Evening star., 1947-08-26
East Prussians ExiIed
Russians Reported
Moving In 100000
By GouIt MocGowon

| HARZ MOUNTAINS, Russian
Zone Frontier, Aug. 26.-Uprooting
the foundations of the old Prussian
empire, the Red Army Is driving
thousands of German men, women
and children westward into exile
across the Oder. In Konigsberg,
the East Prussian capital, 100000
Russians are reported to have moved
in to replace the Junkers and the
descendants Of the Teutonic
Knights.
The first of the exiles to escape
fearing to live in the Red Zone of
Germany-have crossed the border
here to tell the story of the Sovieti-
zation of East Prussia. That re-
mote Eastern frontier country of
Germany has been parceled out, they
say, among Slavic and Asiatic peas
ants, and in the barns and outbuild-
ings of the former Junker castles
German men and women are living
in, confinement and go out daily
under guard to work the, land.
Assigned by Potsdam Pact.
East Prussia was assigned to the
U. S. S. R. under the Potsdam agree
ment and the Russians have since
been authorized by Allied agree
ment to abolish Prussia as a polit-
ical entity. Germans and their
facilies found there after the re-
treat of the Wehrmacht were de-
prived of all property and possess
sions, according to the exiles. and
were gathered into huge camps,
where the men were separated from
the women and children.
At first they expected to be forci-
bly, Sovietized as individuals, for
those who stayed were mostly
humble folk and peasants, but after
months of fear and uncertainty,
along with compulsory labor, they
learned that the whole remaining
population would be sent westward
because they were not considered
politically reliable
My informants among the exiles
are men who fled from East Prus-
sia when the Red Army came in
but went back voluntarily to rejoin
their families following reports
that the Russians were not treating
the little man badly so long as he
co-operated. They agree their ex-
periences did not justify their conf
dence. Said one: Most of us are
happy that we have to leave this
new Soviet territory"
Repairing Koenigsberg.
They say the great Baltic port
Of Koenigsberg. badly damaged by
Russian gunfire when the Wehr-
macht made a desperate stand along
it's waterfront, is being repaired and
that the shipbuilding plants are
operating again. The navy base of
Pillau is also functioning again, its
fortress become a Russian head
quarters. The IL forts that girdle
Koenigsberg are similarly occupied
by Red Army troops.
Maj. Rudnik, spokesman for the
political department of the Soviet
military administration for Ger
many, is quoted as having informed
the German authorities in Branden-
berg that "all Germans from the
Soviet territory of East Prussia" will
be repartriated by the end Of the
year. There are no official figures
available of the number of Germans
there who have survived the war
but, according to reliable estimates,
more than 100000 of them will be
exiled from their homeland. They
are mostly rural laborers, peasants,
innkeepers and Artisans and their
families. Only a few OF them, gen.
orally secret Communists, have been
taken into the Soviet economy for
local development reasons.
(Released by North American Newspaper
Alliance, Inc.).