POPULAR CONFIDENCE IN WESTERN POWERS

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25554, 23 July 1948, Page 6

POPULAR CONFIDENCE IN WESTERN POWERS

LIFE IN BERLIN

[By the Berlin Correspondent of “The Times.”]

Since the formation of the economic bizone in western Germany, the Russian attitude to the western Powers has developed from non-co-operation and- suspicion to open and aggressive hostility. For Germans in Berlin months of uncertainty have been followed by the shock of two major crises in the relations between east and west. Yet even now, when all the local advantages are with the Russians, and there are ample opportunities for defection, sentiment throughout the city, including the Soviet sector, is—as it always has been —predominantly on the side of the western Powers. This remains true in spite of the confusion and disillusion which attended the introduction of currency reform in the western sectors. Any progress that Communism has made in Berlin since it was rejected, in the guise of the Socialist Unity Party, at the elections in October, 1946, has been due to Russian pressure, not to any swing m popular sentiment. This firm political attitude, which has deserved a better leadership than the rion-Communist parties have been able to provide, has gone hand in hand with an increasing calmness m face of a deteriorating local situation. There is probably less nervousness now than at the end of last year, when the western Powers first felt impelled to declare that, come what might, they would insist on their rights and remain in Berlin. They further contributed substantially to this German steadfastness when they developed their “air bridge” to bring enough food into the city and defeat the - Russian blockade. One Dakota in the sky has been worth half a dozen written and spoken assurances. A host of aircratt coming and going every day and night has brought back to Berliners the morale they showed throughout the air bombardments of the war. They are pleased at the praise they get for their demeanour. They take each day as it comes. Their courage has the negative quality produced by three years of allied disagreement—the feeling of being caught up in a conflict that they cannot influence. The Air Bridge There is hardly any outward sign of the gravity of the crisis in and about Berlin. Life has the same appearance of fantastic normality to be found in every devastated city in Germany. The boundaries between the sectors remain open, and the working class Soviet districts where the devastation was exceptionally heavy look as they have always done—a little shabbier and more neglected than the British and American, where private enterprise, often drawing on the black market for both funds and materials, has built up at least a facade of prosperity. In the three western sectors the British and American air services have made it possible to maintain the level of rations. The black market in food disappeared with the introduction of the two new currencies: this has been a hardship to many who had been accustomed to supplement their rations from it, especially in the last days of each rationing period. Electricity for household use has been limited to about two hours a day, and is often available too late at night to be useful, but gas has not been cut or reduced in pressure. The picture in the home is roughly what it has been in any of the three post-war winters, without the added rigours of the weather. This advantage has been cancelled out psychologically by the confusion of currency reform. In the Soviet sector, by the law which Marshal Sokolovsky sought to apply to the whole of Berlin, only the Ostmark, the temporary curfency of the Soviet zone, circulates legally. In the western sectors the Deutschemark was issued after the Russians had refused to have one currency under four-Power control. The circulation of the Ostmark is also permitted, and even officially encouraged in the western sectors, where it is legal tender, particularly for the basic necessities —food, rents, and tram and Underground fares. What was not wholly appreciated, largely because it was not made sufficiently clear by the British, American, and French financial experts handling currency reform, was that there was no intention that the Deutschemark should rival the Ostmark as a currency

in the western sectors. The announce, ment that an employee can require payment of only one-quarter of his wages in the western currency came as a shock that has not been allayed bv the official explanation that the western currency is intended for the purchase of consumer goods when avails able from western Germany. There is genuine anxiety lest the western mark should disappear altogether. There is doubt whether small businesses which are required to accept the Ostmark from their customers can pay any part of the wages of their employees in Deutschemark once the initial period of currency reform is over. Fuel for Industry Leading politicians and municipal representatives have expressed to the British Military Governor, to the deputy-commandants, and to various Allied officials the current fears that the introduction of the western currency into the western sectors has been mismanaged. Rightly or wrongly there is a conviction that German advice has been disregarded, that in an effort to preserve the value of the Deutschemark its circulation in Berlin has been arbitrarily and unwisely restricted and that chaos will be created in the economic life of the western sectors which ultimately can benefit only the Russians. This has not seriously depressed German morale so far but an authoritative official statement embracing the political considerations which financial experts seem to overlook in their explanations is essential Currency reform has tended to turn away attention from the most serious result of the Russian blockade. Unless coal can also be flown in in suffi. cient quantities—and that is an admittedly difficult operation by air—the industry of the western sectors is endangered. Since the Russians cut off supplies of current from their sector and zone, power to the factories in the western sectors has had to be reduced by 75 per cent. A few large undertakings, like Siemens and A.E.G., still have enough coal for their own generating plants, but it is estimated that industry in the western sectors can, in general, only produce about a quarter of recent output. For a few. weeks, while work in hand is being finished, it will be slightly higher. After that summer holidays and the use of staff for non-productive work like rubble clearance will maintain employment. To that extent the worker will be protected from the consequences of the Russian blockade. The policy will be to spin the work out as long as possible, aad avoid the idleness and doles which could only depress morale. Citizens’ Stoicism The average Berliner has not got round to thinking of this side of the crisis, which, in any case, lies some weeks ahead. His norizon does not stretch so far. There is a general s | realisation that the limits o f local negotiation have been reached. 1110 recent visit of the three western generals to Marshal Sokolovsky is regarded as a mission undertaken less in the hope of success than to place on record that everything possible ■ has been done here. The dispatch of the Three-Power Notes to Moscow has been welcomed as its logical result Some Germans in the western sectors are impatient for action, but it. is- j recognised that allied diplomacy here has done all it could in a situation where little room is left for manoeuvring. No one. the Communists excepted, blames them for the steps they have taken in the west. A situation report from Berlin must end as it begins with appreciation of the calm and courage of the citizens, especially those of the western sectors, who have everything to fear from any extension of Russian authority in the city. These qualities have found expression in the non-Communist ma- , jority in the city council which, meet- ! ing in the Soviet sector, has refused to be intimidated by Russian threats , and at least one rowdy Communist r demonstration. But the calm and courage extend beyond the politicalfl parties to the common man. The unaffected loyalty of simple Germans.,'-■ —secretaries, car drivers, and household servants—to their British employers continues unabated. They realise what is involved in the present crisis, but it is rare to meet one who shows signs of panic.