Hundreds in Prague Get Offer They Refuse : E. Germans Try to Lure Refugees Home

An East German emissary today told 1,200 East Germans holed up in the West German Embassy that they can legally emigrate to the West but first must return home, a spokesmen for the refugees said.

Wolfgang Vogel arrived today to speak to representatives of the East Germans who have crowded the garden of the West German Embassy in the hope of obtaining safe passage to the West.

After meeting with Vogel, 50 or 60 East Germans boarded a bus that reportedly took them to a Prague railroad station for the trip back to East Germany. The others, however, remained in the embassy quarters and it was unclear if they had refused the East German offer.

Vogel is an East Berlin lawyer who has close contacts with the East German leadership.

Refugees who took part in the negotiations told reporters waiting outside the embassy that Vogel gave them a personal guarantee they may emigrate once they return home.

Already, more than 20,000 East Germans have fled to West Germany via Hungary, which incensed East Germany’s Communist leaders when Hungary opened its border to the West on Sept. 11.

In Warsaw, Poland, dozens of other East Germans arrived Monday outside the closed West German Embassy to seek passage to the West. Some said they swam rivers by night or walked through forests on the Polish-East German border.