Prof. Tessa Hofmann

Genocide Scholar Tessa Hofmann Honored in Germany

by Muriel Mirak-Weissbach
The Armenian Mirror-Spectator
BERLIN, SEPTEMBER 18, 2025 — German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier signed an order on June 13 naming Dr. Tessa Hofmann, sociology scholar, genocide researcher, and human rights proponent, as recipient of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In his letter informing Hofmann two weeks later of the honor, George Klussmann, the Berlin Mayor’s chief of protocol, wrote, “With your exceptional personal achievements you have made an outstanding contribution to the common good of the Federal Republic of Germany. For this engagement, I render my thanks.”
Although the specific grounds for conferring the award are yet to be officially stated, the fact that it was the Department for Culture and Social Solidarity of the Berlin Senate that issued the declaration is indicative. Hofmann is well-known for her civil society activities, particularly in her leading role in promoting recognition of the genocide against the Armenians and other Christian minorities in the Ottoman Empire, recognition that came in the form of a resolution passed by the Bundestag (Parliament) in 2016. Among those organizing support for this honor are in fact many individuals and organizations, of Germans, and especially Kurds, Alevites, Armenians, Greeks and Syrian Orthodox Aramaeans.
A leading representative of the latter community, Amill Gorgis, has worked closely with Hofmann leading the Promotional Society for the Ecumenical Monuments for Genocide Victims of the Ottoman Empire (FÖGG). The FÖGG sponsored the erection of monuments in a Berlin cemetery commemorating the Christian groups victimized in the Ottoman genocide. The official ceremony to confer the unique federal honor on Tessa Hofmann will take place in Berlin on October 20.