Some politicians from the West German Green Party maintained contacts with members of the environmental and peace movements in the GDR. They also used their public platforms to support human and civil rights in the East. For example, they criticized East German human rights violations during a high-profile meeting with SED chief Erich Honecker in East Berlin in 1983. Following the meeting, Green delegates Gert Bastian (not pictured here), Petra Kelly, and Otto Schily rolled out a banner bearing the slogan “Swords into Ploughshares” [“Schwerter zu Pflugscharen”].