Wilhelm Knabe | |
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_(cropped).jpg) Knabe in 2014 | |
| Born | (1923-10-08)8 October 1923 |
| Died | 30 January 2021(2021-01-30) (aged 97) |
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Wilhelm Knabe (8 October 1923 – 30 January 2021) was a German ecologist, pacifist, civil servant and politician, remembered as a founding member of theGreen Party in Germany, and a pioneer of conservation of the environment who shaped the party for decades.[1]
Knabe studiedforest management in theGerman Democratic Republic (GDR). As an assistant at theHumboldt University, he focused on the recultivation afterbrown coal mining. Knabe left East Germany in 1959, settling inMülheim,West Germany with his family, where he worked for a state agency for ecology. He had been a member of theChristian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) from 1946, because it represented hisChristian ethics, but left the party in 1966, unwilling to support its belief in economic growth and nuclear energy. In 1978, he was a co-founder of theGreen Party in Germany, standing for conservation of the environment and world peace. He was party speaker on a federal level, a member of theBundestag from 1987 to 1990, and vice mayor of Mülheim from 1994 to 1999.
Knabe was born in October 1923 inArnsdorf, nearDresden, the seventh of nine children of a Protestant theologian.[2][3] His father directed a facility for children with learning difficulties. He died trying to protect these children from the Nazi euthanasia programs in 1940, when Wilhelm was age 16.[2][4] The younger Knabe joined theLuftwaffe after hisAbitur at theFürstenschule St. Afra inMeißen,[4] and served for three years. After World War II, he became a member of theChristian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1946.[2] He studiedforest management (Forstwirtschaft) at the Forstliche Hochschule inTharandt near Dresden,[3] and completed his studies with adoctorate inagrarian science at theHumboldt University in Berlin.[3] During his studies, he founded a group for preservation of the environment in 1949, together with other students, but theSED government of theGerman Democratic Republic (GDR) soon suppressed it.[2][5] As assistant at the Humboldt University, he focused on plans for the recultivation afterbrown coal mining, the topic of his dissertation,[4] but they were not put into practice.[2]
Knabe leftEast Germany in 1959, with his pregnant wife and three children.[2] The family settled inNorth Rhine-Westphalia,West Germany,[5] where he joined theChristian Democratic Union, as it represented hisChristian ethics. He left the party in 1966 because he could no longer support its belief in unrestrained economic growth, building of highways, and support of nuclear energy.[6] Knabe worked from the mid-1960s in a leading position for theLandesanstalt für Ökologie [de], a state agency for ecology, inRecklinghausen,[5] moving toMülheim in 1967.[7] He headed a project developing strategies to fightWaldsterben (death of the forests).[8] In the 1970s, he supported oppositional groups in the GDR, such as ecological groups, initiatives for international development, and especially the Umwelt-Bibliothek (ecological library) in Berlin and the Ökologischer Arbeitskreis (ecological work group) in Dresden.[7]
Knabe was a co-founder of theGreen Party in Germany in 1978.[1][9] He stood for conservation of the environment and world peace, and against nuclear deterrence and the arms race in the East and West.[6] In 1979, he was a co-founder of the party inNorth Rhine-Westphalia, where he was the party's first speaker.[9] He served as one of three speakers of the Greens at the federal level (Sprecher des Bundesverbandes) from November 1982 until December 1984.[9] In the 1980s, he developed a system for the analysis of forest health by monitoring data from 26 areas over a long period. The concept became a standard in Germany.[8] Knabe was a Member of theBundestag from 1987 until 1990. Beginning in 1991, he collaborated with a students' ecological initiative (Umweltinitiative) at theTechnische Universität Dresden.[7] He was vice mayor of the city ofMülheim from 1994 to 1999,[9] where he formed the first black-green coalition in Germany.[2] He focused there on projects of culture and education.[8]
Knabe was married, and the couple had four children.[9] Their sonHubertus Knabe became a historian.[6] In 2019, Wilhelm Knabe published anautobiography titledErinnerungen – Ein deutsch-deutsches Leben (Memories − a German-German life).[6][10] He read literature to children at theKloster Saarn [de] educational facility.[6] He joinedFriday For Future demonstrations showing a poster "Opa for future – ihr seid nicht allein" (Grandpa for future – you are not alone).[6]
Knabe died inMülheim an der Ruhr,[7] at age 97,[1] from aCOVID-19 infection during theCOVID-19 pandemic in Germany.[6]
Knabe's publications are held by theGerman National Library:[11]
Knabe was honorary president of the Kreisverband Bündnis 90/Die Grünen in Mülheim an der Ruhr.[9]
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