Petra Kelly

Petra Kelly, born in 1947 in Günzburg, Germany, was a political activist and leader. She moved to the United States in 1959 and became politically active during her time at American University. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, she traveled extensively, participating in anti-nuclear protests, opposing the Cold War, and advocating for a peace movement. Kelly co-founded the West German Green Party, which aimed to channel grassroots protests into parliamentary action. Her transnational approach to politics was instrumental in the Green Party’s entry into the Bundestag and incorporated environmental concerns into German mainstream politics. 

Kelly received several notable accolades, including the Right Livelihood Foundation’s Alternative Nobel Prize in 1982 and being named “Woman of the Year” by Women Strike for Peace in 1983. Despite her significant contributions, her life was tragically cut short when she was murdered by her partner in 1992, a case that remains unsolved. Kelly has been referred to as the “Joan of Arc of the nuclear age.”