Evening star., 1951-04-08

Eastern ana western zones, free
according to residents Of Western,
Germany, this is the general pat
tern which is being employed to
induce the German people to
unite and side with their brethern@
in the East.
German politicians are aware
of the fallacies contained in this
kind of propaganda. but are wor-
ried. It does appeal to large
number of people in the Reich.
who, while loathing communism,
believe that the offers of the East
are more tempting than anything
the West yet has been able to
produce.
Six years have elapsed since the
military collapse of the Reich.
During these years much Of the
bitterness caused by military de-
feat has disappeared. But the
At million Germans in the West
are getting increasingly impatient
with the occupation forces.
Russian propaganda does not
even mention communism. The
accent is on a revived Germany
with parliament which has been
elected in Western Germany un-
der a free system. And to make
the carrot" even more tempting.
important orders are being placed
even today in Western Germany
for goods for export to China.
There is, Of course. a prohibi-
tion on such exports and all deals
between the Eastern and Western
zones are carefully scrutinized.
But there are ways and means to
do some important illicit business
by the creation of dummy COM
panies.
The German government and a
number of thinking Germans can
see through this propaganda and
are worried that it may be effec-
tive. But they point out that they
are helpless. All the West has
offered the German people so far
lis limited rearmament to oppose
an eventual Soviet onslaught.
Washington's feeble attempts to
give Germany at least a shadow
of sovereignty have been frus-
trated by the opposition of our
Western European Allies, who ap-
pear to fear sovereign Germany
as an associate more than they
fear Russia as an enemy.
Views of Reich Leaders :.
Gen. Eisenhower himself has
written off Germany as a potential
associate in the new Western
coalition until the political work
is completed by the diplomats.
This political work" is the grant,
ling of full sovereignty to Germany.
Although the commander of the
lNATO forces in Europe spent only
a short time in Frankfurt two
months ago, he talked quickly and
frankly to German politicians and
the few retired generals who have
Jour full confidence. e..
i They all told him the same
thing: Unless Germany once more
becomes a sovereign nation the
German government will not be
able to induce its people to muster
enough men to organize even q
battalion for the Western armies.
They pointed out that the Ger
mans have nothing to win and
everything to lose from a war be-
tween East and West.
Behind this thinking of the Ger
man leaders there is more than
the fear that the German people
will not fight unless Western Ger
many becomes a sovereign re-
public.
We are optimistic, even when
faced with dire realities. Our
diplomats did not see the writing
on the wall in Korea. They did
not see the threat to the West by
the loss of Iran and now they still
refuse to see that unless some
thing is done quickly with regard
to Germany-not palliative but
a constructive policy of giving
those Al million people their full
sovereignty and equality with the
other Western nations-we may
wake up some sunny morning to
hear the news that Eastern and
Western Germany have been re-
united under the wing of the
LII G G D