Evening star., 1950-01-22
Seized Berlin BuiIdinq
Returned by U. 5. 10
Soviet Rail System
BY the Associoisd Press


BERLIN, Jan. 21.-The United
States Army's Berlin command
backed down tonight before bait
ing from the East and returned
disputed building in the American
sector to the Soviet-controlled
railway system.
Maj. Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor,
the commandant, cancelled seizure
of the building by the American
property control Office for the
West Berlin city government,
ordered West Berlin police to with
draw and turned the structure
back to the railway system, the
Reichsbahn.
The Soviet authorities have
seized upon the affair as an ex-
cuse to harass the residents of
West Berlin" Gen. Taylor ex-
planned.
An hour after he made his an
nouncement, the Western police
departed from the building, the
former Reichsbahn headquarters
located just inside the American
sector near the Russian border.
East Zone Communist guards in
the employ of the Reichsbahn
resumed their posts in the nearby
empty building.
Accident or Blunder.
The property control Office seized
the building Tuesday, contending
the West Berlin government
needed Office space and the Reichs-
balm was using only 40 of the
900 rooms.
Sources within the American
high commission said issuance of
the seizure order Tuesday could
be called either an accident" or
'blunder."
The West Berlin city govern
ment, with Allied approval, had
previously started taking over nu-
merous Reichsbahn properties,
which had no relation to opera
tions. because West mark taxes
were unpaid. The railway system.
controlled by the Russians, has
mostly East mark income.
Shortly before Christmas the
question of seizing the main build
ing because the Reichsbahn had
virtually abandoned it was taken
up with Gen. Taylor. but no de-
cision was reached. Then on Tues
day the American property con-
troll section issued a requisition
order on the main building, using
as its authority the precedent of
previous seizures. Col. w. T. Bah
cock, Gen. Taylor's deputy, said
the Russians had not been notified
in advance.
Neither Gen. Taylor nor Ameri-
can High Commissioner John ].
McCloy knew the building had
been seized and occupied by West
Berlin police until afterWard.
~ 1TuCkS 1urneQ BACK.
The railroad and the Russians
hit back with the assertion that
the telecommunications setup in
the basement was disrupted by
this action. They slowed down the
city'S elevated train service to
half schedule and threat tened to
disrupt inter-zonal trains.
Coincidentally. the Soviet turned
back 19 Berlin trucks from the
Helmstedt checkpoint on the Rus
sian-British zonal border. This
seemed like a repetition of the
tactics that preceded the full
scale blockade imposed in June,
1948.
These truck drivers returned to
Berlin tonight and explained, how
ever. that they had failed to OBJ
tan the proper clearance papers
for household goods they were
carrying.
The Russians now demand that
the owner either accompany
household goods consigned to the
West or that he see them for
pass. This measure was installed
a few days ago to stop the re-
moval of any personal possessions
of an Eastern German trying to
flee from the Communist sphere.
The German customs men at
Helmstedt said traffic otherwise
flowed normally, with 260 Berlin
bound trucks allowed through and
80 more cleared on their way from