Evening star., 1947-07-21
BY the Assoeiotsd Press

| BY the Associated Press
CHEMNITZ, Germany, July al
The Russians are flying pitchblende,
a source of uranium and radiums
into the Soviet Union from q for
hidden area" in Saxony. 1t is being
mined by tens of thousands of Ger
man men and women.
The pitchblende area around
Annaberg and Bad -Oberschlema in
the districts of Schneeberg and
Schwarzenberg, once popular va
cation and spa center in the Err
(Ore) Mountains, has been effec-
lively sealed off by the Soviet mill
tary administration. 1t contains
the only known large deposit of
uranium in Europe, according to
DR.. Walter, Lutz, German geo.
physicist.
A Russian military Gordon has
been thrown around the area, which
measures some IL miles across.
Sentries and barriers prevent any
normal traffic into or out of the
forbidden region.
Russians Supervise Work.
The inhabitants of the zone may
not leave. Outsiders may not enter
without proper credentials. Guards
at most of the railway stations in
the closed district control the iden-
tiflcation papers of travellers. Per-
sons who do not have a prescribed
stamp may not leave the station.
Russian engineers, geologists and
mining specialists are on hand to
superintend the work. To exploit
the mines to the full, the Russians
have directed that the old mine
dumps must be reworked to sal
wage the uranium containing pitch
blende.
AS fast as the pitchb1ende rock
is brought to the surface in buckets
by windlass and is sorted, it is
carted to Aue and Leipzig. There
it is packed in huge cases and
shipped east.
The Russians are keeping secret
the total number of workers, as
well as the daily yield.
$4,000 Reported Drafted.
However. the Leipzig labor office
is supposed to have drafted approx
| imately $4,000 workers for the mines.
Many of them, particularly sales
men, office workers and others un-
used to heavy work, are consider
ing fight to the West to escape the
draft. On the other hand, there are
cases of men who have declared
themselves ready to work in the
mines because of the good food.
Some have even reported volun-
tarily.
! The first registration OF workers
between the ages of 18 and As to
mine the uranium-p -pitchblende be-
gan in Saxony last March. The
district labor Offices in Dresden and
Leipzig were directed to draft work.
ers from non-essential factories and
professions, supposedly for a six
month period. Prisoners of war
were not to be recruited until six
months after their return to their
| homes.
The draftees first were given a
physical examination by German
doctors to determine whether they
were in condition to work in the
mines, then Russian medical COM
mission examined them a second
time.
Housing Was Inadequate.
The barracks facilities for housing
such an influx of labor into a con-
centrated area, however, were very
primitive in March and April. AS
a result, many draftees sought to
flee illegally to the American zone
without their Identification papers.
which were taken from them when
they arrived for work.
A functionary of the Socialist
Unity Party whose job is to watch
over working conditions, said that
the mine labor-both volunteers
and draftees-received much better
food than the normal worker. In
addition to the top ration of the
heaviest worker. he said they obtain
extra rations of vegetables, spirits,
Cigarettes and soap. Special pro-
tective clothing and rubber boots
are issued because the radium in
the uranium -pitchblende can dam
age the health of the workers. AS
a result of the extra rations, the
party official claimed that some
volunteers, including women, had
reported to the mines
The workmen, laboring in three
shifts, get paid mostly according to
the amount they mine rather than
by the hour. Women work only by
the day.
May Receive Visitors.
Saturday, Sunday and Monday
every third week are rest days, when
the workers may receive visitors, but
may not leave the district to which
they are assigned.
Because the mines have not been
worked for years. the technical
equipment still is very inadequate.
The pitchblende rock, for example,
has to be transported to the surface
by buckets attached to winches. In
one shaft near Schneeberg, the wor-
kers must Chamber up and down a
ladder running more than 500 feet
into the earth.
Deposits of uranium -pitchblende
are found up to eight inches thick,
sometime in veins of gold and silver.
Similar deposits were worked be-
fore the war at Joachimstal in
Czechoslovakia, about IL miles south
of the field which the Russians are
exploiting. DR.. Lutz wrote recently
in the Stuttgarter Zeitung.
Pierre and Marie Curie. joint dis
coverers of radium in 1898, are said
to have obtained their material for