Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-02-07
West Now Ready to Abandon
Talks on German Unification;
East Zone Reds Halt Paraders
Secret Police
OueII Provost
Demonstrators


tors in a number of East Ger
man cities have taken openly
to the streets demanding free
elections, the West Berlin news
paper Telegraf reported tonight.
and have been dispersed by
police. The newspaper said pro-
cesslons were broken up in Leip-
zig, Gera, Dresden. and Bitter
field. The marchers carried pos
tiers demanding free elections
and shouting I'VE want free
DOM" the account said. 1t added
that East Zone police trucks
afterward circulated and warned
the people by loudspeaker not
to be misled by EVIL elements"
The United States High Com
mission newspaper Neue Zeitung
also reported that machineguns
and carbines were taken to East
Berlin's City Hall from police
headquarters today for Com
munist officials to protect them
selves in case of repetition of
last June IT riots.
Police Crack Down.
The East German government
today sent secret police into the
chief industrial plants with Or
ders to seize any one caught
shouting for free elections.
The jittery leaders took this
step against a background of an
East Germany FESTIVE with work
ers fearful that the Big Four
foreign ministers will never agree
to a plan that would liberate
them from Communism.
The workers have been shout
ing for free elections for a week.
Irate police have already ar
rested more than 200, German
informants said.
Soviet Foreign Minister Molo-
TOW told the Western Big Three
ministers that there would not be
any repetition of June II be-
cause the East had learned some
lessons.
Secret Police Confident.
The lesson seemed to be that
the East German Red police can
handle any emergency that turns
up. The Soviet army had to use
its tanks to smash the June revo-
luton.
But the Red army has been
withheld from any part in the
breakdown on diSSenSion appar-
emily prevalent now in some East
German areas. Reports that So
Wet troops had been moved to-
ward Berlin to guard against
outbreaks calculated to show the
Big Four that East Germans
want freedom, were discounted
completely by reliable allied in
formantS tonight.
These sources said several
regiments of Red army troops
have been moved out of Pots
dam and Babelsberg. near Ber-
lin. in the past week to engage
in firing practice on ranges deep
in the East Zone. The entire
maneuver. which kept trains and
train schedules bottled up for
some hours, gave rise to the ru-
mors that the Soviets had swung
into action. Actually, they were
EN- route to the Magdeburg area
for the firing exercises which al
ways precede the March maneu-
verS that touch off long
war games.
Outline Situation.
Combined Allied and German
quarters which maintain con-
facts in the Soviet zone, plus
the tales of border-crosser
reaching West Berlin, gave this
picture.
Communist agitators have
stirred up the latent anti-Red
feeling by demanding workers
sign resolutions in favor of the
Molotov plan for reuniting Ger
many in a way that would per-
petuate Communist influence.
The workers have been shout
ing the agitators down and de-
handing free elections" West
ern style.
Embarrassed. the Red propa-
gandists called in the secret po-
lice. and ringleaders of the dis
turbances were jailed.