The Germanys Death of a Republic

By Jill Smolowe

The day after the first free election in East German history, a group of teachers in the southwestern city of Halle sat smoking cigarettes and talking about the balloting. Fred Hichert, an engineering instructor, said his vote for the victorious Christian Democratic Union was not only a bid for the quick melding of the two German economies but also a sign of his disgust with the long-ruling Communists. "They've had 40 years to test out their theories," he said. "Look at what they gave us." He gestured toward a crumbling row of apartments. A few blocks away, in Halle's central market place, the CDU's campaign promise of quick prosperity seemed to have already arrived. West German vendors had set up tables in the square, selling everything from leather coats and potted plants to French asparagus and Italian kiwifruits.

If formal unification is still months away, East Germans demonstrated last week that they are at one with the democratic spirit of their Western brethren. Fully 93% of the East German electorate turned out to hammer the last nail in the Communists' coffin. A three-party alliance headed by the CDU, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl's sister party, shocked the supposedly front-running Social Democratic Party by winning 48% of the vote. The SPD captured only 22%. The conservative alliance fell just eight seats short of a majority in the 400-member Volkskammer, or parliament. Although that forced negotiations over the shape of the new government, one thing was clear. "This weekend," said East German writer Stefan Heym, "the German Democratic Republic died."

While the vote was widely interpreted as a grass-roots thumbs-up for the rapid unification of the two Germanys, preparations for the funeral of the G.D.R.'s failed experiment in communism have only begun. To guide East Germany through the intricacies of unification, the triumphant conservatives in East Berlin must first build a government. Last week the CDU reached out to the Social Democrats, asking them to join a "grand coalition" in hopes of forging the two-thirds parliamentary majority required for constitutional changes.

So far, the defeated SPD has shown little inclination to cooperate. Some East German analysts suggest that the SPD does not want to lose its standing as the leading opposition to the Party of Democratic Socialism, the newly retooled communist organization, which took a surprising 16% of last week's vote. Others suggest that the Social Democrats' reluctance is inspired by Oskar Lafontaine, the SPD candidate who will confront Kohl in West Germany's national elections this December. Lafontaine may fear that by joining a grand coalition, his sister party in the East would be seen as a handmaiden of CDU policies.

The CDU was further rocked last week by the old apparat. Three days after the election, CDU leader Lothar de Maiziere was accused of cooperating with the Stasi, the despised state security police under the old regime. The information came from the same sources who had supplied the documents that destroyed the brief political career of Wolfgang Schnur, leader of the small Democratic Awakening, a partner in the CDU alliance. Schnur resigned when the reports charging that he had provided information to the Stasi about his dissident clients proved true.

De Maiziere, a lawyer, says that in his own legal work he was forced to have some contact with the Stasi while defending dissidents. The Stasi stain could spread to other parties, including the SPD. There are charges that as many as 40 of the 400 new deputies may have been in the service of the secret police. If any of these men are forced to resign as a result of their past activities, warns Manfred Stolpe, a top East German churchman, "this would be a terrible blow for our young democracy."

Educated at the Huguenots' Gray Cloister High School in Berlin, where he studied the viola, De Maiziere had to abandon his musical career when he developed a neural impairment in his left arm. He then took up legal studies and eventually became known for his defense of conscientious objectors and other dissidents. Slight of build and speaking with a soft lisp, De Maiziere, 50, is a religious man who has never demonstrated an appetite for public life. But he answered the call when he was asked last fall to cleanse the CDU of the stigma it bore from decades of cooperation with the Communists.

The most urgent task facing the new government will be to end the uncertainty over currency union, which is delaying investment in East Germany. Last week several West German politicians hinted that the deutsche mark will become the currency of both Germanys by June 30. At that time, East Germans will be able to exchange a maximum of 2,000 marks ($1,170) in cash and 3,000 marks ($1,755) in savings at the rate of 1 to 1; the current official rate is 4.2 to 1.

Even currency union, however, will not end East Germany's headaches. There is an evident shortage of competent non-Communists. Admits CDU spokesman Helmut Luck: "We are desperately looking for suitable people to fill top administrative posts." But it will be no easy task persuading people to take jobs in a government that is likely to disappear in a year or two.

CHART: NOT AVAILABLE

CREDIT: TIME Chart by Steve Hart

CAPTION: HOW THE PARTIES ARE SEATED

With reporting by James O. Jackson/Bonn and Frederick Ungeheuer/Berlin