Getting Out of East Germany

Since last spring hundreds of East Germans have fled to the West by first traveling East, going to Hungary on vacation and then sneaking across the border into Austria. At the same time, though, many other would-be refugees have been caught by Hungarian border patrols and returned to East Germany, where they face years in prison for “fleeing the republic.” The unsanctioned exodus from East Germany, which remains one of the Communist states most resistant to reform, has been greater than at any time since the Berlin Wall was built 28 years ago this month to try to staunch a politically humiliating and economically debilitating flood of escapees.

The defections from East Germany are also producing problems for the West German Federal Republic, which has traditionally offered a generous welcome and immediate citizenship to refugees from East Germany. The Bonn government this week had to shut its diplomatic mission in East Berlin after it was swamped with applicants for visas. The mission compound itself already is bulging with 131 East Germans who refuse to leave unless they are guaranteed exit visas. Hundreds of other East German citizens are squatting in the West German embassies in Budapest and Prague as they demand exit visas. East Germany has, in fact, liberalized its emigration policies, with up to 100,000 of its citizens expected to settle in West Germany this year. But as many as 1 million other East Germans are believed eager to move West. For some of those, a chance to escape through Hungary offers what may be their only way out.

Since May, when Hungary began dismantling long stretches of fencing along its 214-mile border with Austria, the opportunities to get to the West have increased. But a safe border crossing is still chancy. Hungary continues to honor an unwritten agreement among East Bloc countries not to facilitate the defection of one anothers’ citizens. Austria says that nearly 1,000 East Germans have crossed from Hungary since May, but at the same time the Hungarian news agency claims that hundreds have been caught and sent home. Hungary, which is proud of its liberalization efforts, seems embarrassed at having become a conduit for East German defectors. But it is not yet so embarrassed that it will turn a blind eye to the border crossings, lest it stir up new antagonisms within the East Bloc.

The Federal Republic also worries about damaging its fragile relations with East Germany. Of particular concern is that the defections could jeopardize the Communist state’s eased emigration policy and its more tolerant attitude toward foreign travel by its citizens. Meanwhile, though, efforts by East Germans to get out through Hungary don’t seem to be diminishing. The risks of being caught and punished are high. But the impulse to seek a better life in the West is obviously powerful. So long as the opportunity remains, it seems clear that a lot of East Germans are ready to accept those risks.