Hungary Helps E. Germans Move to West : Budapest Grants More Than 100 ‘Humanitarian’ Exit Permits

More than 100 East German refugees, granted “humanitarian” exit permits by the Hungarian government, arrived in West Germany on Thursday.

The East Germans had been holed up in the West German Embassy in Budapest for the past 11 days, refusing to get out until they were granted permission to leave for the West. Their presence in Budapest had caused considerable friction between Hungary and East Germany, with the West German government caught in the middle.

Diplomats here said that Hungary’s approval of the East Germans’ departure--via chartered plane to Vienna, with documents issued by the International Committee of the Red Cross, and then by bus to a camp near Nuremberg--would not improve relations between East Germany and West Germany.

Last Holdouts

The refugees were the last holdouts in the West German Embassy in Budapest when Bonn ordered the embassy closed because of overcrowding. Bonn had done the same thing with its missions in East Berlin two weeks ago and in Prague on Tuesday.

Hungary indicated that its action was a special case, worked out in negotiations with the West German government and the Red Cross in Geneva.

Ordinarily, Hungary does not let East Germans leave on West German passports issued in Budapest, on the grounds that there is no entry stamp in the passport.

Under the West German constitution, all East Germans are entitled to West German citizenship, but the West German passport does not guarantee passage out of a Communist country.

800 Camped on Border

At present, about 800 East Germans are camped out in Budapest trying to find a way out to the West. Hundreds of others, “on vacation” in Hungary, have congregated near the Austrian border hoping to cross there because of relaxed frontier controls.

Across the border in Austria, tourists have been gathering to watch and cheer the fleeing East Germans.

About 3,000 East Germans have reached Austria from Hungary since May, when the Budapest regime began dismantling the wire fences that define the border with Austria. Another 5,000 are said to have been caught by Hungarian border guards and sent home.

In Budapest on Thursday, officials said Hungarian frontier guards stopped hundreds of East Germans from crossing into Austria the day before. Under an agreement with East Germany, Hungary is required to stop people from crossing into Austria.

Vacation Ban Reported

The East German government on Thursday denied a report in the West German newspaper Die Welt that East Germans would be prohibited from taking vacations in Hungary as of Sept. 1 because of the exodus.

“The East German leadership will, in the future, treat Hungary like a Western foreign country for travel purposes,” the paper said.

But an East German spokesman said that travel to Hungary would continue to be permitted. Every year, about 2 million East Germans go to Hungary for vacations.

The East German government accused the West of engaging in “trade in human beings, and people are being illegally shipped out.”

In Bonn, the West German government said that “efforts for a practical solution for those East Germans still in Hungary and wanting to emigrate will continue.” But West German officials admitted that they expect no improvement in the status of East Germans seeking refuge in West German missions in East Berlin and Prague.