Gert Bastian

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Gert Bastian in 1987 in the Bundestag

Gert Bastian (born March 26, 1923 in Munich , † probably October 1, 1992 in Bonn ) was a German major general and politician ( Die Grünen ).

Life

Military career

Bastian completed in the summer of 1941, a Notabitur at secondary school . During the Second World War he volunteered as an officer candidate in the Wehrmacht (Pionier-Ersatz-Bataillon 7 in Munich) and on August 1, 1941, he was appointed Fahnenjunker . In 1942 he was first used as a group leader in Pioneer Battalion 45 on the Eastern Front. He then completed the platoon leader course and the company commander course in 1942/43 . After the courses he was transferred to the 86th Panzer Engineer Battalion of the 9th Panzer Division , where he was deployed as an officer on the Eastern and Invasion Fronts until May 1945, initially as platoon leader and later as company commander. Before the end of the war, he married at the age of 22. Bastian was taken prisoner by the US in Bavaria .

In the post-war period he completed an apprenticeship as a bookbinder in Munich from 1946 to 1948 . Before he became a civil servant in 1950, he worked independently in his apprenticeship. In 1956 Bastian joined the newly founded Bundeswehr in the rank of first lieutenant and was employed as a lecture hall officer at the Army Officer School I in Hanover and the Army Officer School III in Munich. From 1959 to 1960 he completed the 3rd general staff course at the command academy of the Bundeswehr in Hamburg. From 1962 to 1967 Bastian was deployed in the 1st Mountain Division as a G2 and G3 staff officer, interrupted in 1964 by a year-long assignment as a lecture hall director at the command academy of the Bundeswehr. It followed a use as a G3 staff officer in the III. Corps in Koblenz. He was then transferred to the command staff of the Army , where he worked from April 1, 1968 to September 30, 1971 as a consultant on the conception of the Army. This was followed by a deployment of troops as commander of Jägerbrigade 4 in Göttingen until March 31, 1974 . On April 1st he took over the post of Deputy Head of Office and Chief of Staff of the Army Office in Cologne , on the same day he was appointed Brigadier General. Under appointed Major General Bastian took over on 1 October 1976, the command of the 12th Armored Division in Veitshöchheim , which he led in its last troops use to 21 January 1980th He had asked for temporary retirement because he could not support the NATO retrofitting decision.

Political career

Bastian was an opponent of the planned deployment of medium-range nuclear missiles in Europe ( NATO double decision ) and joined the peace movement , which he helped organize in a leading position. He got to know Petra Kelly , who became his partner. Initially Bastian was also a member of the Rotary Club of Würzburg , but left it after increasing criticism of his commitment to the peace movement. Various claims have been made that Bastian is a Freemason , but this is denied by later chroniclers.

Gert Bastian (right) with Otto Schily and Lukas Beckmann , 1983

In 1980, together with Josef Weber , he initiated the “ Krefeld Appell ” against the stationing of new nuclear missiles in Europe. His opponents accused him of saying that his actions against NATO medium-range nuclear missiles were not credible. It stands in blatant contradiction to his behavior as commander of the 12th Panzer Division , where shortly before he left the Bundeswehr, he conducted maneuvers in which the use of nuclear weapons had been practiced. Other allegations were that the sudden appearance of the ambitious Bastian as a nuclear weapon opponent was due to a lack of further career prospects in the Bundeswehr and his impending retirement due to reaching the age limit.

In 1981 he and other former generals founded the group “ Generals for Peace ”, which was later proven to have been initiated and co-financed by the GDR Ministry for State Security . The suspicion that Bastian himself had also worked for the MfS was repeatedly discussed through the discovery of documents and witness statements that allow some room for interpretation. In 1981 he received the Carl von Ossietzky Medal from the International League for Human Rights .

Bastian was a member of the German Bundestag from 1983 to 1987 . He was elected through the Bavarian State List of the Greens. Between February 10, 1984 and March 18, 1986, he was a non-attached MP - his temporary resignation from the Green Group was due to the fact that he opposed the rotation principle in force in this party at the time and his mandate was not as requested by the party, made available halfway through the legislative period .

death

Gert Bastian was found dead on October 19, 1992 with his partner Petra Kelly in their shared apartment in Bonn - Tannenbusch . According to the police report, Bastian is said to have shot his partner in sleep with a Deringer pistol . After that he is said to have killed himself. The exact time of death could not be determined precisely because the corpses were found late. However, October 1st is sometimes assumed. Bastian left behind his wife Charlotte geb. Freiin von Stipsicz (born February 23, 1924 in Budapest; † October 12, 2017 in Munich) and two children, Eva-Marina and Till Bastian . Gert Bastian was 69 years old and was buried in the north cemetery in Munich (grave: wall on the left, no. 271).

The former civil servant and psychologist at the Federal Criminal Police Office Michael Baurmann and the historian Jennifer Schevardo investigated the death of the two politicians 20 years later. They found no evidence of third party involvement. The study was filmed as a documentary in 2012 and broadcast in 2014.

Publications

  • Gert Bastian: create peace! Thoughts on security policy. Kindler, Munich 1983, ISBN 3-463-00854-8 .

literature

Cinematic implementation

swell

  • Handbook of the Bundeswehr 1978, edited by the Federal Ministry of Defense, December 1977, ISBN 3803302595

Web links

Commons : Gert Bastian  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Schwarzer 1993, p. 71.
  2. ↑ WDR reference date on G.Bastian
  3. ↑ Focus Online : Gert Bastian: Stasi wrote the speeches - The green politician and his generals for peace were supplied by East Berlin , April 26, 2007.
  4. ↑ The old man and the girl . In: Der Spiegel . No. 44 , 1992 ( online ).
  5. ↑ knerger.de: The grave of Gert Bastian
  6. ↑ http://februarfilm.de/geheimakte.html
  7. ↑ http://www.presseportal.de/pm/6694/2862098
personal data
SURNAME Bastian, Gert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German general and politician (The Greens), Member of the Bundestag
DATE OF BIRTH March 26, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH uncertain: October 1, 1992
Place of death Bonn