Oldal 1 [1]
OCR
X.A.NO.9. for November 1952. REPORT FROM THE SAAR. Somehow or other the athmosphere on the Saar has been changing rapidly since the last visit. Just as now, the Saarpruecken of the late October is gloomier than the one of the early summer and it is hard to recognize this ag the same tom, the same stands for the inpalpable affairs of P litics,. Outwardly nothing has changed. The governement is Still officiating in its ultra-modern offices 3 the P,licemen are still the same; the shops still sell French goods and with them the advise how to smuggle them best across the G_rman border. But while thus outwardly nothing seems to have°changed, subtly the atmosphere is different. The porter at the Hotel Messmer is no longer so eager to show his knowledge of French. The same is true for all the employees. In the streets also, people suddenly seem to have forgotten their french. Even in the offices of the innumerable Corporations, the correspondence is inerrasingly written in German 3; many refuse to reply in French to Freneh letters. And the imumerable French technicians and administrators, who used tp crowd, sometimes to monopolize the more expensive Restaurants of the tom, seem to have become less conspivuows, more subdued. The waiters talk first in German, a thing they did nit do in the more expensive places only a few months ago. They are now reluctant to speak in Frenche And sensing the change of atmosphere, some french bussinessmen are moving back to France, while others are thinking seriously at selling out their part interests in Sear bussiness. Even gome of the officials of the French operations of the Mines and the Steel Mills, who in June where thinking at buying homes, have given up these plans for the time being. This change of atmosphere reflects well the change of the political future of the Saar, Somehow both the French governement and the Saar regime are on the retreet. They know, that on the long run the ben on German parties can not be held; that they will have, sooner or later, to let the German Parties take part in the elections ; that in such a case the socalled Saar Parties will be the losers. The negociations with the Germans on this, question were the first signs of weajmess. Then followed the S human speach to the French Pariiement, in which the French Foreign Minister implicitly admitted, that time now was working against the Freneh and for the Germans. In fact, Schuman made no secret of it, that it was now a deadly question for the Freneh to come to a conclusion soon, since the Germans were wiming increasingly their point. Added to this was the widely publicized Saar Egitorial of the European paper in Strasbourg, which with the approval of Speak allegd
