Talk:Gert Bastian

Untitled
There's a much better photo at http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bild:Bastian.jpg but I can't verify that it's really public domain. -- Coelacan | talk 01:33, 21 May 2006 (UTC)

GDR Opposition
"In the eighties Bastien was, together with his partner Petra Kelly of one of the most important partners of the GDR opposition in the West."

I don't know much about Gert Bastian, but I was very surprised to read this about Petra Kelly. There is nothing in her own wikipedia article to suggest that she was working on behalf of the GDR. The picture I have of her, both from the en.wikipedia.org article and from other sources is of a committed Green activist, rather than a Soviet-style Communist. If anyone has reliable sources to prove me wrong here then please provide them. Otherwise attempted character assassination should be suspected and this article should be corrected, as should the corresponding entry in de.wikipedia.org, of which this appears to be a direct translation. Ireneshusband 05:32, 8 October 2006 (UTC)


 * I don't think you read that Denglish carefully enough. It is not alledging she worked for the GDR, but for the Opposition in the GDR.  Capitalise the O in Opposition.  Besides, since when do you have to be a Soviet-style Communist to work for the GDR?  Pretty much everything she did was, on the whole, not exactly hated on the other side of the Wall was it?  They probably did not pay her for working for them, but then they did not have to, did they?  Lao Wai 13:08, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

Note: The text in the German page (from which the English version is evidently translated) reads: "In den achtziger Jahren war er zusammen mit Petra Kelly einer der wichtigsten Ansprechpartner der DDR-Opposition im Westen." A better translation would be: "In the eighties, he was, together with Petra Kelly, one of the most important dialog partners (or "go-to persons," or correspondents) for the GDR-Opposition in the West". Incidentally, the German text is a little ambiguous: "in the West" could refer to "Opposition" or "dialog partner." At any rate, one thing is clear: the original text does not suggest that he or Ms. Kelly worked for either the GDR or the Opposition. martin[at]ohiorepromed.com —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.213.184.238 (talk) 02:22, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

The note above is correct in my opinion, but the original German sentence is questionable. I recommend to change the sentence to: "In the 1980s, Bastian was, together with his partner Petra Kelly, an important member of the opposition in the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany)." This changes the meaning of the sentence significantly, but focuses on how they were seen in West Germany and is in contrast to the former sentence no speculation. To prevent any further misunderstandings: Both were living in West Germany and were part of the opposition there. They were not working for the opposition in the GDR (East Germany), but were accused of supporting interests of East Germany in West Germany.


 * Kelly (and Bastian?) indeed was an icon for the opposition in the GDR. Regarding Kelly as a "Soviet-style Communist": According to Alice Schwarzer's research, their connection to the GDR government was limited to three or so occasions where they met with /or actually were invited by Erich Honecker - but according to Schwarzer, Kelly even used these occasions to criticise certain policies of the GDR's government. - I do have my doubts though, that she (and Bastian) actually were happy with the GDR's annexiation by the FRG. There's one particular letter by Bastian that he wrote only days before he murdered Kelly and which Schwarzer quoted in her book in which Bastian sounds devastated by the developments in Germany from '89 to '92. Anyway, the German sentence above actually meant nothing more than that Kelly was something like a Western dialog partner for the opposition within the GDR. "der DDR-Opposition im Westen" means that this dialog partner the GDR opposition had was located in the West. - I don't know in which way there was a dialog between Kelly and whoever in the GDR, but that's what the sentence says. (not saying that she wasn't in dialog, just saying that I don't have any information about that) DCEvoCE (talk) 07:32, 23 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Edit: I've found some more info on the article for the Krefelder Appell: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krefelder_Appell#Wirkung According to the info there, they called themselves represantives for a "blockfreie Friedensbewegung", a peace movement without relations to either side; and at one of their meetings with Honecker they openly voiced support for independent peace initiatives in the GDR. DCEvoCE (talk) 09:17, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

IN SHORT: WHEN YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE LANGUAGE, DON'T EDIT! Petra Kelly and Gert Bastian were partners with the OPPOSITION to the communist regime of GDR, get it, dummies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maria Helleberg —Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.209.225.206 (talk) 09:26, 11 April 2009 (UTC)

Stasi
Why is there no mention of Bastian's work for the Stasi? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.122.4.147 (talk) 16:20, 10 May 2011 (UTC)

There is no clear evidence of Bastian being a Stasi agent. Also quite weird citing a book about Reagan (clearly biased) as the only source about a German general and politician. — Preceding unsigned comment added by AlfredoM (talk • contribs) 00:39, 20 January 2018 (UTC)

Attributed to unreliable source
The following section was attributed to a patently unreliable source (self-published e-book) per WP:RS. I've left it here in case somebody more fluent in German would want to find a better source for this information, because as it stands, this one needs to be replaced before this (potentially untrue) information can be properly evaluated:

Bastian was, from 29 March 1983 until 18 February 1987, an elected member of the Greens in the German Federal Parliament. Between 10 February 1984 and 18 March 1986, he was an independent member of Parliament having separated from the Green's Parliamentary group several times over his opposition to the rotation principle for leadership then enforced in the Greens. He was then deselected by the Green Party.  TheTechnician27  (Talk page)  14:08, 5 June 2023 (UTC)