MOSCOW RADIO’S CHARGE

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27073, 23 June 1953, Page 9

MOSCOW RADIO’S CHARGE

U.S. General Blamed For Riots

• LONDON, June 21. The Moscow radio alleged today that a West Berliner arrested in East Berlin on June 17, had confessed that the riots were organised by an American, Major-General Sievert. According to the broadcast, Werner Kalkovsky, an unemployed actor, born in Mecklenberg in 1916, and now living in the American sector of Germany, had stated that he was “incited by Americans to cause the riot.” Kalkovsky is said to have told the East German authorities that he was sent into the “democratic sector” with at least 90 other people to organise the disturbances. They were led by the American, Sievert, in uniform with shoulder straps bearing two stars (denoting the rank of a major-general). Kalkovsky, according to the broadcast, stated that they received instructions from their German leader to turn a peaceful strike in East Berlin into a riot, so as to overthrow the democratic government. Then the American, Sievert, “urged us to fulfil our task in the most effective manner and promised us a couple of months’ rest.” Those jinemployed would “find employment with the West Berlin police with a good salary besides an immediate gratuity of 50 West German marks.” There was no immediate trace of a Major-General named Sievert in the United States forces in Germany.