GERMANS BITTER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27383, 8 May 1950, Page 5

GERMANS BITTER

Reaction To Russian Claim REPATRIATION OF WAR PRISONERS Rec. 11.30 p.m. BERLIN, May 7. Alarmed by outraged German reaction to Russia's claim to have repatriated all German prisoners of war, states the Associated Press, the Communists today- launched a furious propaganda counter-offensive. The Russian-controlled press and radio described as “ poisonous lies the German and Allied charges that hundreds of thousands of Germans were still being held in slave labour in the Soviet Union. The Communists repeated their charges that the Western Allies were withholding captured records of the German army dead to give the impression that thousands of Germans were still alive in Russia. Yesterday, the West German Chancellor, Dr Konrad Adenauer, demanded from the Soviet Union an immediate explanation about I,SUU,UUU German war prisoners not returned tb Germany. He told Parliament that on the basis of Russian figures alone this number must still be in Russia or must have died in Soviet prison camps. , , „ Supporting his statement, Dr Adenauer said a 1945 Russian news agency report referred to 3,SOU,UUU German prisoners, but a Soviet report last night accounted for only 2,000,00 U “We cannot assume that these 1,500,000 died in Russia,” said Dr Adenauer. The Chancellor charged bitterly that 1,500,000 Germans, including tens of thousands of deported civilians, had not come home from Russia. He appealed to the victor nations to force the Russians to “ clear up these terrible figures.” In Washington American State Department officials describe as “fanastic and absurd ” Russia's claim that it had repatriated all German prisoners. The State Department estimates that the Russians have at least 200,000 German troops in forced labour and prisoner of war camps. . Public anger against the Communists mounted throughout West Germany as the leaders denounced Russia’s claim to have repatriated all German war prisoners. The Russian announcement on German prisoners of war caused probably the most profound sensation in Germany since the end of the war. Countless German homes Still awaiting the return of husbands, fathers, and sons were plunged into mourning. The American High Commissioner, Mr J. J. McCloy, also refused to believe the Russian claims, and when the Communist Deputy, Hein Renner stood up in the Bundestag later in an attempt to defend the Moscow statement, all the Deputies except the Communists walked out in anger. As the wave of anti-Communism swept West Germany, the German police took the first official action against the Reds, and broke up a press conference in Bonn being given by the Communists to explain the Russian announcement. West Germany’s Plans In Germany, Dr Kurt Schumacher said that the West German Parliament would probably take up the matter next week of prohibiting the Communist Party. German political circles say the move is due to resentment at the alleged Russian failure to send home all German prisoners of war. Dr Schumacher is leader of the Social Democratic Party—the largest in the West German Opposition.