East Germany Glasnost Chorus

Braving a cold winter rain, about 2,000 young people packed East Berlin's Evangelical Bartholomaus Church last week. The setting was a religious one, but the message was plainly political -- a prayer service to honor some 20 East German dissidents jailed last month for disturbing the peace and having "treasonous contacts." A few years ago, such a meeting would have been unthinkable in tightly controlled East Germany. But the glasnost breezes from Moscow seem to have emboldened a new generation to challenge the regime of Erich Honecker.

Last week Stephan Krawczyk, 32, a popular antiestablishment folk singer, and his wife Freya Klier, 37, a theater director, left the country rather than face charges of treasonable activities. The singer, once praised by the regime, had become an increasingly strident dissident. Krawczyk was arrested, along with about 120 others, following a Jan. 17 Communist Party rally in East Berlin during which protesters displayed banners calling for greater democracy. A poster quoted Rosa Luxemburg, a Communist heroine whose murder in 1919 was being commemorated that day: FREEDOM IS ALWAYS THE FREEDOM FOR OTHERS TO THINK DIFFERENTLY.

Dissent in East Germany flows from a patchwork of diverse little groups whose aims sometimes conflict. Some seek immigration to the West; others want to stay and press for greater civil liberties; still others focus on environmental issues. The groups have received support and protection from East Germany's Protestant churches, which have enjoyed improved relations with the regime since Honecker met with church leaders in 1978.

Despite Moscow's more lenient attitude toward criticism, the Honecker % government has tried to keep its youth under firm control by suppressing demonstrations and confiscating printing equipment. Leaders on both sides of the Berlin Wall are concerned over the growing ranks of those protesting the January arrests. Honecker, who has taken pains to show that his country is improving its human rights stance, wants to avoid hostile international publicity. West Germany, for its part, wants to preserve relatively friendly bilateral relations. East German Lawyer Wolfgang Vogel, an experienced East- West negotiator, met last week with Ludwig Rehlinger, the West German Secretary of State for Inner-German Affairs, to find a "humanitarian solution" to the growing crisis. Their discussions paved the way for Krawczyk, his family and another dissident to be escorted to West Germany. But, said Krawczyk last week, "we did not willingly leave. The alternatives we faced were either jail sentences of two to twelve years, or immediate emigration. We demand to be allowed to return to the German Democratic Republic."

It is increasingly obvious, even to East Berlin authorities, that not all dissidents can be packed off to the West. Late last week, five more East German dissenters were released onto West German soil. According to Protestant church sources, two of them have permission to return to the G.D.R. after two years, while another two may keep their East German passports and citizenship.