Picnic Helps Flight of East Germans to West

The intra-German refugee crisis intensified Saturday when several hundred East Germans fled from Hungary into Austria though a border gate that had been opened for a symbolic picnic celebrating European unity.

The gate was opened to mark the greater access across the Austro-Hungarian frontier as a symbol of the reduction in East-West tensions, with Hungarian frontier guards present to stamp passports of European participants.

But East German citizens, who had been vacationing in Hungary, suddenly began walking through the gate. They were not stopped by Hungarian frontier police.

Bonn officials said the Saturday incident is sure to exacerbate relations between West Germany and the East German Communist regime: East Germany has accused Bonn of fomenting an exodus from the country.

The Austrian Press Agency said that about 300 East Germans pushed through the normally closed gate during the Austro-Hungarian ceremony, while another 200 hurried through later.

It was believed to be the largest number of East Germans to flee illegally to Austria in a single day. Reuters news agency reported that many East Germans were met by friends and relatives in Austria.

The East Germans had been camped in vacation grounds near the border. When they heard the gate was open, they left their belongings behind and headed for Austria, the news agency reported.

Sponsored by Opposition

The Saturday occasion was a picnic sponsored by Hungarian opposition groups under reformer Imre Pozsgay, and Austria’s Pan-Europa Union for abolishing frontiers, under the patronage of West German member of the European Parliament Otto von Hapsburg, one-time heir to the Austro-Hungarian monarchy.

The guests were supposed to walk through the gate from Hungary into Austria and return for a meal celebrating the occasion.

The Hungarian police, according to the Budapest official news agency, could only have stopped the East Germans from joining in the parade by using force but were given instructions not to use arms.

“We have to compliment the Hungarian guards,” Reuters quoted West German Wolf Held as saying. “They simply turned around when they saw the people coming.”

The East German government has vehemently protested to Bonn about the refugee situation, accusing West Germany of aiding immigrants by granting them asylum in embassies in Eastern Europe.

The West Germans say they have not tried to abet the flight of East Germans but will give them shelter in their diplomatic establishments, and that East Germans are automatically entitled to West German passports if they apply.

The East German exodus has been attributed to the worsening economic and political conditions in East Germany, which has rejected the reforms introduced in the Soviet Union, Poland and Hungary.

In recent weeks, an estimated several thousand East Germans have made their way across the Hungarian border with Austria. This route was opened when Budapest in May ordered the heavy border fencing dismantled.

Hungarian police still patrol all road crossings of the frontier, with instructions to seize East Germans and send them home with their documents stamped as would-be border-crossers. But East Germans have been hiking through woods to get across.

Once on the Austrian side they are quickly transported to Vienna where they are given proper documents at the West German Embassy and tickets for the rail trip to the Federal Republic. There, crowded resettlement camps await them.