Eckhard Stratmann-Mertens, formerly known asEckhard Stratmann (born 3 April 1948 inOberhausen,North Rhine-Westphalia), is a former politician andGreen Party member of the GermanBundestag. Before and after serving in the Bundestag, he taught at a secondary school inBochum, Germany.
Stratmann-Mertens was a founding member of the German Green Party and in 1983, when the Greens were first elected to theBundestag, he was one of those elected from theproportional party list (Landesliste). He was elected to the 10th German Bundestag from theLandesliste ofNorth Rhine-Westphalia. He was the first member of theGreen Party faction to speak before the German parliament. Wearing corduroys and an open shirt, he introduced himself in the Bundestag, first to the citizens of Germany, then to the members of the German parliament.[1]
He was a member of the Bundestag until 31 March 1985, when he left his seat, following the principal ofrotation in office. He served a second time as a Green Party faction member of the 11th German parliament from 1987 to 1990. Stratmann-Mertens was the political spokesman for the economic and energy faction in the Bundestag.[2]
Stratmann-Mertens and other anti-war activists called at a special Green Party convention inBielefeld on 13 May 1999 for an immediate halt to theNATO bombing in theKosovo War, but were unsuccessful getting the party to adopt the position. In protest, he and others resigned that day. Stratmann-Mertens announced he would launch a new national network for other peace activists who also wanted to leave the Greens.[3]
Stratmann-Mertens is the spokesman of theBochumer Bürgerinitiative gegen die DüBoDo, (a Bochum citizens' initiative against a proposedautobahn that would connectDüsseldorf, Bochum andDortmund, rather than expand already existing highways). He has been a member ofattac since 2001. Following his terms in the Bundestag, Stratmann-Mertens returned to his teaching position at theAlbert-Einstein-Schule, a German-English bilingualgymnasium inBochum, Germany, where he taughtsocial sciences, history and religion (Protestant).[4] He then taught at the Neues Gymnasium Bochum, a new school formed by a merger of the Albert Einstein School with theGymnasium am Ostring. He retired in July 2013.
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