2nd E. German Forced Out by Spy Charges

EAST BERLIN â€”  East Germany’s opposition leader, Ibrahim Boehme, abruptly resigned Monday, becoming the second key politician forced out amid allegations of having spied for the reviled secret police.

Steps towards a coalition government meanwhile faltered, and controversy over a currency union between the two Germanys threatened to hamper reunification.

Boehme, 45-year-old chairman and founder of the East German Social Democrats, has steadfastly denied reports that he was a paid informant for the now-dismantled Stasi security network.

His party stressed that Boehme’s surprise resignation was not an admission of guilt but an attempt to concentrate on clearing his name.

Thousands of East Germans demonstrated Monday night in Dresden and Magdeburg to protest alleged links by members of Parliament to the Stasi and to demand that the legislators account for their pasts, the official ADN news agency reported.

In a letter to the party leadership, Boehme said that investigating Stasi files would be a “protracted� process and that he did not want “to burden the work of the party and the young democracy.�

Rumors that East Germany’s newly elected Parliament is riddled with secret police collaborators have stirred public outrage and stalled attempts to form a coalition government.

Facing allegations that 10% or even more of its 400 new deputies may be tainted, the Volkskammer, or Parliament, plans to convene for the first time Thursday.

Hopes for a grand coalition of the election-winning Alliance for Germany and the Social Democrats waned Monday when the latter declared they would not join an administration that includes the alliance’s right-wing partner, the German Social Union.

The Alliance for Germany is led by the Christian Democrats, who were heavily backed both financially and strategically in the March 18 elections by West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s own Christian Democrats.

Without a coalition, the Christian Democrats will fall short of the two-thirds majority needed in Parliament to make constitutional changes that could smooth the road to reunification.

The likeliest candidate for East German prime minister, Christian Democrat leader Lothar de Maiziere, also has been stung by Stasi rumors. De Maiziere, a musician-turned-human rights lawyer, has denied ever informing for the Stasi.

His alliance overcame an election-eve confession of Stasi collaboration by Wolfgang Schnur, who resigned as head of Democratic Awakening, another alliance partner.

Public demands that all members of Parliament be screened for Stasi pasts led to demonstrations last week in at least three cities.

In East Berlin, several thousand protesters gathered in front of the Parliament building, shouting “Stasi ‘raus!� which means, “Stasi get out!�

One protester hung a sign around the neck of his bulldog. “Never Again Muzzles,� it read.

The Social Democrats promised before the Boehme problem to call for a parliamentary investigation of all deputies to expose any Stasi links.

Boehme issued no statement Monday and did not appear at the news conference where his deputies announced his decision.

Acting Chairman Markus Meckel, who assumes Boehme’s duties pending a special party congress, said that Boehme is suffering from an inner-ear infection and staying with friends.

“I doubt that his resignation will affect coalition talks,� said one Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“Maybe he simply felt something more might come up and didn’t want to stand in the way of a speedy government, which is what this country needs desperately right now,� the diplomat said in a telephone interview.

“The Stasi rumors really amount to sniper activity,� he added, “and I’m afraid we will have to live 20 years or more with this legacy from the Communist regime.

“The moral deterioration of this society goes that deep. The one thing I know is that we haven’t seen the end of it.�

The 85,000-member Stalinist spy agency kept 109,000 paid informants, according to official estimates. West German intelligence has placed the number of tipsters much higher--at about 2 million, or roughly one-eighth of the East German population.

The Stasi routinely bugged telephones, opened mail and persecuted religious figures and political dissidents.

Public anger began simmering anew Monday with reports that West Germany plans to introduce the deutschemark to East Germany at an exchange rate of one for two, which would effectively halve East German wages and pensions.

Trade unions called for nationwide strikes beginning at the end of the workday Thursday to protest the exchange rate, ADN reported Monday.

The Kohl government insisted in Bonn that no final currency decision has been made.

Campaign promises of a one-for-one exchange rate and of a quick, relatively easy reunification with West Germany helped sweep the Christian Democrats to victory in the elections here.

East German marks trade at a rate of 5 for 1 deutschemark on the black market. East German wages average about 1,200 East marks per month--far below that of West Germans.