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Pia Klemp (born 10 October 1983) is a German

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

and

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

activist, who, between 2011 and 2017, worked for the

Sea Shepherd The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of water, body of saline water, salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote List of seas, second-order sections of ...

organization to participate in many international operations to protect sea animals. Between 2016 and 2018 she commanded two rescue ships in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

for the German

non-government organizations A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

(NGOs) Jugend Rettet and

Sea-Watch Sea-Watch is a German non-governmental organisation that operates in the Mediterranean Sea, notably by commissioning ships to rescue migrants. History On 6 November 2017, the crew of a Sea-Watch ship rescued 58 people in an operation hindered b ...

during the ongoing

European migrant crisis The 2015 European migrant crisis, also known internationally as the Syrian refugee crisis, was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and migrants into Europe in 2015, when 1.3 million people came to the continent to reques ...

. Her ships rescued about 14,000 migrants from drowning. Klemp was responsible for the rescue of more than a thousand of them. One of her ships, , was seized by Italian authorities in 2017, who accused her of cooperating with

human trafficker Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extracti ...

s, and claimed many of those saved were at no imminent risk of death. If convicted, she will face 20 years in prison. Her newer ship, was prevented from departing its dock by Maltese authorities for several months in 2018.

Life and work

Klemp was born in 1983 in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

Beuel Beuel ( Ripuarian: ''Büel'') is a city borough ('' Stadtbezirk'') of Bonn, Germany. It has a population of 67,827 (2020). Subdivisions Beuel is composed of the sub-districts Beuel-Mitte, Beuel-Ost, Geislar, Hoholz, Holtorf, Holzlar, Küdinghove ...

, Germany. She studied biology in Bonn, but dropped out before finishing. For two years she worked as a

diving instructor A diving instructor is a person who trains and usually also assesses competence of underwater divers. This includes freedivers, recreational divers including the subcategory technical divers, and professional divers which includes military, co ...

and participated in several

nature conservation Nature conservation is the moral philosophy and conservation movement focused on protecting species from extinction, maintaining and restoring habitats, enhancing ecosystem services, and protecting biological diversity. A range of values unde ...

projects in Germany, Thailand and Indonesia. In 2011 she joined the

marine conservation Marine conservation, also known as ocean conservation, is the protection and preservation of ecosystems in oceans and seas through planned management in order to prevent the over-exploitation of these marine resources. Marine conservation is in ...

organization

, working aboard , , and , for six years in various positions such as cook,

rescue diver Rescue Diver is a scuba diving certification level provided by several diver training agencies, such as PADI, SSI, SDI, and NAUI,

deckhand An able seaman (AB) is a seaman and member of the deck department of a merchant ship with more than two years' experience at sea and considered "well acquainted with his duty". An AB may work as a watchstander, a day worker, or a combination ...

, ship manager and second mate, while gaining her

sea captain A sea captain, ship's captain, captain, master, or shipmaster, is a high-grade licensed mariner who holds ultimate command and responsibility of a merchant vessel.Aragon and Messner, 2001, p.3. The captain is responsible for the safe and efficie ...

's license. During this time she took part in many missions including Operation Relentless and Operation Milagro. On 9 June 2015, she founded Aquascope e.V., an organization to develop and utilize surveillance technologies to tackle illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. With the emerging European migrant crisis since 2015, she switched in 2017 to rescue ship operations in the Mediterranean Sea, commanding by the German Jugend Rettet organization in two missions until the ship was seized by Italian authorities on 2 August 2017. Presented at Manifesta 12, a

Goldsmiths, University of London Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...

-based

Forensic Oceanography Forensic Oceanography is a collaborative project between Lorenzo Pezzani and Charles Heller in which they "critically investigate the militarised border regime imposed by Europe across the Mediterranean Sea". Pezzani is an architect based in London ...

and

Forensic Architecture Forensic Architecture is a multidisciplinary research group based at Goldsmiths, University of London that uses architectural techniques and technologies to investigate cases of state violence and violations of human rights around the world. The ...

team of researchers came to the conclusion that the crew of ''Iuventa'' neither communicated with nor returned empty boats back to the traffickers. 5 neugebauer seawatch3 20180407 (cropped)

5 neugebauer seawatch3 20180407 (cropped)

Since early November 2017 she was responsible for the first four rescue missions of ''Sea-Watch 3'' near the Libyan coast, after the ship was taken over by the German Sea-Watch organization from Médecins Sans Frontières Spain. On 1 June 2018, ''Sea-Watch 3'' was blocked from leaving the harbour of

Valletta Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an Local councils of Malta, administrative unit and capital city, capital of Malta. Located on the Malta (island), main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, i ...

by Maltese authorities until October 2018. The forthcoming suit in the ''Iuventa'' court case forced Klemp to temporarily stop her rescue activities at sea and return to Germany in August 2018. Later that year she founded the group "Solidarity at Sea". Klemp is author of the novels (English: "Commons and allotment") and (English: "Let us dance with the dead"). She has also written (English: "Exposure"), (English: "Font-Rage: Tearing down walls instead of climbing them") and (English: "The living, the dead, and the sailors"). According to ''

the Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', Pia Klemp accepted the offer of street artist and activist

Banksy Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based street artist, political activist and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. Active since the 1990s, his satirical street art and subversive epigrams ...

to command the NGO vessel , which departed for its first mission in late August 2020. In the report she told the Guardian, "I don't see sea rescue as a humanitarian action, but as part of an anti-fascist fight".

Media

On 13 January 2017, hosted Klemp and other guests in his '' Nachtcafé'' 90-minute talkshow at

Südwestrundfunk Südwestrundfunk (SWR; ''Southwest Broadcasting'') is a regional public broadcasting corporation serving the southwest of Germany , specifically the federal states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. The corporation has main offices ...

(SWR) discussing her marine life conservation and anti-whaling activities with Sea Shepherd. On 10 June 2018, the in Bologna, Italy, introduced Michele Cinque's 86-minute cinema documentary '. On 7 September 2018, interviewed Klemp for half an hour in ''Phoenix persönlich'', on

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

. On 5 March 2019,

Katja Kipping Katja Kipping (born 18 January 1978) is a German politician of The Left party who is serving as Senator for Integration, Labour and Social Affairs in the Berlin state government since December 2021. She was previously a member of the Bundestag ...

spoke about Klemp in a feature (English: "Important women of world history - Pia Klemp") by Julia Menger and Kerstin Hermes in "Der schöne Morgen" of

radioeins Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (; "Berlin-Brandenburg Broadcasting"; abbreviated: RBB , stylized as rbb) is an institution under public law (national broadcaster) for the Germany, German states of Berlin and Brandenburg, based in Berlin and Pots ...

Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (; "Berlin-Brandenburg Broadcasting"; abbreviated: RBB , stylized as rbb) is an institution under public law (national broadcaster) for the German states of Berlin and Brandenburg, based in Berlin and Potsdam. RBB ...

(RBB). Also in March 2019 Klemp was interviewed for half an hour for the ''OstWest'' format by Moritz Gathmann. On 4 April 2019,

Westdeutscher Rundfunk Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln (''West German Broadcasting Cologne''; WDR, ) is a German public-broadcasting institution based in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a constituent member of the conso ...

(WDR) broadcast an 8-minute documentary about Klemp by Iris Toussaint. On 29 May 2019, ' by

Joko Winterscheidt Joachim "Joko" Winterscheidt (born 13 January 1979) is a German television host, producer and actor. He became known as part of the duo ''Joko & Klaas'' alongside Klaas Heufer-Umlauf in TV programs like ''Circus HalliGalli''. Winterscheidt grew ...

and

Klaas Heufer-Umlauf Klaas Heufer-Umlauf (born 22 September 1983 in Oldenburg) is a German television host, producer, actor and singer. He is best known as part of the duo Joko & Klaas, alongside Joko Winterscheidt. Biography Heufer-Umlauf is a trained hairdresse ...

ProSieben ProSieben (, ''sieben'' is German for "seven"; often stylized as Pro7) is a German free-to-air television network owned by ProSiebenSat.1 Media. It was launched on 1 January 1989. It is Germany's second-largest privately owned television company ...

featured her in a 15-minute theatrical-like staging. On 8 July 2019,

Bayerischer Rundfunk Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR; "Bavarian Broadcasting") is a public-service radio and television broadcaster, based in Munich, capital city of the Free State of Bavaria in Germany. BR is a member organization of the ARD consortium of public broadcas ...

(BR) broadcast an 11-minute telephone interview by Knut Cordsen.

Awards

* On 1 March 2019 Klemp was awarded the Clara Zetkin Women's Award (German: ). * On 10 May 2019 Klemp and the ''Iuventa'' crew were awarded the Swiss Paul Grüninger Award (German: ). * The council of the City of Paris on 12 July 2019 announced that the two captains of the ''Sea-Watch 3'', Klemp and

Carola Rackete Carola Rackete (; born 8 May 1988 in Preetz, Germany) is a German ship captain who volunteered with the German sea rescue organisation Sea-Watch. In June 2019, she was arrested for docking a migrant rescue ship without authorization in the por ...

, will receive the Grand Vermeil Medal, the top award of the City of Paris, for saving migrants at sea, because the two captains symbolized "solidarity for the respect of human lives". Klemp declined the award, issuing a statement criticizing the Parisian government for their own actions saying in a statement "Your police is stealing blankets from people that you force to live on the streets, while you raid protests and criminalize people that are standing up for rights of migrants and asylum seekers. You want to give me a medal for actions that you fight in your own ramparts."

Trivia

In 2019,

Henning May AnnenMayKantereit (occasionally shortened ''AMK'') are a German Rock music, rock band founded in Cologne in 2011. Their songs are predominantly performed in German, but the band also occasionally publish cover songs in English. A notable feature o ...

, the singer of the German rock band

AnnenMayKantereit AnnenMayKantereit (occasionally shortened ''AMK'') are a German rock band founded in Cologne in 2011. Their songs are predominantly performed in German, but the band also occasionally publish cover songs in English. A notable feature of the band' ...

, wrote a song (English: "One more human at sea") about Pia Klemp. The song was covered by other artists. To help fund the lawyers for Klemp's ''Iuventa'' case, a local beer was named "" in her hometown of Bonn.

References

External links

2019-02-24 speech by Pia Klemp
1:08 min {{DEFAULTSORT:Klemp, Pia 1983 births Living people German animal welfare workers Scientists from Bonn German humanitarians Women humanitarians German activists German animal rights activists German human rights activists Women human rights activists Sea captains Sea Shepherd Conservation Society European migrant crisis 21st-century German biologists