Only Socialist Germany Reunified – Khrushchev

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30172, 2 July 1963, Page 13

Only Socialist Germany Reunified - Khrushchev

(N Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright)

EAST BERLIN, July 1. Mr Khrushchev said in East Berlin last night that Germany could not be reunited “in our time,” unless it were Socialist.

During a eulogy of the East German Communist leader, Mr Walter Ulbricht, at a state reception to honour Mr Ulbricht’s 70th birthday, Mr Khrushchev digressed in an aside to Western journalists.

Wagging his forefinger at them, he said with a chuckle: “Get your notebooks out. I have something to tell you. There will be a reunified Germany, but in our time there can be no reunified Germany other than a Socialist one.

“Whoever tries to attack the German Democratic Republic will himself be swept away,” he said to stormy applause from the 23C0 guests gathered in the great whiteceilinged Dynamo sports hall for the gala reception A notable absentee from the reception was the Rumanian Communist leader. Mr Gheonghe Gheorghiu-Dej. He was the only East European Communist leader who neither came nor sent a delegation Ranged alongside Mr Khrushchev at the head table in places of honour were Mr Wladyslav Gomulka, of Poland, Mr Janos Kadar, of Hungary, Mr Antonin Novotny, of Czechslovakia and Mr Todor Zhivkov, of Bulgaria

Mr Gheorghiu-Dej confined himself to cabling Mr Ulbricht, “Brotherly greetings and best congratulations" on his birthday. His absence was the main topic of conversation among diplomats and Soviet Bloc correspondents at the beginning of the reception Several Communists said quite frankly they thought the Rumanian leader’s absence reflected political differences within the Soviet Bloc These differences had been made clear by the Rumanian publication of the latest Chinese letter criticising the Soviet Union —a step not taken in the Soviet Union itself. In his half-hour speech devoted almost entirely to a laudatory tribute to Mr Ulbricht. Mr Khrushchev described him as a “great son of the German workers" who “has led a relentless struggle against revisionism and dogmatism” Trouble With Lapel

After his speech, Mr Khrushchev presented Mr Ulbricht with the Order of Lenin, the Soviet Union’s top decoration, but the actual presentation was a hard struggle. Mr Khrushchev could not

ge’ the pin to stick into the lapel of Mr Ulbricht’s jacket. For five minutes be wrestled wifth the recalcitrant decoration while the whole hall chuckled. The East German leader tried his best to laugh with the rest of the guests, but was plainly perturbed at the time it was taking.

An advance party of the Chinese delegation to the Chinese-Russian ideological talks left for Moscow by air early today, reliable diplomatic sources said in Peking The six main members of tne delegation are expected to follow within a couple of days. The advance party includes interpreters and minor officials The talks open on Friday Attacks Charged

Last night Ghana sa.id it would attend the talks in spite of “attacks on our party’’ made by the Soviet Communist Party A statement from the central committee of the Chinese Communist Party said it was hoped the talks would bring “positive results. that Chinese-Soviet relations will be improved, and that the unity of the international Communist movement will be -trengtihened." But it said that measures taken by the Soviet party “constitute a serious step in worsening Chinese-Soviet relations and in manufacturing a split in the international Communist movement.” The statement was made shortly after the return to Peking of five Chinese, including three members of the Embassy staff in Moscow, whose recall had been demanded by Russia on the grounds they were distributing Chinese ideological documents in Moscow Film Fun (N.Z Press Assn.—Copyright) LONDON, June 30 The film on President Kennedy's World War II experiences, “P.T.109,” has sparked a London newspaper competition. The “Daily Mirror" diarist. Rex North, is now seeking a title for a film on the life of Britain’s Prime Minister, Mr Macmillan One suggestion is: “From Here to Obscurity.”