World Notes GERMANY

The former East German Communists are now the Party of Democratic Socialism. Under either title, the Marxists are immensely wealthy, with total assets of $2 billion. Last week, acting on a tip that the party had sent $70 million to Soviet accounts in European banks, police raided its headquarters in Berlin and the homes of private citizens in several cities.

Party chairman Gregor Gysi, who called the raids a monstrous action, said they were carried out without search warrants. Otto Lambsdorff, head of the Free Democratic Party, a partner in the coalition government in Bonn, said he learned with "extreme regret" that prosecutors had not obtained the warrants.

Communist spokesmen said their party headquarters had indeed sent two payments totaling $63 million to Moscow in September, before German unification took place. The money, they said, was for support of communist students and upkeep on a youth training center in the Soviet capital.