OCR
- page five s borders and for the maintenance of peacee After this double propaganda fire, East Germany is now iygady" for the drafting of its men. The new law for conseription of a people's army and for punishment of conscientious objectors or enenmmies of peace has already been aproved by all the political leaders. The isolation of Basten Germa With the threatening ersz ar restlessness camé ínto the country. Many young men, espeeially veterans of the last war, received their first eonvoecation papers, were released from their jobs and replaced by women, drafted for work in ever-bncreasing number. Using the first possible occasion, number of such young men escaped to the West. With them came also a source of most valuable information on Hastern preparation that was readily used by Western intelligence. In order to stop this move, communist authopities decided to isolate Eastern Germany from the Western World. Measure taken are now public knowledge. They have been discussed in newspapers and in many German dispatches, It has been known that heavy travel resttictions hay been imposed inside Eastern Germany. Controls are established in railwe stations and on trains. Untrustworthy people are forbidden to go farther than three miles from their homes. Supervision is especially tight around Berlin, The capital city is practically cut off frém the remainder of the Russian Zone, and only safe communists are let freely from there into Berlin and in Berlin itself from the Eastern to the Western seetor. Another such measure is the creation of a five-~kilomete deep no-man's land all along the demarcation line, with a barren zone of death on the border ítsékf and half a kilometer of killang ground . where People's Police patrols shoot at everyone without further warning At the seme time, constant news of border shooting, kidnapping of peasants, workers or foreigners, invasions of farms or factoriesare reported from the West Zone along the demarcation line. These events are part of a plan for searing people living or working in those areas. They have to learn by fear that it is safer to avoid trying to find out what is going on on the other side or to help refugees that might eross despite control and killing zone, : It is generally felt and reported from the East that Ulbricht great Party manifestations, to be held in Berlin in July, will only 2 confirm this general state of affairs and will be another great propaga show for peace and reearmament,. Having East Germany entirely in its hands, Russia ean now offer and risk a four=-power talk, Should this lead towards a German re-unification, Soviets are sure by now that East Germany is enough undermined and organized that it would force the Western part of the country into the same line of political and economic dependency from th Easte Should on the contrary a splitting of Germany be the result, Russia eould continve as it did up to now: it could boast with its offer to safeguard peace and unity of the country and simultaneously maintain Eastern Germany as a total slave under the outwemd look of independence. 3S;