European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 19, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                News Vendor shows a headline hailing the monetary Union Quot finally the a Mark is Here continued from Page 11 talking in different tongues one minute hopeful about the future with her new mate the next Uncertain and glum full of scary confusion and even hostility. One minute hating her sad communist past the next remembering almost fondly that at least she was used to it that it was t All bad. Here Are a few of those worried questioning voices from the East. A. With Church Bells resounding in the background the two Young East German women stand in Karl Marx Platz in the heart of Leipzig speaking their mind As a group of touring americans crowds around. The women Are in Basic disagreement about much of what is happening in a Germany where economic. Unification has just occurred and political Unity looms ahead. Quot that s not True this newspaper is lying Quot says dark haired Kathrin Stover a 32-year-old Art historian As she looks at a front Page picture of Happy looking East germans with handfuls of new West German Marks. Quot we Are saying goodbye to our Money but the Way it is written in this paper is not True. We Are not glad. We Are sad really because again we have no Opportunity to Tell what we want. We have to take this Money. Quot but we Are still members of this country. We Don t want to be a common Germany it s Only our politicians who Tell that and the newspapers make such a theater around that. To be unified. We Are real scared now. What will come nobody knows. We receive new products in the shops but most  t buy them. Everybody is so frustrated really frustrated. There is no happiness anymore Quot someone asks Kathrin How widely shared is her View against Unity we Don t like it Quot she says her voice breaking. 1 he intellectual people Don t like it. There is a real Strong left movement Here again a communist 1 movement other people they did t think about it. They expected to be driving big cars and have plenty of Money and so on. But they have started to know it will be different. Lots of them have remarked that it is not Paradise after All. It was t Paradise before either. 1 Here were so Many  she fells about the thousands of Telephone taps. About How her professors told her that if she went to Church she would also have to go to official political meetings or she would t be allowed to Progress in her education. Quot now we Are finding out what state Security Stasi did and How they did it. But Vve nevertheless did t have certain problems. Everything was Clear for us you know. And we could use our Power and Energy Lor dil Terent pursuits in our spare time Quot under the previous system Kathrin says they had a lot of spare time. Quot but now we will have to use All our Energy in work. It w ill take the main part of our a amps photos by Ken George unification jitters Reinhilde Quot Hilly Leidel Quot the big fear is that millions will be out of work Quot confusion about the future is visible in the faces of some East germans Kathrin Stover Quot what will Comet nobody knows Quot Gabi Beuthe Quot we should be optimistic. It can t become worse than it was Quot though the and is a a it of Rte a pc Ujj lives. There should be something else the West German politicians took everything in their hands and forced us to do things and our government is not Able to do anything. They can t take any decisions at 3. Now a Blond woman named Gabi Beuthe her lips tightening her head shaking slowly Side to Side As she listens Steps Forward. Listen the intellectuals can say whatever they want. But with the state of our Economy we need the West germans Quot declares Gabi a 28-year-old leather of russian and English in the East German school system. Quot but we Are afraid West German Industry comes and takes whatever they want Quot insists Kathrin Quot that they won t reconstruct the factories and industries. That they Are interested Only where they can receive the profits and will destroy everything  no counters Gabi. Quot they can t put Money in such old factories like the trabant factory. It makes no  Gabi believes that Quot we should be optimistic. It can t become worse than it was either economically i or politically. Last year we could t even talk like this at the University where i studied one had to be careful. We had All these classes in marxism leninism. You did t know what teacher you had and the communist teachers watched your thinking. I was always Liberal but i never talked about it except to very close friends. Of course we will have unemployed people for a year or two or so. But if we had t changed the situation would have become much worse. It has become worse every year he Points toward some rickety blackened buildings nearby across from Karl Marx University. Look at the houses. Everything s falling apart. It s sad this. And always less and less of these second rate goods in the shops for which we paid More and More. So we have to go through this no matter what the intellectuals say. I think people have to be optimistic. If we want to work if we want to change Well be successful at the end. But we can t sit and wait for somebody else to do everything for  sitting in the a Plush lobby of a former recuperation Center for Adbi Monist party workers in 12 the Hills of Southern East Germany now converted into a hotel of sorts for capitalists Reinhilde Leidel Quot Call me Hilly Quot is caught in a tempest of conflicting emotions As she discusses the trials of transition from communism to democracy. Hilly an ebullient 48-year-old translator and interpreter who says she has worked closely with party members without becoming one seems a sounding Board for the doubts and amb valances her country is passing through in a time of stunning change. Quot but what a pity Quot she says Quot if we lose everything from the old system the Good things As Well As the stupid  asked what Are some of the Good things they might lose Hilly presses her hand to her head. Quot let me . First she talks intensely about people who Quot were communists in a theoretical sense but still very Good people in a human sense with Good minds that should not be wasted. They be been thrown out of their jobs along with the others the not so Good ones the corrupt ones. The Best history teacher i Ever knew is now a cleaning lady in this hotel and she is. Lost. The director of that school with a doctor s degree is now Selling tickets in the railway station. Quot people say they were party members therefore they must have been corrupt must have been spies. This is nonsense. There Are Little people who get punished while some big shot communists have already moved into Good positions As if nothing happened like Clever nazis in the West who made the switch and nobody  Hilly also fears that Quot we will lose much of our social Security. So Many things were subsidized and highly supported by the state. Care for the elderly. Care for physically and mentally handicapped children. Also the majority about 80 per cent of women have been working and were Able to leave their children in care centers. The care was very Good. The food was Good. There was almost no charge and already some facilities Are being dosed Down i am afraid All these things will be lost Quot moreover the closing of companies and rising unemployment in a society that had t had any is already happening she says. Quot the big fear is that millions will be out of work within a  1 he changes Are tumbling so fast one Over the other Quot that we never know what tomorrow brings. Even the newspapers have changed their  As much As she hates to lose the Quot Good Quot things Hilly stresses that Many changes Are desperately needed. The Way factories and businesses have been run she says they were Lucky to still be in business at All so strangled were they in numbing bureaucracy and unworkable theory. Quot everything was getting worse. We had so Many restrictions in the factories. Most managers knew Well they had to modernize their plants in order to be competitive with the West. But they weren t allowed to use their funds to modernize. This was guided by the party. The party dictated on what the monies would be spent. The party did t know what it was doing. It let the machines get old and run Down and Many workers simply lost their Faith. How could we compete like this it s a pity because we have Good specialists Good workers. A Quot i knew factories that because a part was missing or the supplies did not arrive the whole Plant just stopped. The workers just stood around. They got paid anyway. They got paid if they got drunk and did t come to work. It was impossible to fire them. It was not very inspiring for the rest of us. You had to really love your work or you became indifferent. Many of us got fed up with this wretched system. What the party was saying was of course always considered Correct. But the people using their common sense said this can t be the right Way. Open your eyes. This is going to be a failure. Why can t you see that Why can t we discuss it Quot for the Lack of a screw i have seen Travis unable to run. We exported most of our cars and supplied the spare parts to other countries. People at Home had to learn to make their own screws to make their cars run. What could you say for a system so Blind they ordered clothes made so bad nobody would Wear them but like robots they kept making them. This is what their revolution had  Hilly laughs a Little bitterly shakes her head in disbelief Quot All those wasted years. In theory the party always had self criticism but in practice it did not. I translated this party stuff Many Many times. I asked some of them if you see something wrong Why can t you even speak frankly to each other if 1 was talking to one party member he might be honest and say yes he saw the shortcomings things should be changed. I could respect that. But if i talked to two of them at once they would look at each other and Start lying again Quot they were very intelligent people but they seemed incapable of telling the truth even about a missing screw. It was systematized blindness. Reports were beautified from step to step. On paper even As everything collapsed we had a perfect system Quot to Purchase a car in this co webby world of lies and inefficiency Hilly said a family would put their 5-year-old son on the waiting list hoping that by the time he was 18 or 20 his name would have risen High enough on the list to buy one. Hilly did t want one. Quot the trabant is not a car it is a shame. Can you imagine driving such a thing in the year 1990? ridiculous Quot she waited eight years for a Telephone and is still waiting. A Friend waited 13 years and forgot about it. One Day some men came to her door and said they were filling her request. Quot request for what Quot she said. Quot your phone your phone Quot they replied with agitation As if she should be there waiting with bugeye anticipation. A despite its absurdities Quot if you wanted to make a big career the Best thing was to join the party. But there were lots of people who did not and would not despite pressures to join. I have always relied on my common sense and i did not want to join any party. Some of those in the party had very bad reputations were very poor fakes. There were others who could t go along with it anymore and left the party. Their careers were instantly  with a shrug and a resigned smile Hilly notes that though considered highly skilled  work As a specialist in translations of very technical subjects a Quot after 23 years i make Only 1,000 Marks a month. My son went to West Berlin a few months ago. Already he makes 3,000 a month starting salary in a nonprofessional Job Quot As their anxiety increases Hilly sees Quot people becoming More aggressive snapping at each other. We have to Start Over in everything from the beginning like children. People who have invested 40 years in a system convinced they were on the right path Are like kids again. Their whole world has broken Down they feel helpless. Many people have lost their courage. Crime is up drastically. Suicides Are up. I personally knew several people who killed  does she believe most people Are for or against unification. Quot i believe most people Are for unification but not under conditions that Are dictated. We believe a lot of promises have been made that can t be kept. We have to learn what management Means. What getting up to Western standards Means. I wish it could All go a Little slower Quot a there is however one area in which she is glad the going is not slow. After living so Long in a society where spying on each other was a major Industry she says Quot my god i cannot Tell you How Good it is to sit Here and talk without having to worry about who s sitting in the next chair listening and watching. Only now we Are learning How bad it was. Some people they forced to be informers by one Means or another. Others volunteered Quot once the son of an american Engineer she had interpreted for during his business in East Germany called from Munich to pass on his father s Good wishes. For this Quot Contact with the enemy Quot Hilly was suspended from interpreting for two years. Quot and i had a Good Boss. If he had been a bad Boss i Don t know what would have  it got so depressing that five of Hilly s Best friends fled to the West in the last three years leaving everything behind. And then the miracles started happening. Quot if someone had told me a year ago that i would be sitting Here talking to a foreigner the enemy like this about these subjects i would have thought he was mentally ill. All i can say is it feels Good. At last. That alone is a great Blessing. Perhaps in another year All the unknowns we fear now will not seem so  stripes Magazine july 1% 1990 july 1% 1990 stripes Magazine 13