, Online-web-magazine of the MLPD </ref> <ref name="RedGlobe" /> The family of Ivana Hoffmann was also present. The march accompanied her coffin from the District Court in the district of Hamborn to the cemetery Bügelstraße in Meiderich, where she was buried. <ref name="WAZ1700" /><ref name="SPON Trauer" /> Multiple representatives of communist organizations from Germany, Spain, and Turkey, as well as high-ranking representatives of the Kurdish Freedom Movement, such as the Chairwoman of the Peoples' Democratic Party, Figen Yüksekdağ, and Salih Muslim, Chairman of the Democratic Union Party, spoke at the event.<ref name="RedGlobe" />
== References == {{Reflist}} {{Authority control}}
{{Germany-mil-bio-stub}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoffmann, Ivana}} Category:1995 births Category:2015 deaths Category:Women soldiers Category:Military personnel killed in the Syrian civil war Category:People from Duisburg Category:German feminists Category:German communists Category:People's Defense Units Category:German war casualties Category:German people of Togolese descent