SOVIET SETTING UP A STATE IN EAST GERMANY

Grey River Argus, 7 October 1949, Page 5

SOVIET SETTING UP A STATE IN EAST GERMANY

One Party Regime

BERLIN, Oct. 5

The Soviet sponsored German People’s Council has been called to meet in Berlin on Friday to transform itself into a “Provisional Lower Chamber.” The decision to call the People’s Council together was taken at a meeting to-night of the Presidium of the People’s Council and leading members of the "bloc of democratic parties in the Soviet zone.” The decision is to be a reply in Eastern Germany to the formation of the Government for Western Germany.

A communique explaining the decision stated: —“The formation of a separate Western German State, the Occupat : on Statute, the dismantling operations which ar e contrary to international law, the refusal of a peace treaty, and the control exercised by the High Commissioners down to such questions as barter treaties between East and West Germany revealed that a serious national emergency has been brought about in Germany by the dictatorial policy of the Western Powers. “To safeguard the national interests of the German people by national self-help, the third ‘German People’s Council,’ which was elected by the third German People’s Congress on May 30, 1949, is hereby requested to declare itself a Provisional Lower Chamber under the articles of the Constitute adopted by the People’s Congress and the Council and to create a constitutional Government of the German Democratic Republic. The Presidium of the German People’s Council has decided to convene the Council in Berlin on Friday.”

To-night’s meeting of the Council and members of the “bloc of democratic parties” took place in the former Nazi Propaganda Ministry in Whilhelmsplatz in the Soviet sector, and was attended by all the top Soviet zone political figures. The resolution was passed unanimously. A CABINET CUT AND DRIED Informed West Germans said that the Soviet-backed Socialist Unity Party leaders had submitted the names of a proposed 14-man Cabinet to the various political groups in the Soviet zone early to-day for approval. Under their Socialist Unity Party would hold eight posts, including such key positions as Chancellor and the Ministries of Justice, Interior and Economics. One portfolio would go to the Liberal Democrats, one to the National Party, one to the Peasant Party and three to the Christian Democrats.

Professor Hermann Kastner (Liberal Democrat) was listed as the nominee for President. Otto Grotewohi Socialist Unity Party) was named as Chancellor and Georg Dertinger (Christian Democrat) as Foreign Minister. The inclusion of a Foreign Minister is regarded as a significant move by the Russians. Allied officials interpret it to mean that the Russians may give their hand-picked Government much wider power than the Bonn Republic with full ambassadorial contact with the Kremlin alongside the Eastern satellite countries.

The . Bonn Republic does not have a Foreign Ministry, this function being reserved for the Western Occupation Powers. A COMMUNIST LEADER

The German People’s Council consists of 400 members, of whom 300 represent the Eastern zone and the Soviet sector of Berlin and 100 the Western zones and the Western sectors of Berlin. Its inner Presidium, which acts as th e Executive Cabinet, has 29 members. Its chairman is the Communist leader, Dr Wilhelm Pieck.

Dr Pieck is also joint chairman with Mr Otto Grotewohl of the Socialist Unity Party, formed by the fusion of the Communists and Social Democrats.

NEW EAST REGIME TO CHALLENGE THAT OF WEST GERMANY (Rec. 6.10) LONDON, Oct. 6 Reuter’s Berlin correspondent says: Eastern Germany will challenge the authority of the west German Government at Bonn on Friday when the Soviet-sponsored German People's Council proclaims a “constitutional Government of the German Democratic Republic,” one claiming to speak for all of Germany. The decision to summon the council was taken on Wednesday night, at a joint meeting of its presidium and a “bloc of democratic parties in the Soviet zone.” This meeting also decided to ask the 329 member Council to declare itself a “provision lower chamber” under articles of a German constitution adopted by the People’s Council last May. A'communique issued after the meeting blamed Allied policy in Western Germany for having created a serious national emergency. The chairman of the Soviet zone Christian Democratic Party, Otto Nuschke said: “Ministries of the coming German Government will be controlled by Parliament, and the foreign policy of the German republic, about to be created, will be the responsibility of this German Government, and not that of a controlling foreign power.”