Anne Klein

Anne Klein (2 March 1950 – 23 April 2011) was a German lawyer and, at the time of German reunification, a Berlin Senator. Her politics were green. Her focus as a senator was on women's rights. She was also the first Berlin senator to "go public" about being a lesbian.

Life Anne Klein was born in Bilsdorf, a small village in the hills above Saarlouis, in what at that time was still part of the Saar Protectorate, controlled under conditions of growing ambiguity by the French government. There have been suggestions that her subsequent approach to gender politics may have been influenced by the 1947 Saarland Constitution, a document based on French law which incorporated elements of gender equality before the law and the concept of equal pay for equal work.

She became involved in West Berlin's rapidly evolving feminist movement and with fellow activists set up the city's first women's shelter She was able to provide a hitherto unprecedented degree of financial security for the "Wildwasser project" which supports women who have suffered sexual abuse as children. On her initiative sanctuaries were created for women and girls who found themselves in crisis and fell into prostitution. She also took steps to ensure that women seeking refuge in the city's women's shelters should not be required to pay for their accommodation there. The already uneasy coalition between SPD senators and their Green-facing colleagues broke apart. The three Green senators were persuaded not to pursue their motion of no-confidence, but after 23 months in office Anne Klein, along with her like-minded colleagues Michaele Schreyer and Sybille Volkholz, did resign.

Anne Klein's public profile had already been raised in an unwelcome manner in the summer of 1989 when it became known that back in 1987 she had won approximately 8,000 marks in the "Pilotenspiel", a new gambling game, fashionable among yuppies, that was based on a "Pyramid scheme" model. She had been persuaded by colleagues to join in, investing approximately 2,000 marks under the pseudonym "Zora". It was in the nature of the "game" that she had, in turn, recruited other players to it. When the facts emerged, hostile media delighted in describing her - almost certainly incorrectly - as a "passionate player" of the "game". She herself later condemned such schemes as "anti-social" ("...ein asoziales Spiel"). "I can only advise anyone [tempted to participate] not to touch it" (""Ich kann nur jedem raten, die Finger davon zu lassen""). She admitted that at the time she had "suppressed" ("verdrängt") her appreciation of the way that the defining principal of this game was that success was dependent on persuading other people to take part in it. Subsequently she shunned gambling, never participating in lotteries or visiting a casino. Between June 1999 and December 2006 she served as president of the "Berlin Lawyer's Benevolent Association" ("Versorgungswerke der Rechtsanwälte in Berlin") she was able to implement support measures for members' dependents left behind following the deaths of same-sex partners. In the middle of 2006 Klein was elected vice-president of the "German Lawyers' Union" ("Anwaltunion Deutschland"), described by her former firm as a "nationally engaged coming together of high-profile professional lawyers in Germany" ("national agierenden Zusammenschluss renommierter Fachanwälte Deutschlands").

Personal Anne Klein's life partnership, for almost 27 years, was with Barbara Binek. Following the relevant changes in legislation the two joined in a civil partnership. Anne Klein's nephew is the prominent and internationally operating Pediatric Emergency Physician Dr Christian Pathak, who is especially known for his work with the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London and the Royal Flying Doctor Service in Australia.