Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1948-01-22
By Edwin Shonke
Associated Press Foreign Correspondent.

Assccfcted PfeSs Fofeign correspondent
DRESDEN, Soviet-occupied Sax.
ony, Jan. 10 Delayed "A difficult
food situation may force the Soviet
Union to ship grain into the Rus
sian-occupied Eastern zone of Ger
many, which is being woven into a
so-called Molotov plan of economy
for Eastern Europe.
Soviet officials. think they will
have to import grain from the So
Wet Union, but a final decision has
not yet been reached" Maj. Gen
Timoffei Dudaroy, acting military
governor Of Saxony, told the first
American correspondents to tour
the Russian zone since last June.
GAS deficiencies in the food supply
come up they will be taken care of, ,
the general said. you can be sure
however, that If we decide to bring
in grain it will not be an outright
gift"
This is the first time the Russians
have spoken Of shipping food into
their zone. Their army lives mainly
on German food, particularly per-
ishables, and the American and
British-licensed press in Berlin have
accused the Soviet Union of export
ing trainloads of German food east
ward.
Raw Materials Sent In.
For the first time, too. the Rus
slams revealed how Eastern Ger
many is being drawn into the Mos
COW scheme of economy for Eastern
Europe, after turning down cooper
alton with the Marshall Plan for
European recovery.
To meet a very bad" situation,
raw materials are being drawn not
only from Soviet Russia, but also
from Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hun
gary, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, Rus
sian officials said. Most of the fin
ished products processed from these
materials are exported eastward as
reparations.
THE Germans will pay for raw
materials because you can, be sure
we are not engaging in any philan-
thropic deals" said Maj. Ivan
Schinkevich, head of the industrial
branch of the Soviet military ad-
ministrations economic division in
Thuringia.
Emphasizing that so far the ration
has been fully met, Gen. Dudarov
stated that drought hit Saxony
especially hard, and the crop last
fall was as low as so per cent Of
normal in some regions. The overall
yield was about one-third normal.
AS everywhere in Germany, you
can't say the Germans are being
well fed"
Russian Claims Disputed.
Except for bread, many Germans
disputed the Russian claims that the
ration is being met. The Minister
President of Saxony, Max Seyde-
WITT, said from 10 to 80 per cent OF
the Saxons had received the potatoes
they were entitled to until the next
harvest-from two and half to
three NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. 10000
tons of potatoes are still lacking and
we don't know where to get them"
"The ration :, is only on, paper"
some Germans said.
Others claimed the distribution OF
meat and fat often was late and
that frequent substitutions, such as
fish for meat, were made. 1t APP
peared' the food situation on the
whole is no worse thap in the west.
err zones. m EfstF x1ASt;.a II
While the Russian officers con-
Quoting the tour denied a black
market in food exists in the eastern
zone, Germans said most OF their
wages were spent in illegal markets.
A Weimar electrician, for example,
earning $50 marks a month, said
about $50 marks went for rent,
rationed food and taxes, and the
remainder to the black market.
Flour, he, said, costs 80 marks a
pound on the black market, meat,
rs marks a pound, and German
cigarettes sell at 80 marks for a
pack of 20.
At the direction of the Soviet
military administration German
authorities are inforcing strict COL
lections of food quotas from farmers,
but even so, Gen. Dudarov admitted
delivery failures had quite an effect
on the food shortage"
Punitive Measures Taken.
In Saxony punitive measures such
as six months to year imprison-
ment, or even confiscation of farm
land, have been levied against farm