The Grays – Gray Panthers

The Grays – Gray Panthers Die Grauen – Graue Panther
Founded	12 July 1989
Dissolved	17 March 2008
Succeeded by	Gray Panthers
Ideology	Green politics Senior citizens interests
Politics of Germany Political parties Elections

The Grays – Gray Panthers (German: Die Grauen – Graue Panther) was a small German political party and interest group which existed between 1989 and 2008. The party was founded by former Die Grünen MP and activist Trude Unruh, having emerged from the Senior Citizens Protection Association which she had started in 1975. Their main areas of focus were the protection of the interests of seniors and the securing of stable pensions. They were also active on environmental issues.

The Grays participated in the 1990 federal elections for the first time.^[1]

In 2006, the Grays won 3.8% of the vote in the federal state elections in Berlin, their best result in a regional election.^[2] Unruh served as party president until September 2007, when she was succeeded by Norbert Raeder, who resigned at the end of January 2008, only four months after taking up the position. At a congress on 1 March 2008, it was decided to dissolve the party in the wake of a donation scandal, and subsequent insolvency. The vote on 17 March would confirm this decision definitively, with the party being officially dissolved on 29 March 2008.

The Gray Panthers party, which emerged from various splinter groups, succeeded the Grays.^[3] The Grays – Gray Panthers are not to be confused with the small party Die Grauen - For All Generations, founded in 2017.^[4][5]

Foundation

See also

• Gray Panthers
• Grey Power

References

1. Padgett, Stephen (1993). Parties and party systems in the new Germany. Dartmouth: Routledge. p. 53. ISBN 9781855212374.
2. "Der Tagesspiegel: Die Grauen machen weiterBundesverband löst sich wegen Millionenschulden auf, doch in Berlin wird eine Nachfolgepartei gegründet". presseportal.de (in German). 28 February 2008. Retrieved 2021-11-11.
3. "Die "Grauen Panther" sind wieder da!" (in German). 2013-12-31. Archived from the original on 2013-12-31. Retrieved 2021-11-11.
4. "Gray Panthers want to dissolve in February". Welt (in German). 2008-01-23. Retrieved 2021-09-15.
5. "EU-Elections: The Grays – The generational party". FOCUS Online (in German). 2013-11-01. Retrieved 2021-09-15.