Kelly, Petra b. November 29, 1947; Gunzburg/Donau, Bavaria d. October 1, 1992; Bonn, North Rhine- Westfalia
German politician, cofounder of the Green Party. Kelly was born Petra Karin Lehmann. She moved to the United States at the age of thirteen when her mother married the American army officer John Kelly.
In 1966 Kelly enrolled at the American University (School of International Service) in Washington, D.C. While a student she became involved in the antiwar and civil rights movements of the 1960s, which were to influence her political outlook decisively. In 1968 she acted as student adviser to Hubert H. Humphrey’s presidential campaign. After her graduation in 1970, Kelly obtained a fellowship at the Europa Institute in Amsterdam to study European integration. In 1971 she started to work as an administrator for the European Community. Throughout the 1970s, Kelly was actively involved in the West German antinuclear, ecology, and women’s movements. It was there that she met her future longtime companion, Gert Bastian, a retired general and peace activist. In 1972 she became a committed member of the Bundesverband Burgerinitiativen Umweltschutz (BBU, Federal Association of Environmental Citizens’ Initiatives) and was elected to its board in 1977. Kelly played a vital role in the founding of the West German Green Party in 1979 and won a seat as one of twenty-seven Green members in the federal parliament in 1983. In spite of being one of its central figures, her relationship with the party was rocky from the start. She was critical of its factionalism and refused to give up her position in 1985 when it was time for Green Party members to rotate their seats among other members. In 1992 Petra Kelly was shot and killed by her partner Gert Bastian, who afterward committed suicide. Growing personal tensions between the couple were alleged to have motivated his deed.Sonja Levsen
See also German Students at American Universities
References and Further Reading
Lasky, Melvin J. “The Pacifist and the
General.” National Interest 34 (1993-1994): 66-78.
Parkin, Sara. The Life and Death of Petra Kelly. London: HarperCollins, 1994.
Slaughter, Jane, and Melissa K. Bokovoy.
Sharing the Stage: Biography and Gender in Western Civilization. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003, pp. 358-379.