European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 1, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Waiting for vesties. V. O a a. East germans edgy Over property rights Many families in towns like gust Row throughout the German democratic Republic live on property that the former communist regime confiscated after owners fled to the West. Some of those onetime residents now Are driving Over to East Ger Fany demanding return of real estate Long since turned Over to others. By Marc Fisher Washington Post e Dith Paasche stopped in mid sentence As the Silver Bow turned the Corner into her rutted Cobblestone Lane in Langsdorf East Germany and she and her neighbor stared silently As the car rolled slowly by. Quot whenever i see a West German car i fear that  one that a my Westie a Quot Paasche  was t this time but in villages and cities throughout East Germany homeowners and renters alike live in daily fear that one Day very soon a West. German will drive up get out of the car and say Quot this used to be my House and now i want it  millions of East germans live on property their government took from people who fled the communist regime or the soviet occupation after world War ii. Now the two Germany have agreed that anyone who owned property confiscated by East Germany has six months to take Back what is rightfully his. By the hundreds of thousands they Are doing just that Edith Meyers a we sties drove up the other Day in a fancy car. Quot a woman with a Young son Quot Meyer recalled 1 a a she a the heir to the Man who owned it Back in the �?T50s. I said this House was always ours. My husband bought it in 1974, and we rented it from the state before  the House is a Concrete and Wood Bungalow on a Sandy Street in the Lakeside Village of Langsdorf once a weekend play land for wealthy berliners. Today its a sleepy collection of neglected but rec of mansions and pocket sized summer cottages for East Berlin professionals. By Peter Steinfels new York time churches face new role for four decades religious believers in Eastern Europe lived under Seigo. Their buildings were confiscated their ceremonies regulated their publications censored their youth groups outlawed their. Seminaries closed their professional careers blocked their leaders spied upon jailed harassed intimidated bribed or even killed. Suddenly those who persevered Are facing an entirely new problem Freedom. Throughout Eastern Europe Church raders speak of the coming of a religious revival of historic proportions a possibility that has led to speculation about a Quot re christianization Quot from the East of the. Secularized West. But Many of them candidly acknowledge that they Are unprepared for. The practical challenges and unsettled by a pluralism that has freed the churches but May also reduce their social influence. Gone is the simple division of society in which churches were aligned with All the forces opposing communism. Gone is the Unity and moral Appeal that persecution can produce. Instead Many viewpoints compete sometimes splitting the faithful in the same Way that has happened with other once monolithic groups. This is Quot the hour of truth a for the churches said Josef Hromadka a theologian and official of the evangelical Church of the czech Brethren who briefly served As Deputy prime minister responsible for religious affairs in president Vaclav Havel a government. There is certainly Quot a new wave of spiritual interest Quot he said but while Quot Eyen the indifferent previously supported the churches As an essential base for opposition now people can support them or go some other  in Poland Quot the Church has lost its monopoly on goodness Quot said Zbigniew Nosowsky a Young sociologist and an editor of the Warsaw Catholic monthly Wiez. The resulting sense of dislocation can tempt churches to try to fill the ideological void left by the communists with their own political influence said the Rev. Stanislaw no Sial an editor of the Independent Catholic weekly to Godnik pow Czechny in Krakow. Still More dangerous is the temptation to insure religion s place in Post communist societies by tightly linking Faith and National identity such a course could feed antisemitism and inflame the numerous ethnic conflicts Long repressed but never resolved by the Pax Sovie Tica. Similar challenges Are raised throughout what was once the soviet bloc. But it is in the countries of largely roman Catholic and protestant background like Hungary East. Germany Poland and Czechoslovakia that Freedom s Challenge to the churches is clearest. Opportunity and difficulties often come yoked together. New adherents Are being drawn to religion in some places More quickly than they can be absorbed parents Are taking children to be baptized a and sometimes children Are taking parents. In 1987, the lutheran Church in Estonia recorded fewer than 2,000 a in Poland said the editor of a Catholic monthly a the Church has lost its monopoly on goodness a Here student demonstrators. A he 1984 baptisms. Last year the number was 13,000. This Spring in the slovak town of Poprad the Catholic priest had to use the ice hockey stadium to accommodate a first communion class of 600, including Many adults. Religious leadership is being reconstituted throughout the Region after years of having appointments blocked by governments the Vatican has been Able to name Bishops for All of Czechoslovakia s dioceses As Well As for dioceses in Romania Lithuania and the Ukraine. Seminaries once closed or tightly controlled Are opening their doors to greater numbers. But the churches have a Long Way to j go. In Hungary the number of priests has shrunk from several thousand in the 1950s to a few Hundred and their average age is 64. There is also the delicate and painful question of what to do with religious leaders who were compromised by their ties with communist governments. In Romania where Church leaders had praised the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu for years patriarch the Ottist head of the romanian orthodox Church was forced into retirement along with two Bishops of the reformed Church. 4 after the patriarch re emerged from retirement in april Church leaders. Elected a politically Unco promised 39 Yeai Molt Suc it a vent co Esta of i beg. Pola arg Luis Rorr is Orde Chri Advt As p. To Jos it Appi Ron Derr o their Adje peo map forc it Bror pon1 War Hgt rein mine Eure Luth Chur jew Catt m Fri a r a Zatk pro Page 14 the stars and stripes wednesday aug