Beck studied history and sociology in Bielefeld and Heidelberg.[1] Beck also studied in the United States as a Youth for Understanding exchange student in 1967–1968. She is a 1968 graduate of Quincy High School (Quincy, Michigan).
Political career
Early political activities
Beck was among the founding members of the German Green party, Alliance '90/The Greens. In 1983 she was elected to the German Bundestag and in the first electoral term in which the Greens were represented in Parliament she was one of the spokespersons of the parliamentary group, together with Petra Kelly and Otto Schily. That year, Beck went on a trip to Washington, D.C., with Kelly and Gert Bastian to discuss the NATO Double-Track Decision.[2]
In 1984, along with Kelly and Schily, she withdrew her candidacy for the party's parliamentary leadership when a majority of the party's legislators nominated an all-female slate headed by Antje Vollmer in an unexpected move.[3] She again served as a Member of the German Bundestag in the following electoral term from 1987 to 1990. After serving as a member of the Parliament of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen from 1991 to 1994, Beck was re-elected to the German Bundestag and has been a Member ever since.[1]
Since 2005, Beck has been member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs at the German parliament, where she focuses as the spokesperson on Eastern European affairs for the Green Party's parliamentary group on matters concerning Russia, Belarus and Western Balkan countries. She serves as the chairperson of the German-Bosnian Parliamentary Friendship Group and as a member of the German-Ukrainian and German-South Caucasus Parliamentary Friendship Groups.[1]
Between 2005 and 2009, Beck also served as a member of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and as Deputy chairwoman of the German-Belarusian Parliamentary Friendship Group. In April 2010, she spent one week in several cities of Afghanistan to visit German military and aid activities.[5] Later that year, she and fellow Putin critic Andreas Schockenhoff accompanied German PresidentChristian Wulff on a state visit to Russia.[6]
In September 2012, Belarus denied visas for Beck and fellow parliamentarian Emanuelis Zingeris, who both planned to monitor the parliamentary elections as part of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly mission.[10] As a consequence Andrej Hiro, the Belarusian ambassador to Germany, was summoned to the Federal Foreign Office and told that the German government did not understand the reason for the visa denials. In a reaction, Beck said that "Dictator Lukashenka is not even trying to keep up appearances of free and fair elections if he locks journalists and observers out."[10]
In August 2016, Beck announced that she would not stand in the 2017 federal elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.[14]
Life after politics
In 2017, Beck co-founded the Zentrum Liberale Moderne, a think-tank focusing on defending the open society and liberal democracy against anti-liberal revolt in Germany, European Union and abroad.[15] Former President of GermanyJoachim Gauck spoke at the opening of Zentrum.[16]
Since 2018, Beck has been a member of the so-called Limbach Commission (Advisory Commission on the return of cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution, especially Jewish property), a panel convened by the German government to give recommendations on restitution claims regarding art works stolen or purchased under duress by the Nazis.[17]
Other activities
Petersburger Dialog [de], Member of the Board (since 2015)
