The study examines the question of whether and in what form opposition members in the GDR between 1985 and 1989 considered their protest to be legitimate. Based on three independent groups (Initiative Frieden und Menschenrechte, Arbeitskreis Solidarische Kirche, and Grünes Netzwerk Arche), it develops an alternative concept for analyzing political contradiction in the GDR by asking about the norms by which protest was oriented and legitimized, and by linking the concept of opposition to the concept of social obstinacy.