Petra Kelly | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Kelly in 1983 | |
| Leader ofThe Greens in theBundestag | |
| In office 29 March 1983 – 3 April 1984 Serving with Otto Schily andMarieluise Beck | |
| Chief Whip | Joschka Fischer |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Waltraud Schoppe |
| Member of theBundestag forBavaria | |
| In office 6 March 1983 – 2 December 1990 | |
| Constituency | The Greens List |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Petra Karin Lehmann 29 November 1947 |
| Died | 1 October 1992(1992-10-01) (aged 44) Bonn,North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany |
| Political party | The Greens |
| Domestic partner | Gert Bastian |
| Alma mater | American University,University of Amsterdam |
| Occupation | Activist, politician |
| Awards | Right Livelihood Award |
| Website | petrakellystiftung |
Petra Karin Kelly (29 November 1947 –c. 1 October 1992) was a GermanGreen politician andecofeminist activist. She was a founding member of theGerman Green Party, the first Green party to rise to prominence both nationally in Germany and worldwide. In 1982, she was awarded theRight Livelihood Award for "forging and implementing a new vision uniting ecological concerns with disarmament, social justice and human rights."
On 19 October 1992, the decomposed bodies of Kelly and her partner, the ex-general and Green politicianGert Bastian were discovered in the bedroom of her house inBonn by police officials after they received a call from both Bastian's wife[when defined as?] and Kelly's grandmother who reported that they had not heard from either Bastian or Kelly for a few weeks. The police determined that Kelly was shot dead while sleeping by Bastian, who then died of suicide. She was 44, he was 69.[1][2] The last time anyone heard from the couple was on 30 September 1992 when Kelly sent a parcel to her grandmother.[3] Police estimated the deaths had most likely occurred on 1 October but the exact time of death could not be pinpointed owing to the delay in finding the bodies and their resultant state of decomposition.[3][4]
Petra Karin Lehmann was born inGünzburg,Bavaria in 1947. She changed her name to Kelly after her mother married John E. Kelly, aUS Army officer. She was educated in aCatholic convent in Günzburg and later attended school inGeorgia andVirginia after her family relocated to the United States in 1959. She lived and studied in the United States until her return toWest Germany in 1970.[citation needed] She retained her West German citizenship throughout her life.
Kelly admiredMartin Luther King Jr., and campaigned forRobert F. Kennedy andHubert Humphrey in the1968 U.S. elections. She studied political science at the School of International Service atAmerican University (Washington, D.C.), from which she graduated in 1970 with a bachelor's degree. She also graduated from the European Institute at theUniversity of Amsterdam in 1971 with a master's degree.
While working at theEuropean Commission (Brussels, Belgium, 1971–83), Kelly participated in numerous peace and environmental campaigns in Germany and other countries.[citation needed]
After working for two years at theEuropean Commission, she moved to an administrative post at theEconomic and Social Committee, where she championedwomen's rights.[5]
Kelly was one of the founders ofDie Grünen, theGerman Green Party in 1979. In 1983 she was elected to theBundestag via theElectoral list as a Member of theBundestag representingBavaria. She was subsequently re-elected in 1987 with a higher share of the vote.
In 1981, Kelly was involved in a protest of 400,000 people in Bonn against nuclear weapons. In 1982,Gerhard Schröder wrote a contribution inDie Zeit for the bookPrinzip Leben, edited by Kelly andJo Leinen, which discussed ecological problems and a possible nuclear war.
In the same year, Kelly received theRight Livelihood Award "...for forging and implementing a new vision uniting ecological concerns withdisarmament,social justice, andhuman rights."[6]
On 12 May 1983, Kelly,Gert Bastian and three other Green Bundestag members unfurled a banner onAlexanderplatz in East Berlin, which said "The Greens –Swords to Ploughshares". After being briefly arrested, they met with East German opposition parties. The East German authorities tolerated this since the West German Greens repudiated theNATO Double-Track Decision.[7][8] In October 1983,Erich Honecker, the leader of the German Democratic Republic, met Petra Kelly, Gert Bastian and other Greens. Kelly wore a pullover with the words "Swords to Ploughshares" on it. She demanded the release of all prisoners of the East German peace movement and asked Honecker why he repressed something in the GDR which he supported in the West.[9][10]
Kelly wrote the bookFighting for Hope in 1984, published bySouth End Press. The book is an urgent call for a world free from violence between North and South, men and women, ourselves and our environment.[11]
In the final years of her life, Kelly became increasingly estranged from most of her party colleagues owing to the pragmatic turn taken by the Greens at the time, while she continued to oppose any alliance with traditional political parties.
On 19 October 1992, the decomposed bodies of Kelly and her partner, ex-general and Green politicianGert Bastian (born 1923), were discovered in the bedroom of her house inBonn by police officials after they received a call from both Bastian's wife[when defined as?] and Kelly's grandmother who reported that they had not heard from either Bastian or Kelly for a few weeks. The police determined that Kelly was shot dead while sleeping by Bastian, who then died of suicide. She was 44, he was 69.[12][13] The last time anyone heard from the couple was on 30 September 1992 when Kelly sent a parcel to her grandmother.[3] Police estimated the deaths had most likely occurred on 1 October but the exact time of death could not be pinpointed owing to the delay in finding the bodies and their resultant state of decomposition.[3][14] Kelly was buried in the Waldfriedhof (forest cemetery) inWürzburg, near the village ofHeidingsfeld inLower Franconia, Bavaria.
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