Congressmen Urge Honecker to Tear Down Berlin Wall

A group of U.S. congressmen on Friday urged East German Communist Leader Erich Honecker to tear down the Berlin Wall, but he gave no indication that he is about to do it.

Rep. Tom Lantos (D-San Mateo), leading one of the most senior U.S. delegations ever to come here, told a news conference after meeting with Honecker that the wide-ranging talks were very cordial and historic.

“The time has come to take down the wall. Our view is that a corollary of the economic achievements cited by Mr. Honecker must be a growth in self-confidence. The GDR (East Germany) could not make a more appropriate and welcome gesture for the 750th anniversary of Berlin,” he said.

The authorities of both East Berlin and West Berlin, which is isolated within East Germany by a 103-mile wall, are preparing festivities for the 1987 anniversary. But East Berlin has refused any cooperation with the West.

Rep. Guy Vander Jagt (R-Mich.) said Honecker had no objection in principle to removing the fortified wall. But Honecker had said this could not happen before the conditions that led to its construction 25 years ago had been ended.

Honecker had cited the flight of skilled labor to the West as the chief cause, he added.

“He did not give a date or any indication of one,” Vander Jagt said.

Lantos said talks between the 11-man U.S. team and Honecker as well as sessions with Foreign Minister Oskar Fischer and parliamentary President Horst Sindermann could help put relations with East Germany on a new plateau.