THOUSANDS CROSS GERMAN BORDER

Greymouth Evening Star, 2 September 1949, Page 5

THOUSANDS CROSS GERMAN BORDER

BERLIN, September 1 (Rec 10 a.m.). —Between 15,000 and 20,000 Soviet Zone Germans streamed across the American Zone border today when the Russians relaxed the border restrictions as part of the celebration to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the outbreak of World War 11. The crossings took place at several points along the frontier from the British zone to the Czech border, but were concentrated mainly near Coburg, Bavaria, where the American and German police were powerless to halt the advance, as the Germans forced their way through barriers and police blocks. An American officer said that many of the Germans carried household goods and heavy suitcases. Many of them had been brought to the border in four special trains, decorated with gay banners, proclaiming, “We want peace.” The Russian border police allowed the Germans to pass through their barriers without papers and the American police gave up the struggle of trying to sop them crossing into the American zone when the crowd had grown to about 15,000. Most of the Germans are expected to return to the Eastern Zone tonight. The “invasion” was not all oneway. American Zone Germans took advantage of the border mix-up to cross into the Soviet Zone, but the German police estimated that only one German was headed East for every nine who travelled West.