A Green Party Delegation in the GDR (September 1986)

In addition to their official contact with the SED leadership, the Green Party also maintained close relations with dissidents in the East German peace and environmental movements. On April 12, 1983, Gert Bastian, Petra Kelly, Lukas Beckmann, and other Greens joined a protest on East Berlin’s Alexanderplatz. The Green Party openly criticized human rights violations in the GDR, and several of its members were denied entry as a result. Nonetheless, there were aspects of the Green Party platform that appealed to the SED. For example, numerous Greens demanded unilateral disarmament in the West, and this suited SED policy. On September 1, 1985, a Green Party delegation traveled to East Berlin at the invitation of Horst Sindermann, president of the Volkskammer [People’s Parliament]. There, they spent five days engaging in political talks. Here, Green Party member Annemarie Borgmann (left) is welcomed by Horst Sindermann.

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Courtesy of the German Information Center