NEW ATMOSPHERE IN LEIPZIG -- EAST GERMANS GROWING RESIGNED TO PRIMACY, PERMANENCE OF COMMUNISM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP86T00268R000600030019-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 3, 2013
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: March 1, 1960
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/09/03: CIA-RDP86T00268R000600030019-5
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THE WASHINGTON POST Tuesday, March 1, 1960
...melmr0.11?11
-New Atmosphere in Leipzig
?
East Germans Growing Resigned to Primacy,
Permanence of Communism
?
By Gaston Coblentz
Herald Tribune News Service ?
LEIPZIG, East Germany,
Feb. 9?The East German
Communist regime is showing
sig 4s of consolidating itself
mo4e firmly than at any time
sinc the war and providing
sub tance to Soviet Premier
Nikita Khrushchev's assertion
that the postwar era has given
birth to two Germanys.
This is the most strikng im-
pression gained by visitors to
this year's large industrial fair
at the East German city of
Leipzig, where a fatalistic ac-
ceptance of Communist rule
by many East Germans has be-
gun to replace the crisis atmos-
phere of earlier years.
The East German Commu-
nists clearly consider them-
selves more secure than in
past years. They seem to feel
less surrounded by a sea of
active popular hatred, al-
though refugees and migrants
are still leaving for the Bonn
republic at a rate of almost
100,000 a year.
There is perceptibly less
strain in the air, both among
the German Communist offi-
cials and in the population.
One encounters far less of the
violent anti-Communist talk
that was always heard here be-
fore. Instead one finds a con-
siderable number of people
who explain that it is becom-
ing possible to get along.
At Leipzig?the same is re-
ported' to be true elsewhere
in East Germany?the ingredi-
ents of this change are as fol-
lows:
Living standards of the 16
million East Germans have
improved considerably. Peopl
eat better and dress bet
They are buying furniture
acquiring more goods. M
of them are again beginn
to have something to lose.
The city is still dreary an
depressing, but several de
grees less so than at any tim
in the recent past. The facade
of hundreds of homes and of),
fice structures have a new coat
of clean plaster. New apart-
ment buildings are going op
in growing numbdrs.
Equally important is a sub
s rface change that has bee
c used by the shift in th
rid balance of power sine
t e first Soviet sputnik, two
a d-a-half years ago.
The idea seems to be gain-
ing ground among tilt East
Germans that the Soviet
Union rather than the -Wes
may represent the wave of the
future whether one likes it
or not. This has produced a
certaik. inclination to make
one's personal peace with the
Communists. If free electi ns
were to be held in East c4r-
many, the Communists wo Id
lose. But every East Geri4n
knows that free elections are
not going to be held.
In short the mood is one of
regret that things did not turn
out the other way.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/09/03: CIA-RDP86T00268R000600030019-5