Talk:Gert Bastian

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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)

[edit] 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.