Ordered Unity In Soviet Zone Of Germany

Grey River Argus, 9 August 1948, Page 2

Ordered Unity In Soviet Zone Of Germany

(From Guy Bettany, Reuter’s Correspondent.)

(By Airmail). HAMBURG. Ordered ‘ unity, enforced by the Russian sponsored Socialist Unity Party (S.E.D.) is the keynote of the Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany according to a traveller who has just returned here after spending some time “Across the Border.” the picture of conditions in that pair oi Germany which lies beyond the iron curtain as he told it to me: The first thing which strikes the travellei from the Western Zones on entering a Russian occupied town or village is the great variety of posters and banners carrying propaganda printed in thick red letters for the so-called people’s referendum for the Unity or Germany. In addition .to demanding that all Germans support the establishment of a United Germany without zonal barriers, the posters contain sharp attacks against the Western Allies, reproaching them for pursuing a disruptive policy in Germany. The imnortance which this 1 eople’s Referendum has attained in the daily life of the people in the Russian Zone surprises the traveller from the West. In contrast to the Western Zones where, so far, at most 10 per cent, of the population have subscribed to the People’s Referendum, the contribution in the Russian Zones has already reached 67 per cent. This considerable success beyond the iron curtain seems to have been achieved largely by the special methods used to collect signatures for Referendum. One inhabitant of a small village on the Baltic Sea said that the people had to write their signatures in open lists which were checked from day to day in order to discover “Reactionaries” of whose names were still missing. It was common knowledge in that village that all who had not yet signed the lists received postcards a few days later with the remark, “You have not yet expressed your desire for a United Germany.” No one who attached any value to his personal security failed to make good his neglect. Generally speaking the people do not support this means of achieving the Unity of Germany. A farmer bluntly told me foi’ instance: “The Russians should lift the iron curtain and then a People’s Referendum would not be necessary.” The newspapers in the Russian Zone —whether Socialist, Christian Democrat or Liberal —define their attitude towards all political events along the lines laid down by the Russian Information Controls. In support of the People’s Referendum, the newspapers have been declaring, for example, that it is the duty of every German to support this “Voluntary Action” for the benefit of a United Germany. Recently one newspaper published a report carrying a headline that in Hamburg 80 per cent, of the population had signed in favour of the People’s Referendum. The last paragraph merely stated that 80 per cent, of all households which had been visited by Hamburg Communists had signed the lists—which might or might not have been true, but certainly did not justify the headline. No newspaper represents any definite political trend although nominally reflecting the views of various parties. One man said that no newspaper would dare to publish a single letter which had not received the approval of the Russian Sponsored SED.

At first sight, the newspapers do not seem very different from those in the Western Zones, because the I stories have Western date-lines as well as Eastern. At a second glance, however, the reader notices that all is well in the Eastern Zone while the populations of the Western Zones are stated to be helplessly subject to American monopolistic capitalism and to the Anglo-American policy of disruption. Few people are satisfied with their newspapers. A common pun is: “What is it that lies on the staircase and lies?” The answer being: “The newsnaper.” A favourite subject of attack in the newspapers of the Soviet Zone is the dismantling of industrial plants in the Western Zones—although it is known everywhere that dismantling, both official and unofficial, in the Russian Zone has been far more extensive than the official policy carried out in Bizonia. There is, for instance, hardly a mile of second track among all the railway lines of the Russian Zone. Wags in Eastern Germany tell this story on that tjieme: An American talking to a Russian about the railways in Germany says: “The trains in the American Zone run so fast that you can hardly see the trees.” The Russian thereupon replies: “Our trains are so fast that you con no longer see the second track.”

Most striking to the visitors from Western Germany is the small number of motor-cars and lorries seen on the road and the high fares charged by private motor-car owners for lifts. A journey from Leipzig to Rostock, about 350 miles, costs about 1,000 Reichsmark. Now and then something like a modern car is seen ■ —but, without exception it is driven by Russians. Cars driven by Germans seem to be products surviving from the 19th Century—amazing contraptions which in Western Europe would quickly find their way to the scrap heap. Owing to lack of road transport, the few trains are overcrowded to suffocation, especially those running between Saxony and Mecklenburg. Travellers report that the food shortage in Saxony has reached famine dimensions, and many Saxons travel the 400 miles from Saxony to Mecklenburg in order to barter Saxon textiles for Mecklenburg potatoes —which are entirely unobtainable in Saxony by any means whatsoever. Mecklenburg farmers say that they are often not able to sell any agricultural products to chance buyers in spite of alluring offers of payment as they themselves are suffering hardships, especially in cattle breeding. One farmer - complained that several times he had been forced to slaughter new-born calves because he had no milk for them. Sometimes he had to feed the -calves on water though they usually died after such treatment. Milk down to almost the last drop must be accounted for at the collecting centres and the whole system of milk deliveries is so severely controlled by German policemen and officials of the Soviet Military Administration that it is hardly possible for farmers to retain sufficient milk for their own needs. People talk only with the greatest caution in the Soviet Zone because they live in fear of the Russians and the Russian sponsored SED. During my stay I was often told that often a single careless word is enough to’ result in a person disappearing for weeks and even months. No man is sure of his neighbour. If he dares to say something against the authorities or against certain political measures, he must expect a denunciation which is followed either by a warning or more frequently, by deportation to an unknown place. Many a man who has had differences with SED politicians has found himself later in the Uranium mines in Saxony, one of the most feared places in the Russian Zone because workers there have to work knee-deep in water and suffer many 1 hardships. It was also told that it of- j ten happens that a man is arrested by ' the Russians after a denunciation by'' mistake for another with the same 1 surname and a different Chriatian i name