WWN 1977 (Prelim No 02) - Herbert W. Armstrong

6
The WORLDWIDE NEWS
Couple battles East Germany
in strugglefor right to marry
By Tom Hanson
and Kathaleen Donahue
BIG SANDY - When Hella Pistonus
Pros tl. wife of Ambassador
Cc flege fres h ma n Willi P ros tl,
cro ssed the borde r from Ea st 10 West
Ge nn any on Jun e 8. 1975. she was
reminded of Israel' s historic exodus
from Egy pt.
" The feel ing was like d uring the
Passover time with the blood on the
door ," said Hella . " I know that on
Ihis bo rde r many East Germ an s were
killed . But , beca use I had this sign,
whic h is only my passport . no one
wo uld kill mc ."
The events thai led to Hella ' s mar ­
riage to Willi and her move 10 West
Ge rma ny (las t written abo ut in the
WN of July 2 1, 1975 ) bega n in August
o f 1971 when Helmuth Kaserer,
an Austrian Church member and
father of Big Sandy fres hman Sonja
Kaserer, met Hella at the wedd ing of
her brothe r. Dietm ar Pistoriu s. and
Eva Stange . .
At Mr . Kaserer' s sugges tion Willi
began co rrespondi ng with Hell a in
Febru ary o f 1972 . A new relationship
began, and Willi' s first mee ting
with Hell a took place in early June at
her hom e in Z wic kau. Eas t Ge r­
man y. After a seco nd visit in July
they becam e engaged.
Permission to Marry
However, befo re they co uld marry
they had to obtain perm ission from
the East German governme nt. Be ­
lievin g thai it would be imposs ible
for Hell a to leave the co untry, W illi
appl ied to the gove rnment for an entrance
permi t to live in East Ge r­
man y. His app lication and several
more were rejected (The Worldwide
News. Aug . 19, 1974).
On o ne occ asion the co uple was
told that beca use East Germany did
not have .d iplomatic relations with
Austria (the country of Willi's citi ­
zenship) officials co uld net discuss the
matter. Shortly after this, diplomatic
relat ions were esta blis hed .
The y aga in returned to the authorities,
claiming the right to marry
under a United Nation s ordinance
guar anteein g the right of individuals
to live where they choo se and marry
whomever they wish . Perm ission
was agai n denied on the gro unds thai
EaM Germany was not yet a member
of the United Natio ns. Soo n after
thi s, in Se ptembe r of 1973 , East
Germany becam e a mem ber (If the
UN.
In the meantim e the coupl e , disco
urage d at times, never gave up
ho pe , alth ou gh permission had been
denied five times. Willi , who had by
then mov ed to Duesse ldorf, West
Germany, co ntin ued his o nce -amonth
visits, driving the 300 mile s to
Zwic ka u.
Then unexpectedly Hella received
a call from the authorities informing
her that if Willi app lied for ent rance
o ne mor e tim e hi s applicarion
wou ldn't be rejected . A sixth application
was filed , but tbe IwO were
AT LAST - After
years of legal hassles
Willi Frostl
and Hella Pistonus
were able to
be married. Th is
picture was taken
at their civil marriage
, whic h took
place before they
were wed in a
Church ceremony.
. .Hella became the
first East German
woman, afte r having
been granted
permission to
marry a non- East
German, to leave
the co untry and
still retain he r East
German citizenship.
told that the information they had received
was incorrect and permiss ion
was agai n de nied .
Clai ming the Right
Willi visited Hella for the Passover
and Days of Unleavened Bread in
1975, and they decided for the last
lime to co ntac t the government. Willi
knew that the Ea st German law
guaranteed the right of the people to
marry whom ever the y wished and to
live whe reve r they wished . Si nce
Willi and Hella had been waiting for .
three yea rs, they wen t in and tried to
cla im the right 10 marr y 'under this
law.
An argument develo ped between
Wi lli and a go vern me nt official.
Hell a stepped in and Slated, " My
fiance is a foreign er. He thinks that
when the law gives you pennission 10
do somet hing it me ans what it
says."
The o ffic ial replied : "I am a
father. Every young person must
learn patience ."
Will i answere d: " I am a young
man . I know the law . You are a represe
ntativ e of the go vernment. I cannot
believe the govern ment. "
W ill i threatened to go to We st
Germany, where he knew the wife of
a We st German governme nt photographer,
and take his story to the
newspapers and televisio n.
Two week s lale r they were granted
permi ssion to marry. The y were married
April 5 , 1975 , first in a civil
cere mony at a Standesanu, or civil
cou rt. and the n at the Wald hof Hotel
in Zwickau by Frank Schnee , pastor
of the German -speakin g churc hes
and di rector of the Work ' s Bonn office
.
As a re sult of her marriage to
Willi, Hella becam e eligible to receive
an Austrian passport . She receiv
ed this Apri l 9, 1975 , after which
the couple honeymooned for a week
on the nort h coast of East Germany.
Will i the n re turne d to Bonn, where
he worked 3.