EXODUS OF SKILLED WORKERS TO RUSSIA

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5289, 30 December 1946, Page 3

EXODUS OF SKILLED WORKERS TO RUSSIA

•CONCERN 'TO ALLIES SOVIETS COtNISIDER PURELY NORMAL ROUTINE Russian deportations of German skillecl "vvorkers to the Soviet Union from both the Russian zone and the Russian sector of Berlin are causing much concern among other occupying powers, as well as among* the Germans, as to when and where this action is going to end, writes a Staff correspondent of the Ohristian Science Monitor. One illusion should be dissipated immediately. At first it generally "vvas accepted here that the action was political, following* the heavy defeat of the Russian-sponsored S-oc-'ialist Unity party (S.E.D.) in the recent Berlin elections. Sueh is not the case. These deportations are on such a large scale deliberate plans as to demand long preparation. , Other occupying powers could do little regarding deportations in the Russian zone, hut since the Russian sector of Berlin is included in the area administered by all four powers jointly, the question was raised at a recent meeting of the Kommandatura, the fo'ur-power panel governing Berlin. But the B(ussian reply was unsatisfactory and was referred to the meetings of the co-ordinating council of the Allied Control Council. Against Worker's Will The German Social Democratic Party also protested in a public • meeting against the deportations. j These transfers of German technic- ' al specialists and skilled workers are hy no means voluntary. They are carried out on express orders of Russian zonal authorities regardless of any considerations o-f the individuals concerned. During the recent past, most of the skillecl experts in such works as the famous Carl Zeiss and Schott ! works at Jena, the Hentschel engineering works at Stassfurt, the Leuna chemical works near Halle, and heavy engineering plants at Chemnitz and, elsewhere have been removed. In some of these cases, machinery also has been removed, while in others, as at the Zeiss works, the Russians have 'been busily inventoryii.g items there prior to dismantling and removing them. ; Direct information concerning what | is happening is pmpossible to give, J since non-Russian journalsts are for- | bidden to travel individually through | the Russian zone. Nevertheless, re- i liable reports from individuals who come to Berlin from Jena show what has happened there. Three hundred technical specialists and skilled workers from the Zeiss and Schott works were. visited at their homes by Russian soldiers and ordered withou.t warning, in the early mornir.g, to pack their things immediately and take their families with them, it is reported. They were sent away in three speeial trains, one for Leningrad, a second ior Moscow, and a third for Odessa. The consequences ^are that Jena soon may be a "ghost" town, since before the war o^ its 58,000 inhabitants nearly 40,C'00 were dependent for a livelihood upon these two works — as also is the Friedrich Schiller University in that town dependent on them in large measure for its funds. These two works, run on the Garl Zeiss Fourdation, were based on profit sharing and were considerecl as having a model relationship between workers and management. In this case it appears that no respect for the workers' benefits, which presuma'bly lies as the basis' of Communist ideology, was allowed to stancl in the way of the Soviet Ur.ion's other projects. Tlhis problem Aof deportations raises for western democracies, particularly for workers, an- issue of certain fundamentals which they long have fought to secure, notably the rights of the individual to cietermine his own future and the other established rights of labour. These were destroyed temporarily hy the Nazi regime, but with the end of war it was thought that restoration could be expected. Russian Viewpoint The Russians, however, have entirely different ideas on this subject. In a talk with a Russian high Army officer some time ago, it was found he considered such deportations as normal, maintaining that modern industrialisation demandecl such compulsory direction of labour. He was quite sincere in his opinion, and did not understand why "westerners made such a fuss about such things," especially as German depoftees were allowecl to take theiP furniture and belongings, whic-h was niore than many Russians were allowed when earlier forced migrations were made to the Urals and Siberia to work in mines and factories being developed there. Everything for the present day Soviet Union seems to center round the quickest industrialisation, regardless of the human considerations involved, whether for the Geimians or their own people. German specialists — spezi, as they call them must build up Russia's industry to rival that of the United States and western Europe, whatever h'uman values go by .default. An other aspect of this Issue with which the other occupying powers are concerned is the relationship of such transfers in industrial wealth in the forrn of .plants and skilled labour in Russia to the reparations "question. The Soviet Union continu.es to demand reparation payments from current production, to which the other occupying -powers have objected.