European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 1, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sentence As into her. Dorf East it or stared in that a the s i renters West. Say Quot this Ltd a their communist War a. Now who a has six. To just that. Her Day in a yer led it Back s. My from the v on a Sandy i a weekend by docket Oats. A the Hamburg family that claimed Meyer s House told her she can stay until she Dies. Quot pm 79,&Quot Meyer said. Quot what else can happen to me i be never known what was going to happen to me tomorrow. Quot its All so crass. They Don t have to be this wait could have been done decently. They done to want our houses they would just tear them Down. They just want the land underneath so they can get Money for  that a the argument East German prime minister Lothar de Maiziere made in negotiations with West Germany. Why not just compensate the previous owners for the property taken from them he asked. But Chancellor Helmut Kohl insisted that West germans be Given Back the Homes they fled. Both Germany Are in a hurry to resolve the property question because it is putting a severe crimp on the reconstruction of East Germany. West German Bankers say they Are Loath to make Loans to East German individuals or businesses until they can be certain that. Property used As collateral really belongs to the loan applicant. Rangs Dorfo a history As a vacation spot has left it with a particularly thick concentration of disputed properties. A citizens group formed to fight West German claims won four of the 20 local counts seats in May local elections but their Street protests and lobbying failed to persuade the Bonn government. Now people like Rainer and Andrea Friedrich can Only wait for the Day they know will come. Quot we be seen them Quot said Andrea 28, a Hospital lab assistant. Quot they come in their Mercedes and sit in the car and take pictures. If i look through the window they take off. Where have they been for 30 years we saved this . A. Quot they could at least look us in the Eye Quot said Rainer a 29-year-old Auto Mechanic. Quot we re All germans. Look this House is my life. Nobody forced those people to leave. And i obviously did t choose to be born in this country. Will do everything in my Power to protect my  but whose property is it Ramer Friedrich a born irl this House he has known no other he has insulated the cellar and installed new. Windows ?.  has no title. The Friedrichs Are in the process of buying their House under the old communist system in which about 40 percent of East germans own their Homes while the state owns the land beneath hem for now. However the Friedrichs still rent paying 78 Marks $4? a month although they have been told the rent will jump by about 400 percent in january. The parents of the West germans who claim the. House left in 1960, shortly before the communists built the Berlin Wall. The heirs want to use the House As a weekend getaway. A Quot of course it does not help matters if the West germans go around threat eng people a said Wolfgang Probandt a West Berlin lawyer who a a represents Many West germans and americans who. Claim East German property quo Quot but these people have a right to the a native land the place where they were born where they grew. Upp Quot Why. Should they lose everything just because they fled an indecent system sure they never expected to see a their property again but the situation has  Probandt says the East germans need not panic. That everything will work out amicably in most cases East German renters will be protected under West German Laws that permit owners to kick out tenants Only if the owner himself plans to move into the House. But East germans who bought their houses from a government that considered everything it confiscated to be Volksen centum or people s property May have to move but even they will be compensated pro Jandt said still Many questions remain murky. The East West agreement on property covers Only land confiscated after 1949, leaving unresolved claims by people who lost property to the nazis or the soviet forces that occupied Eastern Germany after the War. Many thousands of jews who were thrown off their a it property in nazi Antisemitic campaigns still have claims. Of East Germany whose communist government. Always refused to take any responsibility for nazi War crimes a a a West Germany which has paid More than. $40 billion m War reparations has said it plans to Honor those claims perhaps through additional payments to Israel jewish organizations and individual jews despite last month s agreement on property claims the East German government is not working in unison with Bonn on the Issue. Indeed the East germans desperate for Cash 10 prop up shaky government enterprises that Fin a it impossible to compete in the newly United German Economy a Are still Selling off houses that soon will face claims by West germans. The Rangs Dort City Council Lor example has offered to sell the Friedrichs their House for about $18,000 a less than a 10th of what West German real estate agents  would sell for on the open Market. A i Don t understand How the East germans can let their own people buy properly that they know someone is going to claim Quot Probandt said in same cases East German housing officials say it is not Clear there is a previous owner while in others no one can be sure the former owner still wants the property. In any event Many East germans remain it confused and fearful that the House they be called Home Tor much of their lives will soon be turned Over to someone else. Meanwhile Many West germans Are angry that their claims to land now used for Public purposes will be satisfied through compensation rather than Transfer of the property to their control that put an end to some dreams of spectacular profits an 88-year old West Berlin Man who claimed the land under East berlins metropol hotel fantasized about finishing out his life As a fabulously wealthy Hotelier. He will be compensated for the value of his original property but will not get the hotel. A i98-4i its in the sinful is y their irs artist t armed rom id 39 year old Bishop to be metropolitan of Moldavia. The patriarch s Likely successor. Amid the confusion new religious ventures sprout weekly. In March Czechoslovakia s 200 mormons re a established the Church of Jesus Christ of latter Day saints in Prague and began planning missionary efforts in Poland and Hungary. In May the Argentine born american evangelist Luis Palau mounted a crusade in Romania some believers would like to help order All the chaos by establishing Christian democratic political parties to Advance Broad religious ideals As Well As protect Church interests. The primate of Poland Cardinal Joseph Glemp is believed to favor this approach. Senior Catholic officials in Romania backed the Christian democratic National peasants party. Others Hope Church officials will keep their distance. A i m afraid that the adjective Christian will be abused by people who want not so much to be inspired by christianity As to use its Force for their own ends Quot said the Rev. Bronislaw Dembowski Dean of the pontifical faculty of theology in Warsaw. He also voiced fears of religiously reinforced nationalism and its Impact on minority groups throughout Eastern Europe. In Poland itself members of the lutheran and Eastern orthodox churches As Well As a few thousand lews exist in a population 95 percent Catholic. Michael Klinger an orthodox Christian professor of theology in Warsaw said Quot for me personally this nationalistic influence on the Church and i rough the Church is very  european students Eye . Campuses new York times thousands of Eastern european students eager to Sample the educational offerings of the West Are seeking to matriculate at american universities according to the . Information Agency. In Czechoslovakia alone 2,500 students called wrote or lined up at the american embassy in Prague in december january and february to get University addresses and materials on admissions procedures said Adeline o Connell a Usia education official before the fall of Czechoslovakia s communist. Government Only 75 students inquired in an average three month period about american schools. / but american College officials say they have Little financial Aid to offer Eastern european applicants who Are largely poor and whose Money is Worth Little outside their countries. A we Don t anticipate Large numbers of them being Able to study Here until some funding is made available for them Quot said Richard Tudisco director of the International student office at Columbia University. The communist governments of Eastern Europe limited their citizens opportunities. To travel and study abroad. In the 1989-90 school year 2,850 Eastern europeans attended american universities said Peggy Blumenthal a vice president of the Institute of. International education a private organization that administers Exchange programs for foreign students. Almost ail those students from Yugoslavia Poland Hungary Romania Czechoslovakia and East Germany a were researchers with advanced degrees or were on Short term exchanges now a growing number of Eastern europeans want to Young East germans demonstrating for political reforms in downtown East Berlin october 1989. Apply directly to american institutions said o Connell whose Agency disseminates materials on american schools to other nations. Zdenek Kratochvil a student at  of Prague said he wanted to earn a Western approach to engineering and management at an american University "after1 40 years of a command system people know nothing of a Market system Here Quot said Kratochvil who dreams of starting a business in Czechoslovakia with the assistance of a Western company. Karoly Csete a concierge at the Hilton hotel in. Budapest is trying to enrol his two teen age children in an american High school hoping they will move on to College the children Judil 16, and Akos 14, spent a year in school in Morris county n.j., two years ago when they stayed with Csete s sister. Quot i would like to help them with their future Quot Csete said. Quot this Way if they decide to leave this country then they will have already made the first step Quot in response to student demand the Usia is supplementing its Small advisory stalls and University related reference materials in its Eastern european offices Agency officials stress that american higher education is expensive and that the schools trying hard to find financial Aid Lor american students have Lew resources to. Offer foreign applicants Robin Lewis associate Dean of the school of International and Public affairs Al Lumbia says american universities have had Little time to devise ways to help Eastern european students Quot the events in Eastern a Europe happened so fast that nothing is really in place except. Band Aid measures Quot he sardine Day August 1, 1990 the stars and stripes Kirk Page 15