Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1950-03-07
Young German FIees
Red Uranium Mine,
Tells Of Slave Labor
By GouIt MocGowon

RUSSIAN ZONE BORDER. Ger
many, Mar. 7-Wolfgang Baldus,
an emaciated 24-year-old Ger
man, with eight front teeth
knocked out and his back crisis
crossed with thick red welts,
stumbled from a wood into the
safety of the American zone to-
day and cried: Il escaped from
a uranium mine!
1T was like breaking out of
hell" he told the North American
Newspaper Alliance in an exclu-
sive interview. II was working
in the Schneeberg mines, near
the Czech border, more than
1900 feet high. Men and women
slave workers were dying by the
dozens and I had been flogged
and beaten with gun butts and
clubs by Soviet guards until
was half crazy. I decided to es-
cape one night under cover of
darkness or die in the attempt.
But good angel helped me to
freedom in the West zone. I'd
rather hang myself than go
back"
When BalduS was told that Toni
Sender Of the American Fedora
ton of Labor had protested to
the United Nations Economic and
Social Council at Lake Success
that the U. S. S. r. was using
slave labor in German uranium
mines, his haunted brown eyes
filled with tears.
That's wonderful news" he
blurted. 1--WE thought we were
a forgotten legion. They've got
nearly 100000 men and women
in those Schneeberg and Erzege-
birge mining camps. I was there
for IA months"
Operated at Profit.
Asked if reports were true that
the uranium ore there was low
grade. Baldus answered: 1.-THE
Russians want you to believe that.
They don't contradict it deliber-
ately. It is a fact that the mines
could not be operated economi-
cally by private industry. But
with life and labor cheap, the
Russians in their crazy quest for
atomic ores, operate them at a
profit. They've got the cheapest
production line in the whole world
AN endless chain of women car
rying the ore out of the mines in
buckets! 1t costs them one meal
day-potato soup and bread"
Baldus estimated the number
of women in the mines as 10000.
They are organized in regi-
ments," he said. "One bucket
brigade was attached to U.S."
Baldus described the mining
camp as located some distance
from the mines" in "a dismal bar
racks city" where $50 men were
assigned to each of the narrow
one-room wooden buildings. y
Work in 12-Hour Shifts :
1--WE worked in twelve hour
| shifts" he said, cor the barracks
never would have held us all. We
each had one blanket, a rubber
suit and rubber shoes designed
for mine work-nothing else. A
small stove in each hut was the
only heat we ever had.
Look at mel" he exclaimed,
holding out his skinny arms
Ninety eight pounds! When I
entered the camp I weighed 1855.
But the Russians don't care if
we Die. They say there are too
many Germans in the world and
when we are through, they will
replace us with Chinese.
THE Red Guards - mostly
Monaghan soldiers like those of
Genghis Khan-just laugh If we
tell them one day an atomic bomb
will fall on them.
Stain has promised u.s. they
say, that under the five year plan,
Soviet scientists will manufacture
much better secret weapons than
anybody else!'
And if he does not?" I asked
them.
Then you viii blow up with
us, too! Nitchevor
And then they banged me in
the face with a rifle but. That's
how I lost my front teeth"