Evening star., 1948-07-05
Soviet Party Leaders
In Red Reich Found
Enjoying Luxuries
(Fitth of a Series.)
n a.
North American Newspaper Alliance

slams throughout the Red-occupiec
territory of Germany, I inquired
about the attitudes Of old-timt
German Communists toward tht
Russians as well as toward theil
own people. This proved to be {
dangerous and extremely difficult
task.
The rank and file of the Com.
munist Party are not given to dis
cussing their problems. The!
simply repeat the slogans which
they find countlessly repeated ir
their daily newspaper. They do mo-
feel any doubts as to the validit!
of the official line is permissible. L
you insist, you risk being denounced
as "undemocratic" or as "an enemy
of the people" and taken away by
the MVD.
It was only in Chemnitz that
found an old member of the Com.
munist Party willing to talk. He
was the brother-in-laW of man 1r
whose apartment I was staying
The man in question is a foreman
of large industrial plant, tall ano
big, around so years old and men,
ber of the party since 1927. During
the Hitler regime he spent between
two and three years in a concen-
tration camp.
Factory Removals Cited.
At first he, too, seemed unwilling
to utter an opinion. Most people
are no longer able to take an OBJ
jective attitude where the Russians
are concerned he said. They get
too emotional about it."
But he admitted that there were
at least reasons for people to get
emotional He did not like the
countless flags and the many slogans
painted on house walls exhorting
people to sign up for the Volks-
begehren. ''All this reminds one OF
Goebbels," he said, smiling wryly.
He also was genuinely disturbed
about the continuation of the dis
mantling of large factories. Just
now they are taking down the
Siemens plant in Gera. Everybody
who worked there has been sacked.
That means that 1900 workers are
jobless. l guess just now they still
can find work, but if this continues
and the Russians promised that it
would stop-it will mean that a
great number of us will be idle"
The foreman also was somewhat
unhappy that workers in the Rus
sian zone were no longer allowed to
strike only few days ago I
read about strike in Hamburg
when the British wanted to blow
up the dockyards of Blohm and
Voss. Well, I didn't even know the
British or the Americans allowed
strikes"
Double Standard Opposed.
He also reSents that workers in
the Russian zone are treated sc
differently. Those working for the
Soviet AGs. The plants which the
Russians have taken as their prop
erty and whose output goes to Rus
slams exclusively. get not only better
ration cards. they also get warm
meal day and certain additiona'
supplies every month. l think il
is unfair to the millions of other
workers who continue to work fol
German consumption. After all
we always hoped for something like
equality"
This and other reasons moved him
to say: The Russians have had two
and a half years time to win the
Germans over They have failed
They have made mess of things.
But it is not the Russians the
old Communist is blaming most. He
Is much more furious against his
own party or rather against certain
members of his own party. While
we we're walking down a street, he
was greeted by little boy of four
or five years who seemed to me
extremely we'll fed When I COM
mented on this, the old Com
munist's face darkened. His grand
father used to be my best friend.
He too, has belonged to the party
since the late '20s. Today he is a
big man in the party. He is a
coal dealer. That means he has
everything he wants. That's the
reason why his grandchildren look
so we'll fed"
SED Leaders Are Hated.
The big men of the SED party
are the most hated men in Russian
occupied Germany today. They are
called "die BonZen"-an untrans-
latable expression representing a
mixture of a bureaucrat and a po-
litical boss. A bonze is man who
uses his political position to further
his private we'll being. An SED
bonze in Eastern Germany today
lives in large villa; has several mo-
torcars and all the gas he needs,
plenty of food and liquor; wears new
suits, new shirts and new shoes, is
we'll supplied with everything no.
body else can buy.
A bonze makes plenty of money.
He is in on countless business
deals of shady character. Sometimes
one or another bonze is embarrassed
DN Gel ldlll ltNSldlIOllS. 1llCAC Oh Z
lawsuits, but it is always the small
black-market dealer who is sent to
prison while the big crook, the bonze,
continues unabaShed.
You should see some of them
today. They must have gained be-
tween so and 100 pounds in the last
three years. 1t is true, most OF
them spent the years under Hitler
in concentration camps, and 1t is
only right that they should have a
better time now than the rest OF US.
But there should be limits
Working Man Suffers.
I'VE might as we'll face it, he
said later, nothing much has
changed since the days of Hitler.
At least not for the worker. If he
makes so marks week, that's about
average. And what can you buy for
so marks? How can you manage
not to starve?'
Specializing on the future, he said:
"In this neighborhood there was
always two-thirds MarXist majority
IN every free election. If we had
a really free election today, I as
sure YOU that we would have per-