Katja Husen (12 June 1976 – 28 June 2022) was a German biologist and politician. A member of

Alliance 90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (german: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, ), often simply referred to as the Greens ( ), is a Green politics, green List of political parties in Germany, political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens ...

, she was speaker of the party's youth organisation, Green Youth, and served in the

Hamburg Parliament The Hamburg Parliament (german: Hamburgische Bürgerschaft; literally “Hamburgish Citizenry”) is the unicameral legislature of the German state of Hamburg according to the constitution of Hamburg. As of 2011 there were 121 members in the parli ...

from 2004 to 2008. She was CEO of the Centre for Molecular Neurobiology Hamburg.

Early life and education

Husen was born in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

, Turkey, on 12 June 1976, where she mostly lived until age six because of her father's job. She attended schools in

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

, including one exchange year in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

. After she graduated with an

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

in 1995, she studied biology at the

Technische Universität Braunschweig The Technische Universität Braunschweig (unofficially University of Braunschweig – Institute of Technology), commonly referred to as TU Braunschweig, is the oldest ' (comparable to an institute of technology in the American system) in Germany. ...

and the

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam The Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (abbreviated as ''VU Amsterdam'' or simply ''VU'' when in context) is a public research university in Amsterdam, Netherlands, being founded in 1880. The VU Amsterdam is one of two large, publicly funded research ...

, graduating with a

Diplom A ''Diplom'' (, from grc, δίπλωμα ''diploma'') is an academic degree in the German-speaking countries Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and a similarly named degree in some other European countries including Albania, Bulgaria, Belarus ...

in 2001.

Political career

In 1997, Husen joined the

(GAL) party. She was speaker of the party's youth organisation, Green Youth, from 1998 to 2000. She acted as a member of the party board of the Green Party in Hamburg between 2001 and 2002. Elected to the federal party board in 2002, she served as its speaker in matters of women (''frauenpolitische Sprecherin'') until 2006. In 2004 she was re-elected as a member of the federal party board over

Anja Hajduk Anja Hajduk (born 8 June 1963) is a German psychologist and politician of the Alliance '90/The Greens who has been serving as State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action in the Scholz cabinet, coalition governme ...

, the then provincial chair of the Hamburg branch of the Green Party and member of the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...

(German Parliament). She served in the

from 2004 to 2008. She was speaker for health politics of the GAL fraction, and a member of the budget committee, the health committee and the committee of consumer protection, and a substitute member of the science committee. She represented her parliamentary group in sub-committees for information and communication technology and administrative modernisation as well as for public service and human resources. She was not elected for the following term. In 2013 she was a candidate for the Bundestag representing Hamburg Wandsbek, but was not elected. In May 2019, when a new took office in the borough diet of

Eimsbüttel Eimsbüttel () is one of the seven boroughs (Bezirke) of Hamburg, Germany. In 2020 the population was 269,118. History On March 1, 2008 Eimsbüttel lost part of its area to the borough Altona where it formed the Sternschanze quarter. Geography ...

, it was suggested that she be elected as the borough's municipal councillor () in replacement for a politician of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

(SPD). She collected only 25 votes, one short of the necessary 26 votes.

Professional career

She became CEO of the medical centre's Centre for Molecular Neurobiology of the

University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf The University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (german: Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE)) is the teaching hospital of the University of Hamburg and the largest hospital in Hamburg, Germany. The UKE has 1,738 beds and 121 day-care pl ...

in 2009. and from 2012 she was also the CEO of the centre for dental health (''Zahn-, Mund- und Kieferheilkunde'').

Personal life

Husen suffered head injuries from a fall off her bicycle in

Bayrischzell Bayrischzell is a municipality in the district of Miesbach in Bavaria in Germany. Geography Bayrischzell is located in the Mangfallgebirge between Schliersee in the West and Oberaudorf in the East. It is located at the foot of Wendelstein moun ...

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

, on 26 June 2022, while participating with her partner in the 29th Rosenheimer Radmarathon. She died from her injuries on 28 June at a hospital. She was 46 years old.

References

External links

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Katja Husen
jimdofree.com
Katja Husen Results
coachcox.co.uk
Zum Tod von Katja Husen
(in German) gruene-hamburg.de {{DEFAULTSORT:Husen, Katja 1976 births 2022 deaths 21st-century German women politicians Deaths from falls Road incident deaths in Germany 21st-century German biologists German people of Turkish descent Alliance 90/The Greens politicians Members of the Hamburg Parliament Technical University of Braunschweig alumni Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam alumni Politicians from Istanbul 21st-century German politicians Cycling road incident deaths German women biologists 21st-century German women scientists