Brothers in Berlin
By MARTIN MOFFAT THE Evangelical Church in Germany is unique in being able to bring together its members from both sides of the Iron Curtain. Those attending the Church Congress in Berlin in July, for example, were representative laymen and laywomen, including students and young people from all parts of Germany, two-thirds at least coming from the Russian Zone of Germany, from conditions which are becoming progressively more difficult for the churches and for individual Christians. For though the East German Government had gone out of its way to assist the organisers of the Congress, and, in particular, to facili- tate the travel to,Berlin of participants from both East and West Germany, there could be no doubt of the real attitude of the Communist authorities towards the Churches. Many of the clergy from East Germany knew that they were marked men ; that there are Communist spies present in the churches when they preach, and that their names have been listed by the local police, who have instructions to report on their activities. At the so-called elections in October of last year they had been alone in refusing to go to vote in an election which they knew to be a farce. Their leaders, Bishop Dibelius of Berlin and Bishop Hahn of Leipzig, and others, had been subjected to violent attacks in public and in the Press because of their outspoken criticism of the regime.
For the clergy and church leaders it is perhaps comparatively easy to make a stand against conditions in the Soviet Zone, and so far the Communists have failed to shake their united front or • persuade any but a handful to join the National Front or support ,their propaganda. For the ordinary church member in a secular job the decision is often far harder and the position far more difficult. The teacher who refuses to join one of the political parties, or the workman who does not join the Sunday shift, or neglects to attend a political rally in the factory, is in danger of losing his job immediately and thereby risking the security of his own family as well as himself. Already it is practically impossible for the children of members of the professional classes to get a secondary school or university education. Admis- sion to the universities is only granted to those who can show that they are politically active ; in other words, that they are members of a political party or of the Free German Youth. To be an active church member, or attend the meetings of the church youth groups, is to make oneself suspect and to risk all chance of promotion in one's job. So far the authorities in the Soviet Zone have not dared to declare open war on the Evangelical Church ; they prefer to give the world outside the impression that they are friendly, and they hope to be able to use the Church in their campaign for peace and the unity of Germany. Their attacks have been of an indirect nature. The Church, on its part, is under no illusions as to the nature of the regime under which it has to live. At the same time it is clear that even a hostile regime represents in some sense the "powers that be" under which Christians have to live and to which, as citizens, they owe obedience in so far as they can reconcile that obedience with the demands of their con- science. As one of the speakers at the Berlin Congress made clear, this means that the Church cannot, at present, encourage its 'members to join any kind of underground movement, but that It must protest openly where it sees injustice being done, and must encourage its members in all situations to act according to the dictates of conscience. On two fronts the Church has felt compelled to join battle. On several occasions it has protested against the educational system in the Soviet Zone, where the teaching based on Russian text-books is openly materialistic and atheistic. Subjects set for essays are almost exclusively political and expected to follow the party line. The Churches still have the right to give religious instruction, but this must be done outside the normal curriculum, and the difficulties made by local authorities are such that the teaching in practice becomes almost impossible. In any case, the whole spirit of the schOol is so antagonistic to Christianity that the children are subjected , to an intolerable strain. Most children find themselves forced to join the Free German Youth or Young Pioneers, and the younger ones are growing up in a completely materialistic atmosphere. Pastor Lokies, speaking during the Congress, made clear how impossible it was for the Church and for Christian parents to accept this state of affairs.
The Church has also successfully resisted all attempts on the part of the State to interfere in her internal affairs. The attempts of the Communists to undermine the loyalty of the ordinary church people to Bishop Dibelius, or to find " progressive " pastors who could become the leaders of a new people's church," have failed. And in spite of increasing difficulties put in its way by the State, the Church has succeeded in carrying on its various charitable activities. Church hospitals and kinder- gartens have been threatened, but remain open, and a limited amount of relief supplies from abroad still finds its way into the Soviet Zone and is distributed to those in need. For the ordinary man in the Soviet Zone the Church is both a door to the outside world and the only place where he can still find freedom and where men dare to speak the truth. This was shown at the Church Congress when so many thousands streamed out of the Soviet Zone to Berlin to join their brothers from West Germany in seeking new strength and guidance for the problems of conscience which would await them on their return.
The organisers of the Congress were careful throughout to stress the non-political nature of the meetings. Meetings were held in the Western and Soviet sectors of Berlin alike, and par- ticipants could move freely from one part of the city to the other. At the opening ceremony Bishop Dibelius declared the aim of the Congress to be that of building a bridge across the divisions which separate Christians from one another. This meant that the Church, far from minimising existing political and social divisions, recognised their seriousness, but nevertheless held fast to the unity which is greater than all divisions. At the final meeting the organiser of the Congress, Dr. von Thadden-Trieglaff, said: We have not come here to proclaim a political crusade, or to enlist beneath the Sign of the Cross as auxiliaries of this or that political power. . . . We have learned one thing here, that notwithstanding all the frontiers which divide us, we are and must remain brothers."
The West German Government was clearly afraid of a meeting which might have been misused politically, and was criticised by the Press for failing to make an effective appearance at the Congress. The East German authorities had evidently wished to use the Congress for propaganda purposes. A special message to the Congress from the Protestants of the-East German Republic called on the delegates to make the meeting a demon- stration for peace and the unity of Germany. In the Free German Youth Camp, ostentatiously put at the disposal of the Evangelical Youth, loud-speakers blared out invitations to attend the World Youth Festival to be held a month later in Berlin. Everywhere political pamphlets were being distributed. It must have been a disappointment to those concerned that the Congress passed no political resolutions.; that most of their pamphlets remained trampled underfoot ; and that the evangelical youth, when, left to themselves, used their brass bands to lead them in community hymn-singing. If the Communists wanted an answer to their propaganda, they could have found it at the Youth Rally when their newly completed stadium, otherwise a centre for Com- munist rallies, was filled to overflowing with young people who so obviously had not been convened or bribed to come. _
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