In 1941, during the Nazi regime in Germany, the Church of Christ, Scientist, along with many other churches, was banned. Christian Scientists, like Lutherans, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, and some ethnic groups, were interrogated, harassed, and sometimes sent to forced labor or concentration camps. And, too, there were many millions of Jews who lost their lives or suffered terribly at the hands of the Nazi government.
After the liberation of Germany, approximately half of Germany and of Berlin remained under communist control. Suddenly a new form of oppression arose. In 1951, Christian Science was again banned in East Germany; public worship for Christian Scientists was made illegal. Then, in 1961, the infamous wall went up almost overnight in Berlin, cutting family members and church groups off from one another.
For more than forty years Christian Scientists were prevented from openly worshiping and practicing their religion. The lessons of those years are now coming to light. They carry an inspiring message for the Church today— a message that burns with intensity and can only increase in meaning. We talked with , of Berlin, a Contributing Editor for the religious periodicals and Clerk's Representative.
How old were you when the Berlin Wall went up? I was in middle school at that time. I have some recollections about the time before the wall went up, and of course all of that time when the wall was here.
What immediate effect did it have on your family and friends? Well, since we had very good family ties between my parents and my grandparents, I used to visit my grandparents in what was East Berlin—and I went to see them at least twice a week. I had a lot of friends in East Berlin, although my school was in West Berlin. And so I knew a lot of young people my age living in the East.
How did they feel about the wall, Michael? Well, since this happened in such a short time, there was no way of communication. I didn't get to talk to them for about two years, and they couldn't write openly. They just sent postcards saying "We have gone to see this place or that area," which I knew, and they expressed a kind of sadness about being separated. But they couldn't tell it openly.
Did members of your family have any difficult decisions to make? Oh, yes, because my grandmother who was a Christian Science practitioner had been in our apartment during the time when the wall went up. She was taking care of our apartment at that time since my parents and I were traveling in the United States. And so within a few days she had to decide whether she would go back into East Berlin, with all the uncertainty, or if she would stay in West Berlin. She decided to go back because of the many patients she had who were living in the East.
Did your family as Christian Scientists approach this challenge in a different way than someone else might have? Yes. We decided we would not let our thoughts include a feeling of separation. So, from the first moment on, we were looking for communication based on the divine Mind, and not dependent on things like a telephone, where we knew it would be tapped, and where we knew how dangerous it could be. But we always felt a very clear kind of communication and spiritual direction. We never felt separated. There was never a lack, even in terms of very necessary information. We always found the way to exchange the information we needed.
You said that you made regular visits to East Berlin to see your grandparents. I know that you weren't afraid, but you were a fairly young person at that time, and this was in some ways dangerous, wasn't it? Yes. One could see it from the standpoint of danger because I was very young and my frequent trips could have seemed suspicious because the communist police and government wouldn't let a lot of young people go over into East Berlin. But I saw with the innocence of a child, and this made it easier even for the communists to accept. And I felt always like an ambassador of pure thought. I felt they could not stop me, because my motives were right, and the purpose to see the family was a very good purpose, and this could not be stopped by a very materialistic system of state there.
You also had to take some practical steps, disguising where you were coming from, and so on. Yes, with the help of friends and of the West Berlin police I had obtained a false passport, saying that I was from southern Germany, and so I had to know the name of a school there, and I had to know a few street names in order to be ready if they would ask me what's your home school back in Bavaria? And so I had to learn some facts in order to be safe.
There were several instances where I was asked about my background. And in one particular situation the East German police gave me a list of about twenty questions, like a quiz, asking what is the capital of Italy? or what is the largest river in France? And in the first moment I thought "Well, if I start to answer these questions I could be finished in five minutes and then I can continue my trip." But being very much together with God, having prayed to find the right way, I suddenly realized that I should not start answering these questions.
In looking at them I saw that one of the very last questions on this page was "Who is Mary Baker Eddy?" All the other questions were different. And suddenly I knew they were just using these other questions to disguise a certain purpose— maybe to find out how much I was involved in Christian Science, how much I would stand for this religion. Seeing this question, I knew it was right not to answer it. And I told this officer I would not answer the questions. I am not in school here, I said, but I'm just going over to see the eastern part of Berlin.
I didn't know what would happen, but I was convinced that my refusing to answer the questions was right. And so I was put in a little room where I had to wait for a couple of hours without knowing what was going on. And in this time I had the opportunity to pray and to understand that because I could trust in God's care, nothing could happen to me that would be unjust or unfair or dangerous. And I thought of the verse from the Bible that says, "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." I felt that I had to overcome hatred and bad thoughts against people from the West. I felt very much at peace in the situation. After a few hours an officer came and said, "You may continue and you may leave." And nothing else was ever mentioned about the questions that had been asked.
You had other times when it was quite startlingly clear that truth was the most powerful thing, that truth really did make you free. Well, I was always aware of living as though I was on an island in West Berlin, being surrounded completely by the communist system. I knew that this materialistic system tried to make people fearful. And we knew that even in the West our telephone had been bugged. As I went off to school each morning, I realized that a man was following me. I had to take two different bus lines, and he was always on the buses. He watched until I disappeared in the school building. And this went on for a few weeks. I was very sure that he was an East German spy probably intending just to scare me or to make an impression on my parents.
I thought about the question of whether I should tell my parents. But I saw that divine Love was protecting me and that God would give me a very appropriate answer as to how to handle the situation. And so after I realized that he was doing a very bad job, I watched him daily, until one morning I knew that the next morning I would have to go to school one hour later than usual. And suddenly I turned around—I didn't plan it; it was just a thought that actually made me act in a surprising way. I went up to him and said, Well, you know I will be one hour later going to school, so don't be here at 7:30. And he was so surprised, he couldn't speak. I saw that he must have felt he had been exposed in what he was doing. And he was so shocked that he turned away, and he never came back again.
As you grew older and continued to make visits behind the Berlin Wall, briefly what did you see happening to the country and to the people? I saw two different kinds of development. The communist government tried to be very sophisticated in oppressing the thoughts of people, in watching them, trying to influence them and educate them in its way of thinking. And on the other hand, I saw that this kind of education and influence did not satisfy the people. There was always a big difference between what was publicly told and said and the real, the true, thoughts of people. And so there developed a gap between the claims of the government and the real thoughts of the people.
Now, you were very involved in helping Christian Scientists in the East survive this communist system of oppression. How were the Christian Scientists in particular affected? Well, since 1951 Christian Science was forbidden in East Germany, so that meant that their property, the land and the buildings, had been confiscated; it meant that no public services were allowed, and that people were not allowed to share Christian Science openly.
Were there penalties if they did? There were some legal trials, but I think in most cases knowing how strongly the government enforced their laws made people avoid confrontation and act in secrecy.
I said, "What will
your general say if you
tell him that one of your
worst enemies, someone
from the West, has
brought you to this
camp?" And he smiled
and said, "No, no,
no enemy. You are a man,
and I am a man, and
that's enough."
What did you do to try to help these Christian Scientists who had been so cut off from their Church? Well, I think the main point was to help them not to accept voluntarily this kind of division. Not to see it as a permanent fact that would never change. Although I must say, especially in Berlin, seeing the wall almost daily made it very impressive, and sometimes you wondered how things could change. But always going back to the spiritual fact of man being free and limitless in his true God-created nature encouraged practical steps to show as much as I could that we are one church family, and that we belong together.
I understand that you smuggled in Christian Science literature. Yes. In the first years even this was very dangerous because almost every time you had to take off your clothes and were searched. So there was a time when one could only send postcards, mentioning maybe one verse from the Bible or just one passage from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. We disguised what we were doing, saying, You know, I have found such a wonderful page, it's 321, but people knew this was a reference to the textbook of Christian Science. Or you mentioned something from the Bible just to let them know it had been the benediction after the church service on Sunday.
And by this, people could always see that we were thinking of them, that we were caring for them. And by these small acts we helped to keep the church alive. In the next years we tried to send all the citations of the Bible Lessons in handwriting because everything that was printed would have been confiscated. So, having a very little sheet of paper, with very small numbers, we would write out all the Bible Lessons for the next month to enable people behind the wall to read them as we would in our churches.
And then later you were able to take in religious literature, is that right? Yes. Then we took over Quarterlys and the German Heralds and some of the printed lectures of Christian Science. We put them under our clothing and brought them over to friends in East Berlin or in other cities.
What about your relationship to the Russians in this terribly difficult time? I always had my doubts about any kind of propaganda, saying that Russians are bad people or that capitalistic people are aggressive against the East. I always strove to see the real nature of God's man, and I didn't like to accept any kind of prejudice. One day I was driving on the highway, and we were not allowed to leave the three highways that linked West Berlin with West Germany. And while I was driving, a Russian jeep in front of me suddenly had an accident. I felt it such a normal situation to stop and to be of help. So I went to the Russians, and I saw immediately that they were not hurt but that their vehicle was almost destroyed. Knowing that it was not allowed for West Berlin people to have contact with the Russians, I still went to them and asked, Do you need any kind of help? And they said, Well, it would be nice if you could take us to the next Army camp. And I said, Yes, of course, I will do it. But you know it's not allowed for me to have Russians in my car or to leave the highway. But this young Russian soldier said, Well, please help, and I said, OK. We had to leave the highway for about ten miles to reach the Russian Army camp. And on the way we talked. He could speak a little bit of English, and I said, "Well, what will your general say if you tell him that one of your worst enemies, someone from the West, has brought you to this camp?" And he smiled, and he looked at me and he said, "No, no, no enemy. You are a man, and I am a man, and that's enough."
In this moment there was a very pure unity, a hint of seeing our true, spiritual origin, which made it apparent that we are brethren. And so he thanked me, and I continued my trip. The next day I was reading the newspapers, and they mentioned a dangerous situation. Exactly at the same time, two Russians had deserted from their Army unit in that area.
It was mentioned that every exit of this highway had been blocked by the police, that every street leading to the Army base had been checked by the secret police, and all this had happened exactly at the same time when I was leaving the highway and driving on this road. And yet I had not been stopped, hadn't seen any police cars. And it showed me that the right motive to help and to seek the real, spiritual man was a protection, and this whole system of surveillance, of keeping people under this control, just didn't work in my case. I was in no danger, and there was no threat, and I had continued on my way without any difficulty.
I can't help feeling, as I hear you talk, of the parallels between Christians in this situation and the earliest Christians we read of in the Bible who were under oppression. Recently you've played a very active role in helping Christian Scientists in East Germany rebuild and renew their churches that had been banned and closed under communism. When you first went into East Germany to help after the wall had come down, what did you find? First of all, I felt gratitude in being one of the first witnesses of these first public services that Christian Scientists had held after almost forty years of both Nazi and communist persecution. And I felt very close to them because, having traveled in this country and having had so many friends, I knew that they had all prayed to come to the situation where they could again meet in public. I could see the effect of prayer. And I could see the joy, and I could understand that this was a very big achievement because of all the patience and the humility and the dedication that they had shown in all these forty years.
And another thing I could see—that there is a very strong unity among Christian Scientists from the West and from the East.
Michael, what kept the church alive in East Germany? Here was a wall cutting off these people from outside communication, here was systematic repression and teaching of atheism. There was retribution and retaliation, and still the spark of church did not go out. What do you feel kept it alive? Well, I think it's the basic fact that you cannot stop thoughts. That the love for God is something not artificially put into people, but it's a very pure and a very true, original behavior. And the love for God and the love for Christian Science was something that is absolutely independent of political or economic conditions.
In other words, what many people would refer to as faith, you were seeing as practical reality. Yes, yes, it was a reality because you had heard of people who had been healed through prayer who had never let down their hope and their expectancy to be able to have church services in public. I know of many individual examples where everything went in a different way than expected by the communist government because people turned to God. And so all the changes I could see in East Germany, and finally in all other Eastern European countries, gave me proof that there is a law of God and that this law is applicable no matter how strongly or how sophisticatedly or how radically the political government was acting.
What are you seeing now? Are you seeing the renewal of some of these groups of Christian Scientists? I think there is a lot of progress because all the experiences they had are coming together in terms of church work. But the main point is that they never had a lack of understanding; there was no lack of spirituality. Therefore they had everything necessary to follow God. The only thing that was different was the outside frame of their work. They had no church buildings; they did not have the material circumstances that would help them, but their understanding of what true Church is was always a living fact to them.
Sometimes I like to share this view with our friends in Western countries, where we have all the comfortable facilities that help us. But the main thing we need to understand is the true nature of Church as the expression of divine Truth and Love. This was always very real to people in the East, very active in their thought. You could feel it whenever two or three people came together. You had such a holy atmosphere in those homes, really symbolizing what Church is.
What do you think Christian Scientists who went through these experiences would say to churchgoers around the world? I know that they have such great gratitude because the prayers of people all over the world helped to change conditions there. They know that prayer is the only thing you can depend on, and they see this unity of all the people who prayed.
I think that it is also good to remind ourselves that the mere fact that we have worked in a church for many years and have organized a lot of activities does not make us superior to someone who has been deprived of church organization. We all have the same source, turning to God, and the need to be obedient. And what these people from the Eastern countries have to share with us all is many experiences based on their courage and pure spiritual understanding. We very much need this to help us in overcoming challenges. We learn from each other; it is not a one-way street, going from West to East. We should be open to listening and to hearing what has been proved and demonstrated in those difficult years.
Oppression takes many forms in human experience. Will these lessons perhaps become increasingly valuable as humanity goes forward, rather than receding into a historical past? I think it's always necessary to turn away from personal opinion, from personal influence and personal views, in order to see what God is telling us. We should see that God is the ultimate source of truth and seek divine Truth instead of relying on secular authority and opinion. Any kind of oppression is always linked to a kind of personal human domination. Turning away from limitations, turning away from oppression to God, leads us into the understanding that in fact divine Love is governing, and the sooner we accept this fact, the more we can be a practical help in any situation where political or economic conditions, or any other kind of system, is oppressing and limiting people.
