STALIN BUILDING AN “EASTERN RUHR”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26981, 17 January 1949, Page 5

STALIN BUILDING AN “EASTERN RUHR”

IN CZECHOSLOVAK

NZPA—Copyright Rec. 11 p.m. WASHINGTON. Jan. 15. Arnost Heidrich, Secretary-general of the Czechoslovakian Foreign Office, and for 14 years legal and political adviser to the late Dr Edouard Benes, has escaped from Prague and has come to Washington with a detailed story of Communist activities and plans in Eastern Europe. Mr Heidrich was brought here by the United States authorities and has made a full report of conditions in Czechoslovakia to the State Department, says the New York Times correspondent, James Reston. Mr Heidrich reports that Mr Stalin is trying to build an “ Eastern Ruhr ” in Czechoslovakia and Poland. The activities of the Communists in Czechoslovakia do not suggest that the Soviet is at present preparing for an aggressive war against the West, “but they seem to be developing Czechoslovakia primarily as a source of economic reconstruction in Russia.” Mr Heidrich reports that Russia is getting some tanks and guns from Czechoslovakia but is demanding shipments of these in semi-finished condition so they can be finished in secret in Russia. Mr Heidrich says it is obvious the Russians do not trust the Czech army and do not feel that they could wage war against the West on Czech soil. The Russians are using every possible kind of pressure and police state tactics to gain control over the economic life of the whole Eastern European area with a view to rebuilding their own strength at the expense of others.