Speech #830100560

They have 60.000 families on the waiting list for housing. They have 30.000 more people in the city. They still have 30.000 unemployed. and yet Bremen is taking a share of the new refugees now coming in through East Berlin. In 1952 Bremen sent 60.000 packages to the Eastern Zone of Germany and East Berlin. In addition to that they sent. at city expense. 1.000 barrels of their herring catch to help feed these poor unfortunate peoplein Eastern Germany who are being oppressed by the Communist regime. Of course. our United States policy is based strongly on the correct premise that the Germans are going to be united. We should by this bill help take the refugee burden from the West German and the West Berlin economy so that they can have an adequate economy. and they can help more people when they do come in. The West Berlin government. the West German Gov-* ernment. and the Government of Austria are doing an excellent job in handling the refugees and are to be complimented on their efficient and warmhearted administration. You say. "Well. how many Communists are there in tremen?" I asked about the recent election they held on April 10. just before I talked to the mayor. On the election that the harbor workers held. in which 15.000 participated in Bremen on April 10. not a single Communist was elected to represent them on their steering council of the harbor workers union. You say then "what is the screening? What screening do the refugees get when they come in to West Berlin from East Berlin?" I spent quite a bit of time checking that. There are now 90 temporary camps in Germany where they move to. They first come into a registration station and there they are given a questionnaire and asked questions at a desk by West Berlin officials who interview them. They are asked about the way they live. what their political beliefs are. and what their background is preliminary to another checkup. They receive in this first registration a physical examination. Then the refugees are taken by buses to a second checkup point. That second registration place is a big warehouse which is divided into booths and tables. That screening is under the government of the city of Berlin. The government agency is called the Refugees Service of the Senatorial Department for Social Affairs. The refugees are thoroughly screened there and interviewed by a whole new set of people who are trained personnel. Then the refugees are sent for registration with the German police. at a reporting station on the West Berlin fair grounds. They are photographed. their Eastern identification cards are checked. their background is checked again. because West Berlin is going to be sure that they do not get Communists. The refugees are issued a temporary pass for 4 weeks. to be used prior to their being flown out from West Berlin to West Germany. In addition. they have a fourth registration they must go through. and this applies to every refugee. The fourth registration is with the bund of the West German Republic. for assignment to the particular lands or states. according to quota. The government checks them thoroughly by questioning to see whom they are going to transport to the various permanent camps in the lands. where efforts are made permanently to resettle them. So that you have a 4way screening by the Berlin city.officials and the West German Government when the refugees come over from East Berlin. which process for each refugee takes a period of 2 weeks. before the refugee appears for plane transportation at Templehof airport in Berlin. Out of that whole group of refugees that has come in here. I am informed that we have not received more than two subversives under our former Displaced Persons Act. I am advised that there have been only 3 pro-. ceedings for deportation of any of the 337.000 refugees that were admitted to the United States under the previous Displaced Persons Act. So I recommend strongly that this bill be passed as an aid to Germany. Italy. Greece. Portugal. and our other friendly allies. as well as for these fine refugees. and for our own United States security.