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| Petra Karin Kelly, 1964 |
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| and later, perhaps 1985. |
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| ...and about 1991. |
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Petra was born in West Germany and came to Columbus with her mother and stepfather in 1960. She received the BA degree from American University in Washington in 1970 and the MA degree from the University of Amsterdam in 1971. She was one of the founders of the German Green Party in 1979, and was named by the Times of London as one of the thousand most influential people of the twentieth century. Petra died in October, 1992.
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Lisa Richardson (Montgomery) (1978)
Wow!http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra_Kelly
Kitty Cole (1967)
I remember Petra very well. She was hard to get to know...kinda shy and quiet but once she let you in she was sweet and very very smart and had a quiet but terrific sense of humor.
I was so sadden to hear of her murder.
Here is an article about her life.
1947 - 1992
Petra Kelly was born Petra Karin Lehmann on November 29, 1947 in the Bavarian town of Günzb
Petra Kelly was born Petra Karin Lehmann on November 29, 1947 in the Bavarian town of Günzburg, which was – as she often liked to mention in speeches and interviews – also the birthplace of “Angel of Death” Josef Mengele, chief doctor at Auschwitz. When Petra was six years old her father, a war correspondent and journalist, left the family, and Petra increasingly spent time in the care of her maternal grandmother, Kunigunde Birle, while her mother worked for the U.S. Armed Forces in Germany. Petra attended the formidable Englisches Institut, a Catholic girls’ school run by nuns, but a further important influence on her early education was her ‘Omi’ (Granny) Birle, who passed on to her granddaughter her own love of reading and lively interest in current affairs and social justice. From an early age Petra was plagued by kidney trouble, undergoing several painful operations over the years.
In 1958, when Petra was eleven years old, her mother married John Kelly, an American lieutenant-colonel stationed in Germany. Petra took her stepfather’s name, but was never officially adopted by him, so that she could retain her German citizenship. In 1959 her half-sister Grace Patricia was born, and her half-brother Johnny was born in 1960. In 1959 the family moved to the United States, first to Georgia and then to Virginia, where Petra graduated from high school. Having quickly mastered the English language, Petra soon excelled at writing and public speaking and was active in all aspects of school life, including being a cheerleader. In 1966 she enrolled in the School of International Service at American University in Washington, D.C.
In 1967 Petra’s half-sister Grace was diagnosed with cancer. In 1968 Petra succeeded, at her sister’s request, at obtaining an audience with Pope Paul VI for the sick child and her family. After three years of unsuccessful treatments, Grace died in 1970. The little girl’s courageous struggle against the disease was to be a source of inspiration for Petra, and would also fuel her own fight for the recognition of the links between environmental issues, atomic energy, and health. Petra would later found the Grace P. Kelly Foundation for children with cancer, and a year after her sister’s death she began a life-long commitment to sponsor aTibetan refugee orphan.
During her years as a student in Washington, Petra began to get involved in politics, campaigning for Robert Kennedy and for Hubert Humphrey, one of her early mentors. She was also involved in student politics, fighting for the rights of foreign students, and organizing a series of events designed to promote international co-operation. In 1970 she obtained her B.A. cum laude in International Relations in Washington and moved back to Europe. She enrolled at the Europa Institute of the University of Amsterdam and obtained her M.A. there in 1971. Later that year she moved to Brussels and began a series of jobs working for the European Commission.
During the 1970s Petra would become increasingly politically active in the areas of citizens’ rights, environmental protection, international co-operation and non-violent protest. During this time she also became romantically and professionally involved with a series of politically active men, often much older than herself, who helped her to define her own political path. These men included: Sicco Mansholt, the Dutch president of the European Commission and member of the wartime Resistance; John Carroll, an Irish union leader and anti-nuclear activist; and Roland Vogt, later a co-founder of the German Greens movement.
In 1979 the German Green Party “Die Grünen” was formed, with Petra Kelly as number one candidate on the slate for the European Parliament elections that year. She was also chosen as number one candidate for the Bavarian Greens in the German federal elections the following year. The party won no seats in either election, but public support continued to increase. In 1980 Petra left the Catholic Church, writing a letter of explanation to John Paul II. That same year she also met Gert Bastian for the first time. Bastian (b. 1924), a three-star general who had been an ardent Nazi and Wehrmacht soldier in his youth, resigned from the German army in 1980 in protest over American deployment of atomic missiles on German soil. By 1982 Bastian had become (not least under Petra’s influence) a full-blown pacifist and Green Party activist, and Petra Kelly’s lover and constant companion; she called him her “closest political and personal ally.” In 1982 Petra was awarded the Alternative Nobel Prize by the Right Livelihood Foundation in Stockholm.
In 1983 the Green Party was finally elected into the German parliament, with Petra as one of the three party speakers. Throughout the 1980s Petra would be extremely active, sitting as a member of parliament, attending and organizing rallies and conferences all over the world, and publishing books. Internationally she remained the most important Green Party figure; with her charisma, intelligence and language skills she was a favorite of the press and worked tirelessly to maintain and expand the Green Party’s foreign relations. At the same time, she was becoming increasingly afraid to be alone, and was accompanied constantly by either Gert Bastian, her Omi Birle (now nicknamed the “Green Granny” for her active role in Green politics), or both. Increasing dissent within the Green Party took its toll, and some members resented Petra’s refusal to “rotate” and give up her seat to a fellow member, as original party policy had required.
By 1990, things became increasingly difficult for Petra and Die Grünen. The fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 and the reunification of Germany in 1990 brought about significant shifts in the political climate. In the December 1990 all-Germany federal election the West German Greens failed to get any seats. For the first time since 1983, Petra was out of parliament, and in 1991 she was voted down by a large margin as party speaker. Still, in the autumn of that year she was named one of the 1000 makers of the twentieth century by the Sunday Times. Although she no longer had a political position, she continued to travel and attend conferences. She and Gert had been instrumental in bringing the Dalai Lama to Germany in 1988 and in the 1990s they continued their work in bringing the Tibetan cause to the public’s attention.
In early 1992 Petra tried her hand at moderating a series of environmental programs for SAT1 television, but the collaboration did not last long. In March 1992 Bastian was hit by a car and seriously injured. Bastian’s health problems added to the troubles the couple was already facing, which included their struggle to find a new political platform and their money worries. However, Petra Kelly was still making plans for the future; among other things, she was considering running for election as a Green Party candidate in the upcoming European Parliament elections. On October 1, 1992, in their house in Bonn, Gert Bastian shot and killed Petra Kelly in her sleep and then killed himself. Their bodies were found 19 days later. What exactly happened remains unclear. But it is generally agreed that Petra Kelly had not wanted to die.
urg, which was – as she often liked to mention in speeches and interviews – also the birthplace of “Angel of Death” Josef Mengele, chief doctor at Auschwitz. When Petra was six years old her father, a war correspondent and journalist, left the family, and Petra increasingly spent time in the care of her maternal grandmother, Kunigunde Birle, while her mother worked for the U.S. Armed Forces in Germany. Petra attended the formidable Englisches Institut, a Catholic girls’ school run by nuns, but a further important influence on her early education was her ‘Omi’ (Granny) Birle, who passed on to her granddaughter her own love of reading and lively interest in current affairs and social justice. From an early age Petra was plagued by kidney trouble, undergoing several painful operations over the years.
In 1958, when Petra was eleven years old, her mother married John Kelly, an American lieutenant-colonel stationed in Germany. Petra took her stepfather’s name, but was never officially adopted by him, so that she could retain her German citizenship. In 1959 her half-sister Grace Patricia was born, and her half-brother Johnny was born in 1960. In 1959 the family moved to the United States, first to Georgia and then to Virginia, where Petra graduated from high school. Having quickly mastered the English language, Petra soon excelled at writing and public speaking and was active in all aspects of school life, including being a cheerleader. In 1966 she enrolled in the School of International Service at American University in Washington, D.C.
In 1967 Petra’s half-sister Grace was diagnosed with cancer. In 1968 Petra succeeded, at her sister’s request, at obtaining an audience with Pope Paul VI for the sick child and her family. After three years of unsuccessful treatments, Grace died in 1970. The little girl’s courageous struggle against the disease was to be a source of inspiration for Petra, and would also fuel her own fight for the recognition of the links between environmental issues, atomic energy, and health. Petra would later found the Grace P. Kelly Foundation for children with cancer, and a year after her sister’s death she began a life-long commitment to sponsor aTibetan refugee orphan.
During her years as a student in Washington, Petra began to get involved in politics, campaigning for Robert Kennedy and for Hubert Humphrey, one of her early mentors. She was also involved in student politics, fighting for the rights of foreign students, and organizing a series of events designed to promote international co-operation. In 1970 she obtained her B.A. cum laude in International Relations in Washington and moved back to Europe. She enrolled at the Europa Institute of the University of Amsterdam and obtained her M.A. there in 1971. Later that year she moved to Brussels and began a series of jobs working for the European Commission.
During the 1970s Petra would become increasingly politically active in the areas of citizens’ rights, environmental protection, international co-operation and non-violent protest. During this time she also became romantically and professionally involved with a series of politically active men, often much older than herself, who helped her to define her own political path. These men included: Sicco Mansholt, the Dutch president of the European Commission and member of the wartime Resistance; John Carroll, an Irish union leader and anti-nuclear activist; and Roland Vogt, later a co-founder of the German Greens movement.
In 1979 the German Green Party “Die Grünen” was formed, with Petra Kelly as number one candidate on the slate for the European Parliament elections that year. She was also chosen as number one candidate for the Bavarian Greens in the German federal elections the following year. The party won no seats in either election, but public support continued to increase. In 1980 Petra left the Catholic Church, writing a letter of explanation to John Paul II. That same year she also met Gert Bastian for the first time. Bastian (b. 1924), a three-star general who had been an ardent Nazi and Wehrmacht soldier in his youth, resigned from the German army in 1980 in protest over American deployment of atomic missiles on German soil. By 1982 Bastian had become (not least under Petra’s influence) a full-blown pacifist and Green Party activist, and Petra Kelly’s lover and constant companion; she called him her “closest political and personal ally.” In 1982 Petra was awarded the Alternative Nobel Prize by the Right Livelihood Foundation in Stockholm.
In 1983 the Green Party was finally elected into the German parliament, with Petra as one of the three party speakers. Throughout the 1980s Petra would be extremely active, sitting as a member of parliament, attending and organizing rallies and conferences all over the world, and publishing books. Internationally she remained the most important Green Party figure; with her charisma, intelligence and language skills she was a favorite of the press and worked tirelessly to maintain and expand the Green Party’s foreign relations. At the same time, she was becoming increasingly afraid to be alone, and was accompanied constantly by either Gert Bastian, her Omi Birle (now nicknamed the “Green Granny” for her active role in Green politics), or both. Increasing dissent within the Green Party took its toll, and some members resented Petra’s refusal to “rotate” and give up her seat to a fellow member, as original party policy had required.
By 1990, things became increasingly difficult for Petra and Die Grünen. The fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 and the reunification of Germany in 1990 brought about significant shifts in the political climate. In the December 1990 all-Germany federal election the West German Greens failed to get any seats. For the first time since 1983, Petra was out of parliament, and in 1991 she was voted down by a large margin as party speaker. Still, in the autumn of that year she was named one of the 1000 makers of the twentieth century by the Sunday Times. Although she no longer had a political position, she continued to travel and attend conferences. She and Gert had been instrumental in bringing the Dalai Lama to Germany in 1988 and in the 1990s they continued their work in bringing the Tibetan cause to the public’s attention.
In early 1992 Petra tried her hand at moderating a series of environmental programs for SAT1 television, but the collaboration did not last long. In March 1992 Bastian was hit by a car and seriously injured. Bastian’s health problems added to the troubles the couple was already facing, which included their struggle to find a new political platform and their money worries. However, Petra Kelly was still making plans for the future; among other things, she was considering running for election as a Green Party candidate in the upcoming European Parliament elections. On October 1, 1992, in their house in Bonn, Gert Bastian shot and killed Petra Kelly in her sleep and then killed himself. Their bodies were found 19 days later. What exactly happened remains unclear. But it is generally agreed that Petra Kelly had not wanted to die.
Movie: Happiness is a Warm Gun... trailer......real Petra.
Sid Welch (1967)
I had a few dates with Petra back in the day. We got along fine. You could tell that she had a bigger agenda in regards to World order, etc. Even at that young age, she was thinking way outside the box. Head strong might be the word to describe her. So sorry that she was murdered.
Sid Welch
Matalyne Bryan (Davis) (1970)
Pasty spoke in Munich on numerous occasions. She asked me to visit her and she visited me. Glad to have know her!
Jim Davis (1966)
I remember Petra but we were never friends, just classmates in a very large class.
When I read of her radical political status in Europe during the '70's and 80's I was surprised because she always seemed shy to me. She also seemed quite serious and now I know why. While we disagreed on social and political matters I regret the way her life ended.