European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 31, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                More than 80 percent of the population of East Germany is lutheran. Here worshippers crowd a Church in East Berlin to participate in a prayer session held for East German dissidents who were arrested last Winter. By Kevin Costelloe associated press acing mounting dissent at Home and pressure for reforms similar to the soviet unions the aging leadership of East Germany is clinging to Power As the nation nears its 40th birthday. Economic troubles have been aggravating chronic shortages of consumer goods while Young people Are demanding the freedoms they see on West German television broadcast Over the Border. Down with the Berlin Wall Down with the Berlin Wall Young East germans shouted in one recent protest. East German police quickly moved in and broke up the demonstration of More than 5,000 people. Communist Leader Erich Honecker the Man who built that Wall in 1961 at the direction of communist party chief Walter Ulbricht turns 76 in August. He and his septuagenarian deputies Are holding onto the Power some of them gained shortly after the country was formed in the soviet image in 1949. In the soviet Union the stalinist repression of those Days has Given Way to Mikhail Gorbachev s crusade for perestroika and glasnost restructuring and openness and Young East germans lately have taken to gathering near the Wall with cries of Gorby Gorby but East Germany s leadership has emphasized that it does not intend to change course. Honecker is a Fossil and still shows the characteristics of his Era says Guenther Buch of the All German Institute the Bonn government s research Branch that keeps tabs on East German developments. The old officials Are clinging to their  the aging leaders in the nation of 16.6 million people include Honecker a member of the ruling politburo since 1958 and head of the communist party since 1971. Premier Willi Stop 73, a politburo member since 1953. Erich Mielke the 80-year-old head of the state Page 16 the stars and stripes police has been a Central committee member for 38 years. Deputy Premier Alfred Neumann is 78 and has been a politburo member since 1958. In All 46 of the 160 members of the party s Central committee have been there More than 20 years. The party is officially known As the socialist Unity party sed. The sed in t thinking of change but they Are under pressure says Buch. Certainly the Honecker Era is heading toward an  Buch looks for a gradual hand Over of Power shortly before the next communist party Congress expected in 1991. The succession remains a matter of much speculation. One name frequently mentioned is that of Egon Krenz the 51-year-old politburo member who since 1983 has been in charge of youth sports and Security. Honecker himself has pledged to stick to the course East Germany has followed for nearly two decades. Perestroika he said last june originated in the soviet Union s internal needs. They wanted to break open a certain encrustation of the economic  East Germany he said intends to follow the proven  party leaders note that the country already has made some significant changes in the economic Structure. In the mid-1960s, the East germans introduced a new economic system that eased some Central planning controls and allowed factories to make profits if they were reinvested in operations or sunday july 31,1988 Erich Honecker who will turn 76 in August Heads the communist party in East Germany