Warm Front

Behind the grey fac,ade of the House of Unity in East Berlin's Karl Liebknecht Platz sits the Politburo of 14 men who rule East Germany on orders from the Kremlin. From their conference room last week came pronouncements which launched a new and cunning Soviet maneuver in the cold war.

To lyrics written in Moscow and a melody plagiarized from the song of the Lorelei, East German Premier Otto Grotewohl announced a big turnabout in Communist tactics in East Germany. "The Politburo, in these decisions," said the announcement, "has in mind the great goal of German unity." Some of the decisions:

P: To make peace with Bishop Otto Dibelius and the Evangelical Church, to which most of East Germany's 18 million people belong. In a formal pact, the Communists agreed to end persecution of church leaders and youth groups, to void or review jail terms handed out to about 20 pastors. Among other things, the Communists promised to recognize the church's right of free assembly, pay state subsidies to churches, return confiscated church property, and work out plans to restore religious lessons to Soviet zone classrooms.

P: To halt the unpopular farm collectivization program at its present level (about 10% of East German farmland).

P: To lower the high crop quotas, which led many farmers to flee to the West.

P: To assure the 1,800,000 East Germans who had fled West that they may come home without fear, get back their confiscated property and full civil rights.

P: To encourage "private industry," virtually wiped out in eight years of Russian bolshevization. Small businessmen may even apply for loans from the state.

P: To end the purge of teachers, and to promise to consider reinstating hundreds who have been dismissed. East Germans may apply for permission to study in West German institutions.

P: To ease, but not end, restrictions on travel between East & West Germany.

P: To grant amnesty to those serving one-to three-year prison terms for damage to "property of the People's Republic." Courts in the future will be on orders to avoid "harshness." (Within three days of the announcement, 4,029 East Germans were released from jail.)

P: To return ration cards to perhaps 2,000,000 who have lost them for such crimes as being "nonproducers," or for being "wealthy."

A year had passed since the Reds had begun to bulldoze a permanent barrier between East & West Germany. On the face of it, the new program represented retreat, an admission of failure of Russia's eight-year attempt to bolshevize East Germany. The Communists, confessed Premier Grotewohl, had made a "series of mistakes" which were now being rectified. "The former Soviet Control Commission is to a certain extent responsible for the mistakes which were made," admitted the official Soviet newspaper in East Berlin. The turnabout was, in part at least, dictated by the unbearable hardships, the hunger, the shortages and bureaucratic chaos which Soviet postwar rule had imposed on East Germany.

Adenauer's Nightmare. But the Kremlin's new rulers, shrewdly turning necessity into advantage, and defense into offense, had also made the most dramatic maneuver yet in their global peace offensive. One obvious intention: to make the prospect of German unity seem so real that the bulk of West Germany's 30 million voters this September will oust the government of Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, who opposes unification until West Germany is rearmed and allied to NATO.

"The Soviet government's sharp reversal of tactics in East Germany," reported the New York Times from Bonn, "has spread confusion and fear in the ranks of Chancellor Konrad Adenauer's government coalition." If the Russians can lessen West Germany's healthy skepticism, Adenauer might lose an election to the West German Social Democrats, who are not as adamant as he in refusing to dicker with the Communists. Adenauer also fears that the Russian moves might lead to Big Four negotiations over Germany, in which the Germans would have no voice. "Bismarck," he said, "spoke of his nightmare of a foreign coalition against Germany. I also have a nightmare. Its name is Potsdam." He demanded more convincing Communist concessions: the release of 300,000 German P.W.s still held in Russia, and free, all-German elections. "Anything less," said Adenauer, "would be a false peace and a dangerous one."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.