PEOPLE OF BERLIN ARE RECOGNISED AS HEROES OF BLOCKADE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27080, 14 May 1949, Page 7

PEOPLE OF BERLIN ARE RECOGNISED AS HEROES OF BLOCKADE

NZPA—Copyright

BERLIN, May 12. General Clay, the 1 retiring United States Military Governor in Germany, spoke of the significance of the lifting of the blockade when he addressed the Berlin City Assembly this morning. “ The end of the blockade does not merely mean that trains and trucks are moving again,” he said. “It has a deeper significance. The people of Berlin have earned their right to freedom and to be accepted by those who love freedom everywhere.” He added that the people of Berlin ranked with the American and British pilots who fed the city as the real heroes of the blockade.

The first train out of Berlin since before the Russian blockade arrived at Helmstedt this afternoon. It was met by cheering Germans and a brass band. 1 It was a German inter-zonal train carrying 153 passengers, for most of whom it was their first trip outside Berlin since the Russians applied the blockade. The passengers reported that the Russians and eastern zone German policemen held up the train for an hour checking papers. An exchange office has been set up at Helmstedt to enable travellers to change their money at the rate of 8.80 eastmarks for one westmark.