West German Couple Renounce Citizenship, Forge New Life Under Communism

Three years ago, Werner and Ingeborg Kuenz renounced their West German citizenship, packed their belongings into the family Mercedes-Benz and headed for a new life in East Germany.

The decision stunned friends and relatives who could not comprehend why they would both give up well-paying jobs and a comfortable home to move to one of the most rigidly controlled societies in Eastern Europe.

“Our relatives told us we were crazy,” Werner Kuenz said.

“Nobody could believe that anyone would voluntarily go to a country that thousands of people are trying desperately to get out of.”

Kuenz, who is 50 years old, said he and his wife decided to move because they had inherited property from his wife’s aunt, who lived just outside Oranienburg, about 30 miles northwest of Berlin.

Private Enterprise

The two-story, stucco house the couple inherited contained a modest restaurant, bar and dance hall. The couple have been operating The Anchor restaurant as a private enterprise for two years now.

Small, heavily regulated private enterprises are tolerated by East Germany’s communist authorities on a limited scale.

Kuenz said he and his wife had planned the move for several years. As the departure date of July 1, 1986, approached, Kuenz quit his job as a painter and his wife gave up her position as a sales clerk.

“I worked until the day before we left,” Kuenz said.

“Our decision to move was based on personal, not political, considerations,” said Ingeborg Kuenz, 49, who grew up outside Oranienburg with her aunt until she left East Germany illegally in 1956 to join her mother.

“I always considered this place my home.”

But the Kuenzes acknowledge that they have risked much for an uncertain future.

“We wouldn’t be able to stand it if we couldn’t leave for visits,” Werner Kuenz said, referring to East Germany’s strict limits on travel to the West.

“So far, all of our requests have been granted.”

Attends Class Reunion

He said he was allowed to go to his class reunion in West Germany.

“We had a little trouble with that one at first because it isn’t included in the government travel categories.”

He said the family’s trips to the West depend on the good will of the authorities.

Kuenz said the family also had to get used to living in a society where consumer goods are sometimes scarce or difficult to get on short notice.

“But we get by pretty well,” Ingeborg Kuenz said.

She said the couple’s 10-year-old son Udo had also adapted well to their new environment.

Werner Kuenz said it took a while for their East German neighbors to adjust to them.

Home Renovated

After arriving in 1986, the couple set to work renovating the house and the restaurant.

“People here aren’t used to seeing people invest the amount of time and energy into work,” he said. “They don’t put that kind of a day in down at the people’s diner.”

Now nearly finished, the establishment’s colorful table settings, potted plants and cheerful atmosphere set it apart from the drab state-run restaurants down the cobbled road toward town.

“I wouldn’t mind seeing a little free market economy around here,” Kuenz said, referring to the strict price guidelines he is required by the state to charge.

Kuenz admits that to keep the menu tasty, the family sometimes has to dash to the hard currency “Intershop” store in East Berlin for ketchup, spices and other essentials.

Kuenz said customers continue to visit the bar just to ask why the family had turned its back on a Western life style many East Germans would eagerly embrace.

“No one really comprehends it,” Kuenz said, shrugging his shoulders.