Petra Kelly
Petra Karin Kelly (November 29, 1947 – October 1, 1992), a politician, was instrumental in founding the German Green Party, the first Green party to rise to prominence worldwide.
Kelly was born in Günzburg, Bavaria, Germany in 1947 with the name Petra Karin Lehmann. She changed her name to Kelly after her mother married her step-father, an American Army officer. She was educated in a Roman Catholic convent in Günzburg and later attended high school in Georgia after her family relocated to the United States in 1959. She lived and studied in the United States until her return to West Germany in 1970. She retained her West German citizenship throughout her life.
An admirer of Martin Luther King, Jr., she campaigned for Robert F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey in the 1968 US elections. She studied political science at the School of International Service at American University (Washington, D.C.), from which she graduated in 1966. She graduated from the European Institute at the University of Amsterdam in 1971.
While working at the European Commission (Brussels, Belgium, 1971 – 1983), she participated in numerous peace and environmental campaigns in Germany and other countries.
Petra Kelly was one of the founders in 1979 of Die Grünen, the German Green Party. Between 1983 and 1990, she was a member of the Bundestag (West German Parliament).
Kelly received the Right Livelihood Award (also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize) in 1982 "...for forging and implementing a new vision uniting ecological concerns with disarmament, social justice and human rights." [[1]
In 1992, she was shot dead in Bonn while sleeping, probably by her partner, ex-general and Green politician Gert Bastian (born 1923), who then killed himself. Kelly's friends believe her death was totally unexpected and occurred without her consent. She was 44; he was 69. [2] [3]). Petra Kelly was buried in the Wuerzburg Waldfriedhof, Wuerzburg, near the village of Heidingsfeld in lower Frankonia, Baviaria.
With the goal of furthering Petra Kelly's ideas and political message, the Petra Kelly Foundation was founded in 1997 as part of the Heinrich Böll Foundation. Since 1998, the foundation has presented the Petra Kelly Prize for Human Rights, Ecology, and Non-Violence.
In the words of her friend, the Dalai Lama: "Petra Kelly was a committed and dedicated person with compassionate concern for the oppressed, the weak and the persecuted in our time. Her spirit and legacy of human solidarity and concern continue to inspire and encourage us all."
Family life and education
Petra Karin Lehmann was born in Gunzberg, Bavaria (then in West Germany) on November 27, 1947. She attended the Englisches Institut, a Roman Catholic boarding school for girls in Gunzberg. In 1960 her mother married a U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel, John E. Kelly. The familymoved to Georgia (U.S.A.), where the teenaged Petra became involved in civil rights activities. She attended high school in Hampton, Virginia where she had a weekly radio program on current issues.
She attended college at the American Unifvesity in Ashington, D.C., majoring in political sciense, international relations and world politics. She graduated cum laude in 1970.
As a student she was active in the anti-war movement, civil rights, antinuclear, and feminist movements. She also volunteered in the presidential campaign for Senator Robert Kennedy in 1968. Following his assassination, she volunteered in the office of Senator Hubert H. Humphrey during his electoral campaign.
In 1971 Ms. Kelly received an M.A. degree in political science from the University of Amsterdam for a thesis on European integration.
Environmentalism
Petra's half sister, Grace Patricia Kelly died at the age of ten from eye cancer. This was in 1970. Four years later, Petra, along with her grandmother, founded the Grace P. Kelly Association for the Support of Cancer Research for Children in Nuremburg.
This organization spans European nations as a citizen action group studying the connection between children's cancer and the environment, in particular the nuclear industry. A sister project offering psychosocial children's care, the Children's Planet was founded to care for children with life-threatening illnessess.
Return to Europe
In 1970 Petra returned to Europe and continued her education there. From 1972 until 1983 she worked with the European Community's Economic and Social Committee in Brussels, involved in a wide range of issues, such as environmental and health issues, social problems, labor, women rights and consumer affairs.
Sources and Further Reading
- Parkin, Sara, The Life and Death of Petra Kelly, Rivers Oram Press; Pandora, 1995, ISBN 0044409400
- Kelly, Petra K., Thinking Green! Essays on Environmentalism, Feminism, and Nonviolence, California, Parallax Press, 1994, ISBN 0938077627
- Kelly, Petra K., Nonviolence Speaks to Power, Honolulu, Matsunaga Institute for Peace; University of Hawaii, 1992, ISBN 188030905X
- Kelly, Petra K., Edited by Glenn D. Paige and Sarah Gilliatt. Nonviolence Speaks to Power - A selection of five speeches and four essays covering the period from August 1987 to July 1991,Center for Global Nonviolence. Retrieved April 25, 2007.
External links
- Petra Kelly - Curriculum Vitae, Heinrich Böll Foundation, Accessed February 14, 2007
- Noakes, Frank, Petra Kelly, 1947-1992, Green Left Weekly, Accessed February 14, 2007
- Happiness is a Warm Gun, artfilm, Accessed February 14, 2007
- Kelly, Petra, Petra K Kelly (1982) , Roll of Honour, Accessed February 14, 2007
- Petra Kelly Archives, Heinrich Böll Foundation, Accessed February 14, 2007
- Petra Kelly Prize, Heinrich Böll Foundation, Accessed February 14, 2007
- Ketelby, Daniel S., January 03, 2005, Petra Kelly, Metaphysics as a Guide to Lunch, Accessed February 14, 2007
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