European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 30, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Knirk i North sat Baltic sea Austria about the Unity of the German  Eva Kulesza head of research for the soviet Union and Eastern Europe at the French Institute of International relations says she believes that As far a Public opinion there is a new sort of mistrust toward  1 this new fear of Germany is linked to german3-Conomic trends. Germany is much stronger much Rio Ore dynamic than France she added. Since West Germany and East Germany Are at the front lines of two competing alliances any signs for eventual reunification would have to come from Washington and Moscow. During a news conference recently in Montana. Bush said that reunification is a matter for the germans to  but he added if that reunification was worked out Between the Germany i do not think we should View that As bad for Western  for his part Gorbachev evaded the Issue during a news conference in Bonn in june saying Only the situation in Europe today was determined by historical i  outside Germany political leaders and commentators have been sharply divided on the Issue. In thinking about the German question we ought not to be governed by old prejudices and out of Date assumptions wrote commentator Peter Jenkins in London s the Independent. The cold War was conducted in the name of Freedom and today if the coming of Freedom to Easl Germany brings a desire for Unity which finds its Echo in the Federal Republic we ought not to be  Willy Brandt the social Democrat who sought greater ties to the East As Chancellor in the 1970s, said German Unity does t necessarily mean a single state although he called reunification a hypothesis that East germans cop with labor shortage by Terrence Petty associated Pressw Ith thousands of East germans going West in the past Tow months those staying behind have found themselves without the services of some important people from the Village Baker to the town plumber to medical specialists. There Are visible signs of the people Drain in East Berlin. An official sign on a shuttered bar called restoration 1900 says the establishment has received permission to close because the manager is ill. Local residents say that in truth the manager fled to West Germany two months ago. An operator of three other bars in this area also went West a while Back he s since been replaced said a Middle age East German walking past the bar on the City s Huseman Strasse a vegetable shop a few blocks away is shuttered As Well and residents say its owner also has gone to the West. East German Reform activist Jons Reich says his Eye doctor has fled to West Germany. I fear my dentist s gone As Well said Reich an East Berlin founder of the fledgling new forum pro democracy group. About 100,000 Easl germans have either fled or emigrated legally to West Germany this year the greatest flood of East German refugees since the Berlin Wall went up in 1961. More than 17,500 of them have gone through Hungary since that country opened its Western Border to East germans sept. 10. The refugees say they left their Homeland because they could no longer Bear the Lack of democratic freedoms and because they want better lives in the West. The exodus has produced a new rash of demands for political and economic Reform among Many East germans who remain behind. Within two weeks of the exodus Reich s group collected signatures of More than 2,000 citizens supporting its pro democracy demands. Church officials in East Germany have intensified their Calls for democratic change As Well. They say leaving the country is no Way to change it. Someone who is in Bavaria cannot be of service to a patient at the Catholic Hospital in Erfurt East Germany East German roman Catholic Bishop Joachim Wanke has said. Sources within the ruling communist party speaking on condition of anonymity said the Drain of medical personnel is so severe in the District of Suhl that doctors there have been forbidden to travel out of the country. Officials have not released any figures on How the exodus has affected medical care or any other professions or businesses. The West German Frankfurter Mundschau newspaper said it was told by Church officials a number of hospitals have had to replace employees ranging from student nurses to chief physicians. The refugees who have fled the West in the past few months Are mostly Young people whole a behind Good jobs and in Many cases promising careers. According to a study released sept. 12 by West Germany s ministry for inner German relations the refugees worked in Industry Medicine and other service sector areas crafts administration and education. East Germany has a population of 16.6 million. No one has said the refugee exodus Means economic disaster but the communist leadership has acknowledged it is causing problems. Residents across the country have reported that some department stores Are operating with drastically reduced staffs Many Gas stations Are shortening their work Days and other establishments Are closing Down completely. The Frankfurter Mundschau said that at times cynical humor takes Over when those left behind talk about employees who have gone West. A Hairdresser in Erfurt coolly tells a customer so you want to make an appointment with Bettina then you d better Call Passau or make a complaint to West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl " said the Mundschau. Cannot be  As talk grows in the West the positions against reunification almost seem to Harden in East Germany As people leave the country in near record numbers. More than 100,000 East germans Are expected to resettle in West Germany this year leaving a gaping Hole in the communist nation s work Force. Little is Likely to change in East Germany As Long As the 77-year-old Honecker and his aging comrades stay in Power. During a september 1987 visit to Bonn Honecker called respect for Europe s present Borders a Basic condition of peace. Socialism and capitalism can t be any More United than fire and water Honecker added on the Issue of reunification. There Are virtually no indications that Honecker s successors will be inclined to democratic reforms let alone joining the capitalist West. The Calls for reunification have already found a sympathetic ear among some leaders of the polish Solidarity movement in the country that suffered some of the nazis most brutal savagery. After All the abnormal situation of the German nation overshadows the whole of polish German relations member of parliament Adam Michnik wrote in the pro Solidarity daily newspaper gaze la web orca which he edits. The renewed talk of reunification is recalling the nearly prophetic words of Reinhold Maier a prominent West German stale governor who later went on to head the centrist free democratic party. Reunification is resting in our midst like a sleeping lioness. Tired and weak indecisive people in West Germany Are trying not to disturb her sleep Maier predicted in 1955. The lioness will one Day Wake up blink snap her Tail and Start to  still Many in both East and West agree with the 1967 quip by Nobel prize winning French author Francois Mauriac i love Germany so much i m delighted that there Are two of  Ember 30,1989 the stars and stripes Page 15