Petra Kelly (1947-1992), West German pacifist and politician, had the reputation of being one of the most active and best known protagonists of the European peace and ecology movement.

Petra Karin Lehmann was born on November 29, 1947, in Günzburg, Bavaria. Her father left the family when she was five. In 1958 her mother married an American army officer, John E. Kelly. Petra Kelly was given the name of her step-father, but remained a West German citizen. She was educated in a Roman Catholic convent in Günzburg.

The family moved to the United States in 1959, where Kelly attended high school at Columbus/WestGeorgia. From 1966 to 1970 she studied political science at the American University's School of International Service in Washington, D.C.

Back on the continent she completed her studies at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands.She worked as a research assistant at the European Institute...