SOVIET’S TIGHT REIGN ON EAST GERMANY WITH 36,000 IN CAMPS

Grey River Argus, 14 November 1949, Page 5

SOVIET’S TIGHT REIGN ON EAST GERMANY WITH 36,000 IN CAMPS

LONDON, November 12. “The Times” correspondent at Berlin says: Jubilation with which it is received in the Soviet-licensed press does not conceal the meagreness of an amnesty approved on Wednesday bv the Lower House of the East German Parliament. The amnesty favours only those guilty, or accused, of ordinary and not too serious criminal offences, and it specifically excepts political offenders. _ It will touch few, if any, of the thirtysix hundred people who are reported to be in concentration camps in the Soviet Zone of Germany. The correspondent adds that, at the moment, tnere are few signs that the Soviet authorities contemplate any special acts of generosity, such as would greatly popularise the new Eastern regime, or that they will allow the East German Government any great scope in this direction. It says: “The impression here is that the Government is being kept on a fairly tight rein, and that the Socialist Unitv Party, which dominates it, is adopting the same, attitude towards the Liberal Democrats and the Christian Democrats who, some observers believe, 'will be squeezed out of existence■ before the elections are held in October of next year.