The Life and Death of Petra Kelly

by Sara Parkin

In 1992, Petra Kelly, co-founder of the German Green Party and one of the most charismatic radical leaders of post-war Europe, was found dead in her Bonn home. She had been shot through the head. This biography aims to shed new light on the reasons behind her death.

Genres: Politics, Biography, History, Germany

Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Julio The Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

A love letter to a flower child who left us too soon. In the early Eighties German activist and co-founder of the Green Party Petra Kelly represented a fresh voice in an East versus West world that had grown stale from too much political rhetoric and saber-rattling. She and her Green comrades entered the German parliament on a platform of nuclear disarmament, dismantling NATO bases, freeing political prisoners in both Germanies and saving the environment. Behind this children's crusade was a fragile woman, half-American by adoption and education, whose private life contained much pain. She wanted to heal the world and herself. The tragic murder-suicide deaths of Petra and her lover, a former West German General, in 1992 is still shrouded in mystery, but her powerful voice lives on. Sara Parkin interviewed her family and friends on two continents for a glimpse at the woman who, if only for one moment, changed the world.

[Tamra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book made me realise my complete lack of knowledge of German history. Being able to see the perspective of someone from a country whose soil had just seen a horrendus war, and her political life as an outcome was wonderful.

[iratxe · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Ser tierno y al mismo tiempo subversivo: eso es lo que significa para mí, a nivel político, ser verde y actuar como tal”.