World Notes

For 15 years Harry Tisch was the leader of the Confederation of Free German Trade Unions, commanding more than 9 million members and almost limitless perks. But when communism fell, so did Tisch, and last week he became the first member of the former East German regime to go on trial for abusing his power. Among the charges against him: diverting $70 million in union funds to personal projects, including the construction of a luxury hunting lodge on the Baltic.

In the Berlin courtroom, Tisch, who once reveled in the limelight alongside East German head of state Erich Honecker, spoke in a barely audible voice and stared straight ahead with rheumy, vacant eyes. Defense attorneys said he had suffered a stroke, but the judge ruled that the trial should go on.

Absent from the proceedings was the former East German leader. Charged with issuing illegal shoot-to-kill orders to border guards, Honecker has avoided arrest by taking refuge in a military hospital outside Berlin. Several other former leaders are also under investigation, but most of them are elderly or ailing. With public resentment fading in the euphoria of German unity, Tisch could end up being the only one to face trial.