1989 was a year of increasing street protests in East Germany, mirrored by a loss of self-confidence within the party leadership which reflected uncertainty over the extent to which any traditional hard-line government response to the protestors would be supported by Mikhail Gorbachev, whose advocacy of greater openness had actually encouraged political discussion in East Germany. Underlying the political tensions was the financial bankruptcy of the state which was forcing the government to solicit additional funding from West Germany. In June 1989 Adler was a member of an East German delegation headed up by Egon Krenz for an exploratory meeting with Oskar Lafontaine. The meeting was important because Krenz and LaFontaine were seen as potential future leaders of their countries at a time when Erich Honnecker was well past retirement age and Helmut Kohl had already been in power for eight years. LaFontaine occupied a position on the political left within (for most of the time) the West German political establishment, while there were hopes that Krenz might be more open to new ideas than the existing East German geruntocracy. At a time when few dared (or, from the position of the East Germany political establishment, wished) to contemplate reunification, good personal relations between LaFontaine and Krenz nevertheless offered the prospect of closer future relations between East and West Germany. Adler later recalled their meeting, at which LaFontaine had politely but firmly criticised the recent so-called Tiananmen Square Massacre and condemned the falsification of election results in East Germany. Krenz initially responded expansively and positively, but then appeared to withdraw his earlier comments after receiving fresh instructions from the leadership in Berlin.
