GERMAN REFUGEES

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 September 1945, Page 6

GERMAN REFUGEES

EXPELLED BY TOLES GREAT MARCH WESTWARD (N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent) LONDON, Sept. 17. Germans are still on the move. Today they are not only men, but women and children too, and they are refugees straggling westward. They are being expelled from the provinces of East Prussia, Pomerania, Silesia, Brandenburg, . and the Sudetenland. and in addition all the Germanspeaking peoples in Russia, Poland, and the Balkans seem to be on the march westward. It is estimated that a total of 9,0.00,000 Germans may shortly be expelled to somewhere in Germany west of the Oder-Neisse line which is now virtually the eastern frontier of Germany. Five million of these unfortunate people are wandering about the Russian-occupied zone in Germany in circumstances of great distress and hardship, and enduring suffering similar to that inflicted on the peoples of Western and Eastern Europe during the advance of the Wehrmacht in 1939-42.

In Frankfurt-on-Main representatives of the occupying Powers have been meeting, in an endeavour to cope with the problem presented by these refugee millions, a large percentage of whom are expected to die during the coming Winter from the effects of hunger and exhaustion. It is felt by many sections of the public in Britain that while the Germans may deserve punishment they have not earned torture of this kind.

Indicating the concern felt, a deputation of church leaders headed by the Archbishop of York (Dr. Garbett) who also represented the Archbishop of Canterbury, waited on Mr. Attlee and Mr. ?.• J. Noel-Baker, Minister of State, at No. 10 Downing Street, to draw the attention of the Government to the problem. The deputation was ■ told that though the particular problem was not one for which the Government was in any way responsible, it was hoped that the steps taken at the Berlin conference to suspend further expulsions, pending consideration of the matter by the Allied Control Council in Germany and by the governments concerned, would be effective. Another indication oi concern in Britain is the formation of an organisation called “Save Europe Now” which invites people to submit to ration cuts this Winter in order to assist the women and children of Europe. HORRIBLE STATE Commenting on the position, the special correspondent of “The Times” in Berlin says: “About 1,000,000 refugees have passed through Berlin and have been dispersed in the surrounding countryside. So far they have been forbidden by the British and American authorities to enter their zones without special permission, which is rarely given. However, a good many have probably crossed the border clandestinely. At present it is almost impossible to discover in detail what is going on, but there is plenty of reason to doubt whether the Potsdam clauses referring to humane conditions for the evacuation of these people are being respected, at least by the Poles, though on the other hand, following recent disclosures, the Czech Government modified its evacuation policy, a factor largely responsible for a drop in the average number of refugees arriving daily from 15,000 to 8,000. “In Danzig and elsewhere under Polish control* it is believed that Germans are being rounded up on a house-to-house basis and marched off to railway stations with only the goods they can carry. All sorts of reports are current as to their fate on the way over the Oder. For example, at Kustrin-on-Oder one trainload of several hundred Germans was stopped, and since typhus was ranging among its occupants they were chased out into the fields by the German authorities lest they should enter the town and bring contamination with them. This may not be true. It may also not be true that nearly all towns in the evacuation area have patrols out on the roads to intercept refugees and prevent them entering the area and sharing the food rations already depleted by Russian requisitions. But there is no doubt that the refugees arrive in Berlin in a horrible state, and that once they have been sent forward from Berlin, where they can remain only 24 hours unless too ill to move, there is not check on what becomes of them.

INTERNATIONAL AID “The Russians are trying to cope with the situation, without adequate transport facilities, food, medical supplies, or communications. This does not alter the fact that there are bands ol hungry people scouring the countryside for food and shelter, which arc not sufficient for the people who already live in the area. Most of these refugees are women and children, since most adult males who had not been called up for service in the Wehrmacht are being retained in Poland to provide labour for the reconstruction of that country’s devastated .areas.

“It will seem from all this that the problem is one that can only be tackled on international lines,” says, the correspondent. “The Russians alone cannot be expected to cope with it. The first needs are obviously for more information. Then it will be necessary to divert the evacuated persons among the British, French, American, and Russian zones, so that the whole burden does not fall on one area. Finally, supplies of all sorts must be forthcoming.” The correspondent adds that it is only fair to point out that in Berlin the one place, where any organised effort to help these people is possible on a large scale, the German authorities are doing everything in their power. J. B. Priestly, the author, stopped in Berlin on his way to Moscow, and spent a whole day inspecting the hostels and camps in which the child victims of mass expulsion are being cared for temporarily. Afterwards he declared that an international children’s charter on lines of the Save the Children Campaign after the last war, should be sponsored by the Allied nations.