Pia Klemp

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Pia Klemp on the Sea-Watch 3 bridge , April 2018

Pia Klemp (* 1983 in Bonn ) is a German captain , human rights - activist and novelist . She became known as the captain of the Iuventa and the Sea-Watch 3 .

Life and education

Pia Klemp took up a degree in biology , but broke it off before graduation and moved to Indonesia in 2009 , where she worked as a diving instructor and in nature conservation projects. From 2012 to 2017 she worked for the controversial marine conservation organization Sea Shepherd . She went through the most important stations on board a ship until she obtained a certificate of proficiency in navigating boats (“ Master of Yachts ”).

Work for "Jugend Rettet" and "Sea Watch"

From 2015 she was involved in the rescue of in distress geratenen people in the Mediterranean . According to Klemps, 14,000 people were rescued from distress at sea with the Iuventa of the organization Jugend Rettet and brought to Europe in one year. She is personally credited with rescuing 1,000 castaways. In August 2017, the Iuventa was set in the port of Lampedusa by the Italian authorities. The public prosecutor in Trapani wants to initiate criminal proceedings against Klemp and nine other sea rescuers for aiding and abetting illegal immigration. According to Klemp, she faces 20 years imprisonment and a fine of 15,000 euros per rescued person.

The Sea-Watch 3

After the Iuventa was seized by the Italian authorities, Klemp took command of the Sea-Watch 3 from September 2017 , but returned to Germany after nine months on the advice of her lawyers, as an investigation was now underway in Italy and she was threatened with imprisonment. When reviewing the allegations, a team from London's Forensic Oceanography and Forensic Architecture came to the conclusion that the crew of the Iuventa neither returned empty boats to the tugs for reuse nor communicated with people from the tug environment, which is why the prosecution's allegations were not apply.

Pia Klemp as speaker on the occasion of the 19th Sunday demonstration against the asylum and refugee policy of the Austrian federal government in Bregenz on May 5, 2019

During her time ashore in 2018 and 2019, Klemp appeared frequently as a speaker and lecturer at events and on TV to talk about her work in civilian sea rescue in the Mediterranean and the criminalization of the work of sea rescuers. among others at Frau tv and Joko and Klaas . In September 2019, her book Let's Dance with the Dead was published , which, among other things, deals with her rescue missions. Her experiences in rescuing refugees and arrest are the basis of the novel. In the same year, she and Carola Rackete were to be awarded the Médaille de la Ville de Paris in the highest level Grand vermeil . Klemp criticized the Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo for her treatment of migrants and rejected the award because of the treatment of migrants in Paris and the, in her opinion, unnecessary differentiation between “heroes” and “illegals”.

Since August 18, 2020, Pia Klemp has been the captain of the Louise Michel ship donated by the English street artist Banksy for the Sea-Watch organization in the Mediterranean. In this context she declared “I don't see sea rescue as a humanitarian action, but as part of an anti-fascist fight” (“I don't see sea rescue as a humanitarian action, but as part of an anti-fascist struggle”).

Awards

• The Left Party awarded Pia Klemp the Clara Zetkin Women's Prize in March 2019 .
• Paul Grüninger Prize (Iuventa Crew)

Works

• Let's dance with the dead , September 2, 2019, MaroVerlag , ISBN 3-87512-491-X , ISBN 978-3-87512-491-0
• Allmende und Schrebergarten , October 3, 2018, Edition Contra-Bass, ISBN 3-943446-35-2 , ISBN 978-3-943446-35-7

literature

• Christof Gertsch, Oliver Meiler: Rescuers in Need. In: Das Magazin No. 38, September 21, 2019, pp. 16–25.

Web links

Commons : Pia Klemp  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Solidarity at sea
• Janis Beenen, Veronika Wulf: "I've never been at sea for fun". In: bazonline.ch . June 7, 2019 (interview). 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Pia Klemp. In: literaturagentur-brinkmann.de. Retrieved July 2, 2019 . 
2. ↑ Sea rescue captain Pia Klemp faces 20 years imprisonment , by Benjamin Laufer Hinzundkunzt.de May 29, 2019
3. ^ ^{A b c} Andrea Dernbach: A captain's fight against the Italian judiciary: "That would mean the end of civil sea rescue". In: tagesspiegel.de . April 4, 2019, accessed July 2, 2019 . 
4. ↑ Fabian Hillebrand: Captain Pia Klemp: "The allegations are rock hard". In: New Germany . February 2, 2019, accessed July 2, 2019 . 
5. ^ ^{A b} Roswitha Oschmann: Pia Klemp from Bonn: Sea-Watch captain speaks in Bad Honnef. In: General-Anzeiger Bonn . April 5, 2019, accessed July 2, 2019 . 
6. ↑ German boat captain Pia Klemp faces prison in Italy for migrant rescues. In: dw.com. June 8, 2019, accessed July 2, 2019 . 
7. ↑ Christy Cooney: German boat captain faces 20 years in jail for rescuing 1,000 migrants. In: nypost.com. June 12, 2019, accessed July 2, 2019 . 
8. ↑ Daniel Boffey: Captain of migrant rescue ship says Italy 'criminalizing solidarity'. In: theguardian.com. June 15, 2019, accessed July 2, 2019 . 
9. ↑ Tempi duri per le navi delle ONG: il capitano Pia Klemp nel mirino della giustizia italiana. In: la-notizia.net. January 11, 2019, accessed July 2, 2019 (Italian). 
10. ↑ Charles Heller, Lorenzo Pezzani: The Case Iuventa. In: blamingtherescuers.org. April 20, 2018, accessed July 2, 2019 . 
11. ^ Paul Pflüger: Lecture: "Escape as a crime? On the charge of criminalizing refugees and sea rescuers on Europe's external borders" . In: Center for International Studies at the Technical University of Dresden on April 13, 2019. Retrieved on August 29, 2020
12. ↑ Laszlo Scheuch: Pia Klemp - Joko and Klaas bring Bonn captain to TV. In: general-anzeiger-bonn.de. May 30, 2019, accessed July 2, 2019 . 
13. ^ Jagoda Marinić: Courage to be vulnerable - Injustice is finally becoming a political issue again. In: deutschlandfunkkultur.de. June 5, 2019, accessed July 2, 2019 . 
14. ↑ Presentation of the novel on the Maro Verlag website
15. ↑ Conversation with the author at Bayern2
16. ↑ "Honoring Solidarity" Paris wants to award Carola Rackete the highest medal of merit , Die Welt July 12, 2019
17. ↑ Honor for German captains Carola Rackete is to receive the Paris Medal of Honor T-online.de dpa
18. ↑ Paris honors Carola Rackete and Pia Klemp. In: The time . July 12, 2019, accessed September 12, 2019 . 
19. ↑ Pia Klemp: Sea Watch captain rejects the Paris Medal of Merit . In: Spiegel Online . August 22, 2019 ( spiegel.de [accessed September 3, 2019]).
20. ↑ Angry speech on Facebook: "Sea-Watch" captain Klemp rejects the Paris Medal of Merit , Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger August 21, 2019
21. ↑ Pia Klemp Sea-Watch captain rejects the Paris Medal of Merit The city of Paris wants to award Pia Klemp the Medal of Merit. However, the German Sea-Watch captain refused - and criticized Mayor Hidalgo for her dealings with migrants. , Der Spiegel August 22, 2019
22. ↑ Pia Klemp "Sea-Watch" captain refuses award and publishes Brandbrief , Focus August 22, 2019
23. ↑ Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia: "Sea-Watch 4" wants to help "Louise Michel" , from August 29, 2020. Retrieved on August 29, 2020
24. ↑ Lorenzo Tondo, Maurice Stierl: Banksy funds refugee rescue boat operating in Mediterranean. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/27/banksy-funds-refugee-rescue-boat-operating-in-mediterranean , accessed on August 28, 2020 (English). 
25. ↑ Saving lives instead of criminalizing those who help - Paul Grüninger Prize for a rescue ship. Paul Grüninger Foundation, April 10, 2019, accessed on July 2, 2019 .