Wilhelm Knabe
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Wilhelm Knabe (8 October 1923 – 30 January 2021) was a German ecologist, pacifist, civil servant and politician, remembered as a founding member of the
Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...
in Germany, and a pioneer of conservation of the environment who shaped the party for decades. Knabe studied
forest management Forest management is a branch of forestry concerned with overall administrative, legal, economic, and social aspects, as well as scientific and technical aspects, such as silviculture, protection, and forest regulation. This includes management fo ...
in the
German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **G ...
(GDR) and, as an assistant at the
Humboldt University Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiati ...
, focused on the recultivation after
brown coal Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35%, and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat ...
mining. Knabe left East Germany in 1959, settling in
Mülheim Mülheim, officially Mülheim an der Ruhr () and also described as ''"City on the River"'', is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. It is located in the Ruhr Area between Duisburg, Essen, Oberhausen and Ratingen. It is home to many compa ...
,
West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
with his family, where he worked for a state agency for ecology. He had been a member of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) from 1946, because it represented his Christian ethics, but left the party in 1966, unwilling to support its belief in economic growth and nuclear energy. In 1978, he was a co-founder of the
Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...
in Germany, standing for conservation of the environment and world peace. He was party speaker on a federal level, a 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 Common ...
from 1987 to 1990, and vice mayor of Mülheim from 1994 to 1999.


Life and career

Knabe was born in October 1923 in
Arnsdorf Arnsdorf is a municipality in the district of Bautzen, in Saxony, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and th ...
, near
Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...
, the seventh of nine children of a Protestant theologian. His father directed a facility for children with learning difficulties. He died trying to protect these children from the Nazi euthanasia programs in 1940, when Wilhelm was age 16. The younger Knabe joined the
Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
after his Abitur at the Fürstenschule St. Afra in
Meißen Meissen (in German orthography: ''Meißen'', ) is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, the Albrech ...
, and served for three years. After World War II, he became a member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1946. He studied
forest management Forest management is a branch of forestry concerned with overall administrative, legal, economic, and social aspects, as well as scientific and technical aspects, such as silviculture, protection, and forest regulation. This includes management fo ...
(''Forstwirtschaft'') at the Forstliche Hochschule in
Tharandt Tharandt () is a municipality in Saxony, Germany, situated on the Weißeritz, 9 miles southwest of Dresden. It has a Protestant Church and the oldest academy of forestry in Germany, founded as the Royal Saxon Academy of Forestry by Heinrich Cott ...
near Dresden, and completed his studies with a
doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...
in agrarian science at the
Humboldt University Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiati ...
in Berlin. During his studies, he founded a group for preservation of the environment in 1949, together with other students, but the
SED sed ("stream editor") is a Unix utility that parses and transforms text, using a simple, compact programming language. It was developed from 1973 to 1974 by Lee E. McMahon of Bell Labs, and is available today for most operating systems. sed w ...
government of the
German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **G ...
(GDR) soon suppressed it. As assistant at the Humboldt University, he focused on plans for the recultivation after
brown coal Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35%, and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat ...
mining, the topic of his dissertation, but they were not put into practice. Knabe left
East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
in 1959, with his pregnant wife and three children. The family settled in
North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...
,
West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
, where he joined the Christian Democratic Union, as it represented his Christian ethics. He left the party in 1966 because he could no longer support its belief in unrestrained economic growth, building of highways, and support of nuclear energy. Knabe worked from the mid-1960s in a leading position for the , a state agency for ecology, in Recklinghausen, moving to
Mülheim Mülheim, officially Mülheim an der Ruhr () and also described as ''"City on the River"'', is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. It is located in the Ruhr Area between Duisburg, Essen, Oberhausen and Ratingen. It is home to many compa ...
in 1967. He headed a project developing strategies to fight ''Waldsterben'' (death of the forests). In the 1970s, he supported oppositional groups in the GDR, such as ecological groups, initiatives for international development, and especially the Umwelt-Bibliothek (ecological library) in Berlin and the Ökologischer Arbeitskreis (ecological work group) in Dresden. Knabe was a co-founder of the
Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...
in Germany in 1978. He stood for conservation of the environment and world peace, and against nuclear deterrence and the arms race in the East and West. In 1979, he was a co-founder of the party in
North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...
, where he was the party's first speaker. He served as one of three speakers of the Greens at the federal level (''Sprecher des Bundesverbandes'') from November 1982 until December 1984. In the 1980s, he developed a system for the analysis of forest health by monitoring data from 26 areas over a long period. The concept became a standard in Germany. Knabe was a 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 Common ...
from 1987 until 1990. Beginning in 1991, he collaborated with a students' ecological initiative (Umweltinitiative) at the
Technische Universität Dresden TU Dresden (for german: Technische Universität Dresden, abbreviated as TUD and often wrongly translated as "Dresden University of Technology") is a public research university, the largest institute of higher education in the city of Dresden, th ...
. He was vice mayor of the city of
Mülheim Mülheim, officially Mülheim an der Ruhr () and also described as ''"City on the River"'', is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. It is located in the Ruhr Area between Duisburg, Essen, Oberhausen and Ratingen. It is home to many compa ...
from 1994 to 1999, where he formed the first black-green coalition in Germany. He focused there on projects of culture and education. Knabe was married, and the couple had four children. Their son
Hubertus Knabe Hubertus Knabe (born 1959) is a German historian and was the scientific director of the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial, a museum and memorial in a notorious former Stasi torture prison in Berlin. Knabe is noted for several works on oppression ...
became a historian. In 2019, Wilhelm Knabe published an autobiography titled ''Erinnerungen – Ein deutsch-deutsches Leben'' (Memories − a German-German life). He read literature to children at the educational facility. He joined Friday For Future demonstrations showing a poster "Opa for future – ihr seid nicht allein" (Grandpa for future – you are not alone). Knabe died in Mülheim an der Ruhr at age 97 from a
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...
infection during the
COVID-19 pandemic in Germany The COVID-19 pandemic in Germany has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. On 27 January 2020, the first case in Germany was confirmed near Munich, Bavaria. By mid February, the arising cluster of cases had been fully containe ...
.


Publications

Knabe's publications are held by the
German National Library The German National Library (DNB; german: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek) is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany. It is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its task is to colle ...
: * ''Untersuchungen über die Voraussetzungen der Rekultivierung von Kippen im Braunkohlenbergbau'' (dissertation). Berlin 1957. * ''Zur Wiederurbarmachung im Braunkohlenbergbau. Allgemeine Darstellung des Problems der Wiederurbarmachung und spezielle Untersuchungen im Lausitzer Braunkohlenbergbau.'' Berlin 1959. * with others: ''Haldenbegrünung im Ruhrgebiet.'' No. 22 of the series ''Schriftenreihe Siedlungsverband Ruhrkohlenbezirk.'' Essen 1968. * ''Immissionsökologische Waldzustandserfassung in Nordrhein-Westfalen (IWE 1979). Fichten und Flechten als Zeiger der Waldgefährdung durch Luftverunreinigungen.'', No. 37 of the series ''Forschung und Beratung. Reihe C, Wissenschaftliche Berichte und Diskussionsbeiträge.'' Münster 1983. * with Gerd Cousen and others: ''Regionale Verteilung einiger Nähr- und Schadstoffgehalte in Fichtennadeln. Schätzungen anhand von Analysen dreijähriger Nadeln aus der bundesweiten "Immissionsökologischen Waldzustandserfassung 1983".'' No. 360 of the series ''Schriftenreihe des Bundesministers für Ernährung, Landwirtschaft und Forsten. Reihe A, Angewandte Wissenschaft.'' Münster-Hiltrup 1988, . * ''Erinnerungen – Ein deutsch-deutsches Leben''. Dr. Krosse-Verlag, Mülheim an der Ruhr 2019, .


Awards

* 2007 –
Order of Merit of North Rhine-Westphalia The Order of Merit of North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Verdienstorden des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen) is a civil order of merit, of the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia. The Order of Merit of North Rhine-Westphalia was founded on 11 March 1 ...
* 2008 –
Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland The Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Order Zasługi Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej) is a Polish order of merit created in 1974, awarded to persons who have rendered great service to Poland. It is granted to foreigners or Poles resident a ...
* 2014 – Officer's cross of the
Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...
Knabe was honorary president of the Kreisverband Bündnis 90/Die Grünen in Mülheim an der Ruhr.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Knabe, Wilhelm 1923 births 2021 deaths Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Alliance 90/The Greens politicians German ecologists Luftwaffe personnel of World War II People from Arnsdorf Mayors of places in North Rhine-Westphalia Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany Members of the Order of Merit of North Rhine-Westphalia Recipients of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany