Barbara Anna Kistler (November 21 1955 - January 1993) was a Swiss revolutionary and member of The Communist Party of Türkiye/Marxist–Leninist (TKP/ML)
Born in Zürich, Switzerland. In her youth she was a member of the Group Against Isolation (KGI), which sought to establish a Communist Party in the country. In the mid 1980s she met Turkish Communists who had escaped the 1980 Turkish coup d'état.
In May 1991 she would be arrested in Istanbul, she was held incommunicado for a ten day period, during which she was tortured. She would be returned to Switzerland in September, however Kistler soon traveled to the Dersim/Tunceli Province of Türkiye, where she became a combatant for the Workers' and Peasants' Liberation Army of Türkiye (TIKKO) the armed wing of TKP/ML.
In the guerrilla struggle Kistler would help train foreign volunteers and do her utmost to assist the cause in anyway possible. In January 1993, she would be injured after a confrontation with the Turkish military and succumb in the harsh winter conditions.
Although somewhat obscure, Barbara Kistler remains an exemplary representation of Proletarian Internationalism. Her courage and dedication to the cause of the oppressed and poor should instill inspiration to revolutionaries worldwide.
