"Spies & Saboteurs"

In the U.S., an organization like the Junge Gemeinde might seem to many teen-agers an uninteresting outfit. A loose association of young Christians, both Evangelical and Roman Catholic, it holds meetings devoted to Bible reading, religious discussion, songs and games, and its members sometimes help out as ushers and collection takers in churches. But in the Eastern zone of Germany, the Junge Gemeinde (Youth Congregation) has offered a God-given opportunity for a few stimulating gulps of fresh spiritual air.

For months, the Communists have been fighting the Junge Gemeinde in the ways that come naturally to them. Walls have been smeared with accusations of "war mongering, spying and sabotage." Children who were members have been expelled from school, and clerical advisers of the groups thrown into jail. In a Saxony boarding school, one girl in a class of 23 refused to sign a statement denying membership; next morning at roll call her teacher reported to the headmaster: "Twenty-two students and one saboteur!"

Last week the East German government formally banned the Junge Gemeinde as a sabotage organization directed by the Western powers. Evangelical Bishop Otto Dibelius promptly hit back with a proclamation that "the battle against the Junge Gemeinde is a battle against the church." Berlin's Catholic Bishop Wilhelm Weskamm accused the government of going "over into open infringement of the rights of the church." Protestant and Catholic churchmen all over Germany launched outspoken counterattacks.

But perhaps the most eloquent words of all were posted on the announcement board of East Berlin's Evangelical Marienkirche: "We with equanimity join the battle for the church which has been forced upon us. Perhaps greater sacrifices will be exacted . . . this time than in the first battle for the church ... 20 years ago [under the Nazis].

"We know only one thing: that we will outlive this battle for the church also, and that this time the battle will not last twelve years." Under this announcement was the signature of the Rev. Heinrich Grueber, Provost of Berlin.

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