Evening star., 1948-10-16
Fourth of a Series
By Cholmers M. Roberts
Star Stoff Correspondent


Star sioff Correspondent
STUTTGART, Germany, (By
MaiD An average of rs Czechs
daily are crossing the green bor-
der" the forests on the boundary
of Czechoslovakia and the Ameri-
can zone of Germany, and many OF
them soon come to a huge dis
placed persons camp at Ludwigs-
burg, near this bomb-torn city.
Out of every 10 who try to escape
the land of the Masaryks, twice the
victim of totalitarianism, seven OF
eight make it, Czechs here say. For
those who fail the sentence, now
pronounced without trial under q
new Czech law, is five to eight years
Of labor. For Czech Army deserterS
the term is usually Is years. One
general was sentenced to be shot
but his sentence was commuted to
life Imprisonment.
Yet they still come. Since the
Communist coup in February the
total has been from 10000 to 10000,
it is estimated by reliable sources
here,
Two-thirds of the fleeing Czechs
are single men from 18 to 80. But
some managed to bring their wives
and children. And a considerable
number of young boys and girls
have come alone.
Reds Took Passport.
Two recent girl arrivals are E., a
first-year law student at Charles
University at Prague, and M, a
former hostess on the Czech ma
tional airlines. They decided to
try it together, managed to find q
way to get some clothing out fthe
mettled cannot be disclosedp and
walked through the green border
into the American zone. One had
worked for the American Army
while it was in Czechoslovakia at
the wars end, the other had flown
all over Europe and the Middle East
as hostess only to have the Com
munists lift her passport just as she
decided not to make the return trip
from a foreign capital.
There are so many Czech students
from Charles University, in fact,
that a university y-in-exile is now
being started at the Ludwigsburg
DIP camp Twelve ex-professors are
on hand to teach the more than 300
ex-studentS.
The minor, unaccompanied Czech
children are at Regensburg in the
American zone Of Germany not far
from the Soviet zone border. They
number around $50 boys and girls
of "a to 81.
Few Swim Danube.
An occasional group steals plane
and forces the pilot to fly to the
Western zones of Germany. A few
others swim the Danube into the
American zone of Austria, but this
requires crossing narrow neck OF
the Soviet zone. The great bulk
of the refugees escape through the
green border.
On the first of October there were
Alb Czechs in camps in the Ameri-
can zone of Germany, another SOC
to 1000 in Austrian camps and about
1900 in Italy (along with 81 ,00C
other DPS, mostly en- route. An
other 1000 have been absorbed
temporarily at least, in the German
economy and do not need the help
of the International Refugee Or
ganization. Finally some 1,500 have
left Germany and Austria for other
nations, not including italy.
The influx in recent weeks has
been increased, Czech leaders in the
Ludwigsburg camp say, by repeated
rumors that all or part of Czecho-
slovakia is about to be incorporated
into the Soviet Union. Denials by
Czech Communists have no effect
or the rumor. In the first part OF
October the daily rate was up to
Is, though for the past couple OF
months it has averaged so to so.
Not Eligible as DPS.
Under the constitution of the In
ternational Refugee Organization
the newly arrived Czechs were not
eligible for care as DPS. Yet they
clearly are political refugees, valu.
able to the West in the cold war and
in any hot war that may follow.
On August 4 the American CON-
mander in Germany, Gen. Lucius
D. Clay, signed an agreement with
William H. Tuck, head of IRO, tc
permit the IRO to take care OF
Czech hardship cases. In effect
this covers practically any Czech
now crossing the border, since they
are mostly without funds. But II
also indicates the job of liquidatine
IRO-supposed to be completed BY
June 80, 1950-is being complicated
even while large-scale resettlement
in the United States and elsewhere
Is getting under way.
OF the Czechs now in camps IL
the American zone of German,
(Which includes practically al
those being handled as Dps, 25l
are former Royal Air Force person
mel from World War II, 600 wer,
IN the Czech army-in-exi in Brit.
ain and 300 were Czech civil serv
ants.
French Legion Signs Some.
OF the $500 who have moved on
other than to Italy, most have gon,
to Britain, Australia or Holland
with some illegal entries to France
Belgium and Italy. The French
Foreign Legion has been trying t,
sign up some of the ex-soldiers, bu
Czech camp leaders have done thei
best to discourage such enlistments
The Czech children present +,
II