JPRS ID: 10524 EAST EUROPE REPORT POLITICAL, SOCIOLOGICAL AND MILITARY AFFAIRS

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• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00850R000500060037-0
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• Content Type: REPORTS

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JPRS L/ 10524
18 ~lay 1982
E a st E u ro e R~ o rt
p p
POLITICAI, SOCIOLOGIGAL AND MILITARY A~FAIRS
CFOUO 7/~2)
FBIS FOREIGN BRQADCAST INFORMATION SERVICE
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JPRS L/10524
18 May 1982
- EAST EUROPE REPORT
POLITICAL, SOCIOLOGICAL AND MILITARY AFFAIRS
(FOUO 7/82) ,
CONTENTS
ALBANIA
Paris Journal Reports on Religion in Albania
(Michel Sidhom; JEQN$ AFRIQIIE, 13 Jan $?1 ....o........ 1
GEHMAN ~IOCRATIC REP[1BLIC
Iliary, Suicide of SED I~nctionary~ s Daughter Di:scussed
(ITieter Bub; STSRI~T, 18 Mar 82) 10
Escape Attempt by NepheW of Intelligence Chief Becounted
(Joerg von Duehren9 ~eter Bub; STERN, ? Apr 82)....... 12
- a- [ III - E'~ - 63 FOUO]
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ALBAF?A
- PARIS 30URNAL REPORTS ON RELIGION IN ALBAI~TiA
� Paris JE~JNE AFRIQIIE in French 13 Jan ~2 pp 53-58
[Article by Michel Si~hom: �'The Country ~lhich Drave Out Islam"]
- [Text] Albania is never talked about. Or almost never.
It took the suicide of a p~cime minister--1lehmet Shehu,
_ on Fridayt 18 Dece~ber--tu make people recall that
Enver Honha's coimtry did exist. Hawever, Albania is
of interest to us. Becaeise there God and 1Kuhammad
have disappeared before the socialist ethic, and all
the m~sques, all the places o� worship have been
closed. How did the coc~mists manage to stamp out
Islam? Michel Sidhom investig,ated an location.
I wanted to visit Albania, the only r_ountrq Which claims to be atheist and
- declares it ha?s conquered Islam. Albania, the l:~st pure and hard Marsist-
- Leninist, firmly Staliaist country, does n~t allaw individual tourists
within its territory, and only grants visas to groups. I took my wife,
Annick, and our bat+y, William, to make a good impressicaa.
~ Albania has succeeded in a"~tour de force" never before seen. Since the
15th centurq, this had been the only cuuntry in Europe with a Muslim
majority. After invading the territory, the Ottomans converte.d the popula-
- tion to Islam with amazing rapidity. How? By clai~ng only half as much in
tax~es from declared Musliffi. Five centuries later, just before the communist
_ takeover in 1944, two-thirds of the Albanians were still praying to Allah.
- Only 10 percent were Catholic, and 20 percent Orthodoa. ~oday, the Albanian
Com~wnist Partq [as published] and its revered leader Enver Soaha, last of
the great postwar political dinosaurs, affirm that Islam has been more or
less eradicated in the country, eacept for aome older incorrigible citizens.
Propaganda? Perhaps not. No "samizdat" is ci~culated, no religious opposi-
tion is holdiag out in Albania. In other Eastern European countries the .
atubborn faithfeil can at least go to church. In Albania, all the musques,
all the places of worship have been closed. It had ro be done. The shah of
Iraa, who did not hesitate to throw the ~ullahs in jail, lost his cro~m.
The Soviet IInion is at a loss before its Azerbaydzhan l~uslims.
~
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- Hnw did the Albanian co~unists manage to stamp out Islam? You won't get me
~ to believe that religion disappear2d without a fight, th+at Islam didn't wage
a holy War. The great religiots have survived centuries of persecution; I
must persist.
. But it is not easq. {ie are staying at the beach, some distan.ce from the
capital, Tirana. Yesterday we went on a short tour of Tiraaa. iihat an
austere city for a southern capital. Everyone goes home W b~d at 20
o'clock at nignt. 1he "ecolos'� should go on tour to Tirana. No cars eucept
the long black Mercedes of the great le:aders. The Albaaians travel on foot
aad bicycle, bq tus and truck. A~.1 the stores display the same basic com-
- modities, one kind of bread, five kinds of canned products, standardized
clothing; but they are well-stocked. Socialist Albania keeps its promises:
It feeds its people while remaining fiercely independent. No country in
- the wbrld gives it assistance since it became aagry with the IISSR arid China,
which it considered "revisionist."
_ On all thE street corners, in ~very field, rise small mushroom-shaped block-
houses; these are the shelters where the citizens are to talce refuge in case
of war with Yugoslavia. Someone close to Enver Hoxha explained the strategic
importaace of these concrete mushrooms to me: The people will rush to them
- to fire on the enemy thTOUgh the loopholes while the Albaaian Air Force will
- mercilessly str.afe the invaded land.
Today, I saw hope: Aft~r our visit to the Korca engineering plant, we were
- finally to visit the Museum of Atheisa in Shkoder. ~he curator looks like
Voltaire: deep-set and evil eyes. We passed through the door of the first
room under the inevitable quotation fro~a Karl Marx staadizig out against a
pale blue backgrouncl: "Re~igion is the opium of the peaple." The Museum or .
Atheism isn`t much to look at. The first room displays several mounted
photographs of old mosques accompanied by numerous captions ia Albanian.
Only two posters stand out in this scholarly e~ibit: two portraits of
youai~ women who have been blinded, one by a crucifix, the other by a minaret.
Voltaire clears his throat and begins his explanations: "Take Darwin's
phrase: 'Religion is the daughter of ignorance.' He was right. Muha~ad
claims that the earth is flat and is supported by a woman; the w~man is on
the head of an ox, the c~c on a fish. The fish on the sea. And the sea on
� infinity." The curator makes the most of it. The whole group bursts out
- laugh.ing. He continues in the same mocking toa~. "HerA are prints of the
great massacres carried out by Christians: the Saint Bartholomew massacre,
the Inquisition. Here is a drawing of Galileo in prison. 'There, Voltaire's
words: `In each century, religion has cost humanitq a million lives.
In the second room, there are several caricatures of priests. In a large
display case is a striking wax mannequin draped in red with a serious face,
his side ripped open: "Here is Saint Prosper, a Spanish martyr priest
assassinated bq the Moors. The Church was saying that his body remained
intact. Catholics wer~ paying to go see it in the Shkoder cat6edral. When
we closed the church, look what we found: a mannequin stuffed with straw,
ah hah!" With exaggerated gestures, the curator reminds us of a mass of
Catholic disgraces: Albanian curates collaborated With the Italian Fascists,
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the Pope blessed Mussolini aad Cardinal Spellm~a the Americaa soldiers in -
9ietnam, the Yolea are tearing themselves apart. A true eocialist country
. must eliffinate the Church. ~Ihat an actor! He �lies into a rage against th~e
hypocritical priests who defrock themselv~es and plsy the guitar to better
_ attract the youth.
"In 1937, th~re were 144 churches and mosques in the Shkoder district, just
34 schools and just 1 t~ospital. Today these are 35.7 ~chools and 408 &ealth
centers."
"Zhat's a~l very well, but there must be sly reminders of Islam. Old people
who pray in secret, peasan~s who observe Ramadaa..."
"The ideological struggle continues. We muat watch the former priests to
see that they do not organi~e clandestine ceremunies, and the old people
to see that they do n~t pass on supetstitions to their grandchildren.
Foreign groups flood us with brochures by the sea and the lakes. The best
activists themselves must remain vigilant. Comrade Enver Ho~a says that
you must cleanse your conscience every moraing."
Ah hah! I have opened the ~oor. I press on: 10Are these vestiges puaished?
What do you do if you disconer a circumcised child?" .
- "Those responsible risk 2 to 3 years in prison."
"How many masques are left?"
"All religious edifices in gaod condition have beea coaverted into public
buildings. The Shkoder cathedral is a sports arena; the I~aaciscaa church,
a movie theater. Some have been preserved for their architectural value. ~
Others have been razed."
I want to spot the minute vestiges of religion. I persuade Natalie, the only
fua girl ia the group, that she wants to go w~th me on an expedition through
the streets of Shkoder to look for old mosques. We go into the streets of
the old city which, as in Southern Italy, wind am~ng low tile-roofed taouses.
How do you identify a mosque from a distance? All the mdnarete were torn
dawn long ago. We are going in circles before we come across a dilapidated
building with oval windows. We approach the openings; the iaeide is destroyed,
full of rubble. A couple of old Albanians pass by. Natalie calls to them
and pretends to bow dowa. Then she poiats to the building. The two passe:sby
grimace, say "Pshaw, pshaw, Yes, qes," while shaking the~r heads aad then tak,e
off at full speed. Interesting. This ruin must be a m4sque then. We
approach a young woman to confirm it. She strides away. A third person ~
stops, a 40-year-old guy, with plenty of ~o. Be makes ~us a sign to follow
him. Perhaps he is talcing us to some secret c~remony? Five minutes later,
I am singing a different tuae. The guy has taken us to the cops. Be �
jabbers wfth the policeman on duty for 30 seconds. This time, I see the
mess coming. 1he policemaa barlcs out three sentences and points to ias. 1he
passerby takes me by the arm and we leaqe again. He doesn't let go of ine
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until we are at the hot~l. ~1'ha.t eveniag, I aa a little dejected. Hc~ can I
_ find ~ut whether Islam 3a atill pxacticed today, if I cannat take one step
without the group? And then, I still do aot u~derstand ho~ui the d~lbaaian
Communist Party managed to liquidate the religions. I decide to persevere;
if I keep asking questions, someone will ead up giving in.
"Enver Hoxha, Enver ~oaha!" Three hundred 10-yearrold youag pioneers chaat
the iaame of their hon~red leader to welcome us to the beach at Durres. Thes~ .
young co~unist scouts march to the bugle. One blast! 1he~ rush to the
- water~ Anothez blastl They get out. A bust of Eaver floxha occupies the
piace o: honor like an altar in the camp's b~g assembly hall. A little

_ farther down, another group of French tourists_settles itself on the beach;
their young guide has a cvp of coffee at the hotel While waitiag for the end
of their swim. As he doesn't have Dritta's saintl~ appearance, I approach
him with a smi12. I begin by citing a 1949 speech in which Snver ~o~a gave
assurance t~at he !would never destroy the mosques.
What has happened since this statement? �1Everqt~ing chaaged in 1967,"
explained the young guide, "with a new statement on celigion from Saver
- flo~a . "
I finally manage to reconstruct the major stages of this scuffle. After the
communist takeover in 1944, Enver Houha and the Alb~nian Co~uaist Party did
not attack directly. They put the hodjas and cura~es oa salarq and pre-
served the mosques and churches to avoid reaction by the people. But, at
the same time, Enver Hoxha had all the religious schools closed. ~t was a
delayed blow: No new priests were 9rdained, religious educatioa disappeared. �
It sufficed to wait until the old priests disd; no one would be able to
replace them. Of course, the priests complaiaed. But they fouad little
public support b~.cause off3cially the religions were tolerat~d and the clergy
paid.
Day after day, the press and radio harped on the parasites who lived off of
public funds and did not work. But that didn't carry it through. Then, ia
1967, a change in strategy. L~ialectic matierialism has had enough of guper-
stition. Env~er Hoxha revives the struggle against religioa. Bands of
youths invade the mosques, close tTnem or occupy them. What becomes of the
- priests? The young guide remains vague. He remembers the curate in his
neighborhood: Today he is a warehouse watchman. To hear him telb it, the~
- movement did not arouse great resistance. As for the indomitable faithful,
apparently they did not react. I badger the guide to give me some ezamples.
"It happened in Durres. An old Muslim was praying at home each evening. One
day the Youth Union kids wen~t to his home b2uwing bugles.�'
I imagine that this type of scene must have taken place m~re or lees ev~ery-
where: The ~oung communists ridiculed the believers and the d~vout uatil
they renounced public practice. The young guide aleo tells me the twisted
story of a hod~a who wae shot for being an accomplice in a burglarq. There
were executions, then. Others were sent to peaitentiarie;a or the mdnese Bu~t
_ this period remained obscure uatil 1976 when Albania revived with a new
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constitution. The 1976 Con~titution permaneatly prohibited any religious
propaganda.
We are far from the transition period when the state came to terms witfi the
obedient priests, the ones who agYeed to declare: "God bless and bring
together all the peoples of the earth around ~the single party of peace led
- by the glorious Soviet IInion and Stalin's spirit."
T.he socialist ethic slid into bed with religion firslt, before straagling it.
Take the places of worship. Zhe Shkoder cathedral has bec~ome a sports arena.
= I saw young Alban~tans there training for basketball under a big banner pra-
claiming "Glory to Marxism-Leninism.�' I ga~h~r my informatioa: Religion
has given way to sports, health and culture. The m~sques or churches have
become schools, clinics, libraries, nurseriea~ or museums.
New statues, new sacre3 texts: Stalin and Faver Hoxha have driven out God
and Muhammad. Lay ceremotiies : political edursation in ~?+,e place of reading
_ the Roran. The war for production instead. of the holy War. W6at about the
crusades, retreats and pilgrimages? oaie month's work on railroad construc-
~ tion for students, weekends in the count~cy for the townspeople to help in
the harvests for the towns, and 3 weeks o� annual military training for
everyone. And heretics? The r~visionists, of course. Aad then, the revo-
lutionary family ethic praised in the Albanian Worlcers Party's policy review.
_ Large families must be broken down into one or two households. The qouth
- organizations should develop marriages of love inspired by true moiivations:
- proper attitude with regard to work, to state awnership. Marriages between
townspeopla and villagers, Musli~s and non-Muslims must be encouraged.
- Cohabitation is punished by 1 year in prison. Candidates for divorce are
dissuaded. Contracep tives and abortions are prohibited. In short, the new
ethics takes care of everything.
~ How did the former beliavers react to the new ethics? I have trouble under-
standing. What goes on in their ~nds when faced with a cold and calcu-
lating materialism? My meeting with Misto Treska, former Albanian ambassa-
dor to Paris, hardly rea~ssures me. When I speak to him of the new ethics,
he backs off: "We need it. Ou: country is isolated and it needs all its
strength. Sa as nat to depend ou foreigners, t:e constitution prohibits
autside loans."
�
"But you are accepting a considerable technological delaq?t�
"Enver Hoxha has said: 'We will eat grass if necessary, but we will main-
tain our independence."'
"You forbid cohabitation. is it im~oral to you?"
"We do not want 14-3~ea~c-old giris running away from home."
"Why the work camps?"
- "It seems God has said: 'You will ~arn your bread with the sweat of your
brow.' There I agree with him."
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What a c�~nic this Misto Tresks ist Portuaately, the next daq I meet Sherif.
- Sherif co~i.ts a sacrilege. He has decided to observe Ramadaa ia our hotel
= in Durres. fle refuses to eat with everyon~ ia the restauraat and takes his
dinner upstairs under the dumbfaunded gaze of the staff. Sherif is a member
of an Algerian scientific dE~legatioa. IIpon arriving in Tirana, he Was con-
vinced that Albania was s*ii1 a Muslim couatry. His colleagues brought him
up to date. Furious, Sherif decided to put his foot down and to follow the
Koran to the letter during his stay. Which upset his guide.
"I don't understand," he co~lains. "Sherif is a scientist aad he observes
_ Ramadan." Sunk in a sofa in the hotel louage, another Algerian, Rachid,
_ smiles as he watches Sherif do his number: "He's esaggerating. Ramadan is
_ not obligatory when you are traveling. Islam is a v~ry fleaible religion."
"You mean to say that Islam can adapt, even in a co~unist couatrq?"
"Of course," rzpeats Rachid. "A person could very. well be a Muslim and
become head of a communist department without anyone noticing."
"But, how?"
"A Muslim must respect five major laws in his life. But he has the right to
adapt them if the situation so requires. Prayers, for exam~ple. They can
- all be said together in the evening, even murmured in bed without a motion.
Alms? They are only required of the rich. The profession of faith? It is
enough to say: 'I recognize the existence of Allah, the one God. l~uhamnad
is his prophet.' The pilg~rimage to Mecca? It all depeads on the resources
of the faithful one. If he doesn't have a penny, he can avoid it. Ramadaa?
- No one can dispense with it, but it caa be observed discreetly, unless you
lunch at a plant cafeteria."
I am impressed. Islam can therefore survive all repressioa with no apparent
- sign. Rachid assures me that it caa. In detail: the wearing of the veil
is just a custom. The prayer rug merely el3minates discomfort to the kaees.
Fingers replace a rosary with no problem. The Friday holiday? No problem,
it can be reduced to an hour of prayer. Abstaining from alcohol, and circum-
cision? Just reca~ended. Ablutions take the place of confession aad they
can even be performed without water; with a stone, for eaample. As there
is no baptism and two witnesses suffice for marriage, the mosque and hodja
can be done without. And, contrarq to Christians, Muslims can publicly
_ renounce their faith, as long as they do not renoimce it at the bottom of
their hearts.
"And pork?"
"Ah, there the prohibition is.strict. Except when there is nothing else to
- eat." With a touch of condescension, Rachid explains to me that a Muslim
= has the right to marry a woman of another religion. Se even has the right to
accompany her to religious ceremonies. On the other hand, this is not
possible for a Muslim woman. "The reason is simple: W~ recognize other
_ religions, but other religions do not recognize us."
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"No other oblig~ation or restriction?"
"None. You see, Islam is very toleraat. It is a silent strengttt." This has
been demonstrated. In Albania, as elsewhere, you can very Well be aa out-and-
out Muslim without anyone noticing. As long as you don~�t violate Ramadan,
_ pork or the marriage of a I~uslim womaa to a ma-?i~lim. I consider for a
m~ment the vagaries of religious histor~. Islam takes ov~er aad you have
- Rhomepai's Iran, his fanatical mull^o.'~.s, the veiled vomen, the executions.
Islam is forbidden, and I discover a simple religion that anyane can observe
without imposing his rituals on others. ~
- Rachid's reveZations set me on a new trac;c. Are thousaads of Irluslims con-
tinuing to practice Islam in Albania without the co~uaists noticiag? How
do I find out?
I gather pounds of newspapers in wh~ch "enduring traces" of religioa are
- dispazaged. Miscellaneous acts abound. Some grandparents privately confer
a aecond religious name such as Ali or Ahmed on the children instead of
sticking ~ the authorized official names such as I.ight, Cascade, Spring,
or those of Illyrian origin such as Skander. The most cuaaing disguise
religious rites. Instead of a cross, they brandish laurel braaches. They
celebrate religious holidays as if they were birthdays. Other zeslots make
rosaries out of olive pits.
At each sign of religious practice, the "people's organizations" of the
rowas involved are chewed out by the party press. iahat are they waiting
r:o develop iatelligent atheist propaganda? To eaplain that pork fat is
- e~sential to szrong workers and that the Ramadaa fasting exhausts your
health? "Persuasive efforts" must be made with parents who try to oppose
~arriages between former Muslim and former (~ristiaa fam~lies. It is
advisable to watch out for certain habits. Such as the use of eapressions
such as "Please Allah that it may rain." 0,~ visiting cemeteries. Placing
flowers on graves is allowed, but not on the days customary to religion.
On the last day of my trip, Allah the Benevoleat guides my steps to the
= Durres beach. Suddenly, my heart skips a beat. ltiere, under an umbrella,
- Ismail Radare, the greatest Albanian writer, is rela$ing with his family.
He refused to participate in Apostrophes (a literary program aa F~ench tele-
vision) so as not to end up next to an American on the platform. Michel
- Piccoli is making a film based on one of his books, "General of the Dead
- Army." They are talking about him.for a Nobel Prize.
It may seem bizarre to him, but still I confide my concern: Doesa't the
_ bitter struggle against religion deprive the pec~ple of a part of their
culture? Ismail R~dare rebulces me gently: "But no, I~lam was brought to
Albania by Turkish invaders. It is logical for us to get rid of it."
"Do you believe that M~rxism-I.eninism is going to replace Islam?"
"Not entirely. What replaces it is rather the traditional clan ethics,
_ co~n law, one`s word. But we must watch out. Some rules vere cruel, such
as the vendettA or the right of a man to beat hie wife."
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- Ismail Radare obviouslq doesn't waat to talk about religion anymore. So I
attack on his tenitory: "Albaaian literature today is ezclusively realist.
That's a pity, isn't it?"
"You are forgetting our traditional literature. It is rich ia epic poetry.
J Are you familiar with the saga of Slcaaderberg, the hero of the anti--Turk
resistance?"
"You have no m~re imaginativ~e writers."
"lhat is true. Since the liberation we do not publish any mAre imaginative
literature. We have other priorities."
Ismail Radare does not seem to worry about it much. H~e has no problem with
the regime. He travels in France effortlessly. His books sell well. He is
nothing like a dissident writer. Besides, there are no dissideats in
Albania. R~taliation against those who criticize the party is dreadful.
- The penal code is verq severe. An attes~pt to flee the country: 10 years
in prison. Religious or antisocialist propaganda: 3 to 10 years, or death.
- Not denouncing an enemy of the people: 10 year~. Refusal to work: 2 years.
To find out more, I track down Albanian refugees. 1he few I find refuse to
speak. If the party finds out, their relatives in Albania would suffer the
consequences. The Vatican stays out of it, Sensible.
The imam of the Albanian mosque in Brussels? Whea the commuaists came to
- power, he was studying in Cairo and he has not been bac~C to Albaaia since.
He therefore had not verified for himself what he told me: Great digai-
_ taries executed, imams forced to eat pork ia prisons aad, on the other hand,
- high officials who would have paid a foreiga s~ud~nt ~to give their children
a religious educatian.
What about AIImestq International, to whom the Albanian Goverament refuses
~ to reply? It has little information: "Several cases af person,a seatenced
, to serve up to 6 years in prison for listening to foreign radio. A.group
of Orthodox priests 3efrocked in public :~d forcibly shaved. If one of
them had protested, he would have been seatesced to 8 years for 'agitation
against the state.' Three bishops disappeared after having coaducted
- religi.ous ceremonies in private. Tens of thousands of politic~l prisoners
in labor camps such as the Spaci copper mines."
After weeks of research, I finally succeed in meeting with a receat refugee
in a small town in Switzerland. This former worker had fled to Italy
through P4ontenegro and Yugoslavia. According to him, the battle against
Islam was fought in blood, through massive executions and ssstematic im~rison-
ment of priests: "In the 60's, any youth who fre~uented a mosque or church
was cailed before a meeting af the Youth Union. fle had to give an explana-
tion and undergo hourss of mass criticiam. If he returued to see a priest,
he was expelled from the unioa and tagged 'imdesirable.' 'Undesirables' ia
Albania do not enjoy themselves. A technic~an imoediately finds himself a
_ sweeper. A barber friend circumcised a child. Penalty: 9 years in prfson.
A worker who was listening to Vatican Radio: 5 years. Besides, ~n 1970 the
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government dismant7ed antennas which were capable of getting Ttalian tele-
- vision to combat its influence on the minds of the young."
"The young began to wear bell bottom trousers, to let their hair graw, to
like rock and pop music. Now peqple fabricate indoor television antennas
which they dismantle when thep have visitors so as not to be reported."
This is strange: Italian television was broadcast iai Tirana every eveaing
_ from 8 to 8:30 pm. But perhaps only loyal par~y members are allowed to
have anteunas capable of receiving these broadcasts. Even in this case,
the Albanians jam anything religio:is or pornographic. Sometimes they are
wrong. They jam a sequence on a lawper's meeting. The lawyers' robes made
them look like priests. Thep let a Vietnamese priest speak: Im~ossible for
an oriental to be a priest.
"Authorities do not hesitate to interrogate children in school to identify
practicing families. ~'he questions are sly: `What holidays do you cele-
brate as a family?' and, the day after a religious holiday, 'What did you
have to eat last nigrt?"' It dossn't take much to be called before the
police. One storq among others. One day, a peasant had to give his two
cattle to the coope rative. The neat day he is called to the police station.
"So, you are criticizing the party?"
_ "Never in my life!"
- "No use denying it, the cattle told us everything."
- You can be sentenced for a dream. This is what happened to a guy who told
his neighbor he had dreamed about txoop~ landing in Albania. The neighbor
rushed to the police. The guy got 7 years. I no longer knoc~ where I am,
between a dream and a nightmare, the courage of the believers and my dis-
~ trust of Islam. I collapse into conwlsive fits of.laughter as though
possessed by the devil when I discover that Alhania is the only country
which approved of the taking of the hostages in the American Embassy in
Tehran .
Too much, it's Coo much. For months, Albanian nek~spapers have been praising
the Iranian revolution without mentioning the ayatollahs, with phrases such
as "Tomarrow, on the pedestals ef the statues of the shah, there will be
statues of the proletariat and the peasants." Albania and Iran have even
exchanged delegations. The Albanians have stated that they are delighted
with Iran's anti-imperialist struggle. And the Iranian deputy prime minister:
_ "Z admire the purity of cultural life in Albaaia where you do not see caba-
= rets, night clubs, extravagant clothes or other extravagant things anywhere."
They are all definitely too much.
- COP'IRIGHT: ACTUEL-JEUNE AFRIQUE, 1982.
9693
CSO: 3100/444
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GERMAN DEI~CRATIC REPIIBLIC
~
DIARY, SUICIDE OF SED FONCTIONARY'S DAUGflTER DISCtTSSED
Hamburg STERN in German Vol 35 No 12, 18 Mar 82 pp 256, 258, 259
1
[Article by Dieter Bub: "GDR: Suicide in Socialism--At Age 18 ths Daughter
of an SED Functianary Departed This Life. Her D3ary Is Now Being Fublished
in the West"--"Flucht in die Wolken" (Escape Into the Clouds) by Sybille
- Muthesius, published by Fischer Verlag, FRG; 422 pages DM 48.00]
tText] When the book came out in ~he GDR it was out of print within a few
days. Eager readers are now looking for it through newspaper ads.~ The
bestseller is authentic--the diary of a girl who at age 18 committed suicide
in soci.alist Germany. "Flight ~nto the Clouds," the story of Pony, will also
= appear in the FRG at the beginning of April. [See above]
As a child in a privileged family 12-year-old Ponp has ballet lessons,
travels with her parents and older sister Maja to Hungary,.Bulgaria.and the
Soviet Union. She lives in a Berlin suburb in a splendid villa dating from
_ the 1920's with a big garaien. Diary entry about a Sunday excursion: "We
have a new car, really neat. Also a Wartburg, but deluae. Real small s~heels
at the bottom. In the middle a really swell wine red. The top is black and
can be opened. Goes up to 150. Really neat! Daddy really opens it up."
The father, a com~unist since his youth, a respected member of the SED,
believes in the structure of socialism and en3oys the privileges wihich the
party offers him. The family can satisfy almost every wish it and Pony have.
Like her father, the girl believes in the triumph of socialism, feels sorry
for the young people in the capitalist West and wants to help children in the
Third World. The GDR idyll is spoiled only by the father's occasional
extramarital affairs which are not even hidden from the children.
Pony's tragedy begins at age 16. After a vacation in Bulgaria with her
parents and her friend Peer, she sEnses the miseries of everyday life. The
beloved boy starts a 4-year course o~ studq in the very remote Ilmenau, and
at school Pony has to cram for a grade average of 1.2. That is tt?e onlq way
- she will have a chance for a place to studq psyctiology. .
One day during a physics class she cowers in the dark corner of the laboratory
with a f ixed stare. The family doctor is helpless and advises psychiatric
treatment. The girl is taken to a mental hospital, released, readmitted, has
electric shock treatments, returns home, suffer~ from achool stress. The
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- mother says: "A grade of '4' is like a death seaten~e for her!" M~eanwhile
Pony wants to go to acting school, but is re~ected on the admission eaamina-
tion. Her self-confidence is destroyed and her lov~ for Peer is now under
suspicion by her parents. The authoritarian fathez and the doctors claim to
have discovered the cause of Pony's suffering in her relation t~ the geatle
boy. They prevent a holiday together and a meeting in Budapes+c.
Whea the mother recognizes the ~qistake and brings the two together in Berlin
- it is too late. The distraught girl leaves her beloved and tries to rua to
- the West through the Brandenburg Gate in the pouring rain. She is arrested,
interrogated and put back under psychiatric care. In the "bunker," a solitary
cell, the thought of suicide develops from her yearning for death. Following
- her retum to normal life her parents get her a room in Berlin and try to
obtain a training opening. One Sunday, tt~e father went on a short recreation
leave and the mother to a symposium on social policy, the 18-year-old turns on
the gas cock.
The diary depicts the life and suffering of a child in the socialist achieve-
ment society. What counts are f irst class grades and school work. k'hat Pony
is lacking are lave and security. At age 11 she confided to her diary:
"Daddy always says that we are to come to him if something is wrong, but when?
I find that horrible!" She desires time with her parents and harmony:
"Daddy and mommy should kiss each other oncei Love, love, I love. That is
why I was in three medical prisons."
Pony's report, illustrated with her drawings, oil paintings and collages,
also reveals the misery of psychiatry ia the GDR which for decades rejected
. Freud as bourgeois and had no new f indings of its own to offer. Neurotics
were committed and sedated with drugs, but they ~ere not trea~ted with therapy.
_ In the regimented everyday life in the GDR, which tries to narrow the personal
development potential of children and young people to a minimum, squeezed into
petty bourgeois socialist values, many young people see suicide as the only
way out. Pony's fate is not a~=nique incident, GDR doctors un.off icially speak
of a frightening increase in the number of suicides by young people.
Pony's mother, a costume designer with the state f ilm society [German Film
- Corporation], views her daughter's fate diffexently. She believes that puberty
neuroses promoted the girl's narcissism and her increasingly more vigorous
desire for unregulated self-realization. "At this point we encounter frustra-
_ tions which socially are diverse. Ia~ the FRG it is anxiety which can lead to
aggressiveness or drugs, in our case it is primarily the unquenchabie yearning
for faraway places."
The mother, Frho compiled Pony's diary, letters and poems into a book and
supplemented them with her own descriptions, said to STERPi: "At the time
we really ought not to have put our child with her psychic illness into the
clinic, that way we would have spared her the fear of the fate of the other
patients. Perhaps we could have helped her then."
- Perhaps.
COPYRIGHT: 19t32 Gruner + Jahr AG & Co
12124
CSO: 2300/233
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- GSRMAN DE!lOCBATIC BBPIIBLIC
ESCAPE ATTffi~T BY NEPflEFI OF INTELLIGENCE GHIEF RECOUNTED
Hamburg STERN in German Vol 35 No 15, 7 Apr 82 p 228
[Article by Jaerg von Duehren and Dieter Bub: "GDR: The Embarrassing
- Escape Attempt by Oleg Wolf--The Nephe~w . of the Chie.f of State Security Was .
Arrested in Hungary While Planning to Follow flis Girtfriead to the Weat"]
[Text] 1'he young man took the traia from Baet Berlin to Budapest. Ia the
8wagarian capital he mounted a bicycle and started pedaling, with tent and
sleeping bag, to the Yugoslav border. Se had just finished erecting his teat
at a camping ground whea the Hungaxian security policq arrived and arre~ted
_ him. That happeaed in July of last qear.
For the goverament informers who keep camp grounds and roads leading to
border areas under surveillance, there was no doubt: the 23~year-old citizea
of the GDR planned to defect. But t~en the case became sensitive. The
arrested man's name ya~s Oleg Wolf; he was the son of the Chairmaa of the
- Academy of the Arts of the GDB, Konrad Wolf, who died in early March, and the
nephe~w of Mischa Wolfs the deputy chief of the State Securitq Service.
- The young comm~snist's escape attempt was a unique occurrence in the history
of the GDR. While several times in the past offspring of promiaeat GDS
- functionaries had departed the socialist fatherland, this had never before
involved the top lea.dership of the secret service.
- Oleg Wolf was flown in a special aircraft to Berlin-Schoeaefeld and delivered
to the detention center of the state security service ia Borkumstrasse. This
jail is reserved for aggranated cases of aid to escapees, escape attempts
involving force of arms and for "prominent persons." As a ru1~, escapees are
condem~ed to jail sentences sanging from 1 and 1/2 to 4 years after a
period of 3 months detention peading trial. Oleg Wolf was apared from this
fate after receiving a good talking to by his uncle and his father. Four
months later he was set free.
After attending a 10-year secondary school, the 23-year-old VeI.P. offepring
had completed training as a mechanic. Thereafter he ~rorked a~ Berlin's
Charite hospital as a medical technician and etudied at night to pase his ~
graduating examination. He wanted to become a physician.
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Oleg Wolf is a member of the Free German Youth (FDJ), but has not been
- particularly ~ctive in it. While he expressed criticism of conditions in the
GDR in talks with his friends, he was not a member of the underground. Oleg
had wanted to study in France or Switzeriand and eventually to work as a
physician in developed countries. He had a good reiationship with his parents.
Oa occasioa he met with Uncle Mischa, about whom he said that one could
discuss anything with him.
In 1980 Oleg made t~e acquaintance of 17-year old Heike Behread, who moved in
- with him shortly thereafter. The girl had left her apprenticeship ~ust prior
to that time. Being without employ, Reike was considered an "antisocial
element." fler personal identif ication papers were conf iscated. She had to
report to the police once a week. She decided to escape. Oleg wanted to
stay behind. During the night of 25-26 April of last year Heike climbed
over the wall aX Spandau at 0143 hours. When she was spotted, the border
guards in a watchtower opened fire on her. The shots missed.
Once in West Berlin the girl realized that she was pregnant. After Heike's
- successful escape Oleg decided to follow her. After his unsuccessful escape
attempt in Hungary, members of the state security service suggested to fleike
Behrend that she return to East Berlin. They promised her i~unity from
prosecution and assistance in making a new start in the GDR.
During the middle of October Heike Behrend returned to the GDR via the
Friedrichstrasse rail station. She moved in with Oleg for the second time
and became the mother of a boy in~ December. But soon there were arguments.
_ Heike moved to an apartment which had been procured for her by the state
s~curity service.
Oleg is once more working as a medical technician at the Charite. But his
life has changed. His former friends with whom he had visited night spots
and discotheques are avoiding him. They fear that he may have bought his
freedom in return for cooperating with the state security service.
At his father's funeral Oleg was standing next to his uncle of the secret
service. On that occasion, Mischa Wolf had his picture taken along with his
family not only by GDR television, but also by STERN photographer Aarald
Schmitt. There is an explanation for such publicity: Mischa Wolf, 59, is
in line to succeed 74-year-old Erich Miel,ke.as Minister for State Security.
And as a minister he would not be able to avoid public appearances anywa3?.
COPYRIGHT: 1982 Gruner + Jahr AG ~ Co
9273
CSO: 2300/253 END
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