usagdr@cdp.uucp (10/30/89)
GDR GOVERNMENT AMNESTIES REFUGEES, POLITICAL PRISONERS
BERLIN--The government of the German Democratic Republic
announced Oct. 27 an amnesty for citizens who have left or
attempted to leave the GDR illegally.
The amnesty includes prisoners serving terms for
"Republikflucht," or "flight from the Republic." Also amnestied
are citizens arrested in recent protest demonstrations.
In a related development, the government in Berlin announced
that restrictions on travel to neighboring Czechoslovakia will be
lifted after Nov. 1. These restrictions were imposed on Oct. 3
after nearly 20,000 GDR citizens fled through Czechoslovakia to
the Federal Republic of Germany. The announcement means that GDR
citizens will once again be able to travel to Czechoslovakia
without a visa.
Leaders of the reformist movement "New Forum" welcomed the
new policies, but said demonstrations would continue in the
streets of GDR cities and towns. Although New Forum and other
dissident groups are not yet recognized by the government as
legal organizations, the Berlin SED secretary met last week with
New Forum representatives and promised that the group would be
able to organize a legal mass demonstration in November.
Opposition demonstrations are still illegal, although police have
made no attempt to interfere with demonstrators since the GDR's
new reform government took office earlier this month.
The decisions announced today are the first steps towards
the liberal policy on travel and emigration promised by the new
government. It is widely believed that the government will soon
abolish most restrictions on the right of GDR citizens to travel
to the West.
The number of citizens allowed to visit the West as tourists
or to emigrate legally has steadily increased in recent years.
In 1988 seven million GDR citizens--more than 40 percent of the
population--travelled to West Berlin and the Federal Republic.
It was expected that eventually the government would liberalize
controls on foreign travel, but the mass exodus of GDR citizens
through Hungary and Czechoslovakia during the summer, followed by
the wave of non-violent street marches this fall, has forced the
government to act quickly on this issue.
The General German News Service (ADN), the official GDR
press agency, reported that any GDR citizen who wishes to
emigrate "could apply to leave the counr permanently, and the
applications would be acted on in a short time." In the past,
GDR citizens seeking for permission to emigrate have often been
forced to wait for several years, and have sometimes been
persecuted by authorities.
Prisoners held in GDR jails for "Republikflucht" will be
freed by Nov. 30, ADN reported. Cases now in the courts will be
dismissed. According to Western diplomats, the decision means
that between 2,000 and 3,000 prisoners may be released. However,
the amnesty does not cover persons who have used violence or
"endangered the lives or health of people" during escape
attempts. It is not clear if the government will extend the
amnesty to cover citizens attempting to leave the country
illegally in the future.
The government is now asking the more than 50,000 GDR
citizens who fled the country illegally since last summer to
return to their homeland. Under the amnesty, they will be immune
from prosecution.
Western sources estimate that between 500,000 and 1.5
million GDR citizens have applied for permission to emigrate to
the West. The higher figure is more than nine percent of the
country's total population.
On Friday Neues Deutschland, the national newspaper of the
ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany, published an interview
with Marcus Wolf, the retired chief of the GDR secret police.
Wolf, who has emerged as a leading advocate of political change,
told the newspaper that "I think I have never in my life felt so
ashamed as on the day when I read in the media, 'We should not
waste a tear for the people who have left us.'"
Wolf, 66, has written a book denouncing Stalinism. He
retired two years ago, but is considered a possible candidate for
a senior position in the reform government.
[From USA/GDR DataBank BBS, Washington, D.C., (202) 529-0140]
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