On september 14th, a trans woman of color set herself on fire on alexanderplatz and died a short time later as a result. Ella died by suicide in front of a department store on Alexanderplatz. She was an Iranian refugee who had been living in Germany for several years.

The 40-year-old died in hospital on Wednesday. An employee of the department store had extinguished the burning woman with a fire extinguisher and a helicopter had taken her to the hospital. According to the police, it is not known why she took her own life.

Why Ella set herself on fire with suicidal intent, even people who knew her have no definite answer. "I think Germany did not meet the expectations that she had. Berlin pretends to be a free city - you are sexually and psychologically harassed on every corner." Ella also experienced that.

Like so many refugees, Ella assumed that she was welcome in Germany. She hoped for another life. In a video portrait of Ella from the Offenen Kanal Magdeburg from 2019, she says: “I had a good apartment in my home town, also work, a good salary. But I couldn't live in Iran as a trans woman. "

In Iran, homosexuality is punishable by death. As a trans woman, Ella could theoretically have lived there, but she would always have been denied social recognition. The great desire to simply be a woman was also denied her by various German training institutions. "The first place that gave her a diploma with the correct name and gender, Ella and wife, was TÜV in Berlin," says Dagmar. And she adds that Ella dreamed of working at Tesla