EASTERN EUROPEAN INTELLIGENCER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79B00864A000800010058-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 7, 2010
• Sequence Number: 58
• Publication Date: April 16, 1968
• Content Type: REPORT

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85 EASTERN EUROPEAN INTELLIGENCER
Allied Response to the East German Travel Ban
16 April 1968
The Allies in Bonn have drafted a joint statement re-
jecting the East German travel ban against West German govern-
ment officials traveling to Berlin. Pending approval from
the capitals the Embassy hopes to deliver the statement to
the Soviet protocol officer in East Berlin before noon on
17 April..
The statement cites Soviet responsibility for insuring
normal functioning of traffic between Berlin and the Federal
Repu i.c. and points out that the East German decree in no
way e fects this responsibility, Furthermore, the statement
reiterates that the East Germans have "no legal competence"
in matters of access between the two points.
The Mission believes, however, that Allied and West
German protests are not enough. Viewing the ban as the
"most serious move against West Berlin since the 1958-63
crisis,"the Mission recommended considering some sort of
initial surface probe as soon as possible to be followed by
counteraction against the GDR and perhaps restrictions in
Interzonal Trade coupled with Allied and possibly NATO action
as well.
Berlin Students Seek Agreement to Block Autobahn Traffic
East German leftist students reportedly have approached
the East Germans with a request they be allowed to block
Autobahn traffic in the no-man's land between West Berlin
COMMENT: The students may very well have sought to
arrange such a demonstration but it is highly unlikely that
the Soviets would readily agree to the idea.
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Yugoslavs Upset Over Arbitrary Hungarian Currency Regulations
A Zagreb paper has attacked the new Hungarian currency
regulations which require Yugoslav tourists to convert a
minimum of 50 dinars (12.5 dinars=$l US) into forints before
entering Hungary. The 20 March issue of Vjesnik U Srijedu
points out that the new regulations, whic oo eTfec on 4
March, are only a stopgap in the battle against black market
operations. According to the article, the black market ex-
change rate is about fifty percent higher in favor of the
dinar and the Yugoslavs blame Hungary's "unrealistic exchange
rate for dinars" and the high prices for consumer goods in
Hungary for creating a favorable atmosphere for black market
profiteering. The article also denigrates the value of
Hungarian tourism to Yugoslavia," if the market value of the
forint were brought closer to the official value... Hungarian
tourists in Yugoslavia would not eat from lunch boxes or
spend the night on the open road". The Yugoslavs also
charge the Hungarian Foreign Trade Ministry with frustrating
attempts at other solutions towards improved border zone
cooperation.
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COMMENT: Hungary's action is tantamount to classifying
Yugoslavia with capitalist powers whose currency is arbitrarily
controlled and exploited. Unlike the forint, the dinar is
a semi-hard currency, which presumably has some value for
the Hungarians, who have a trade deficit with Yugoslavia,
which in 1962 was about 19 million forints.
~.~ All is Happy on the Western Border
Radio Prague reported on 13 April that the number of
East Germans visiting Czechoslovakia for the Easter holidays
was half that of last year while the number of West erman
visitors doubled. No figures were given, other than South
Bohemian border crossing points had handled 4,000 foreign
visitors as of noon on the 13th. Most of these resumabl
came from West German and Austria.
COMMENT: Radio Prague earlier reported that Czechoslovak
borders would be open this year to West German tourists who
previously entered Czechoslovakia from Austria. According
to the Czech news agency, short-term visas would be issued
directly at the FRG-CSSR border. The Easter weekend apparently
provided the first major opportunity for West Germans to take
advantage of these changes.
As of. 10 April, Czechoslovak frontier troops continued
to remove obstacles, including tank traps, from certain por-
tions of the Czech-West German border. The Czech Frontier
Command has announced, however, that old obstacles were being
removed because new security devices had been emplaced. The
statement frankly concluded that "so far the situation does
not permit opening the frontier with the German Federal Re-
public." The decline in the number of East German visitors
to Czechoslovakia, of course, reflects Pankow's restricting
private travel to the land of the "fanatical forester."
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NOTE: THE VIEWS EXPRESSED ABOVE REPRESENT
ONLY THE ANALYSIS OF THE EE DIVISION
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