12,000 More Begin Exodus to the West : Czechs Applaud as E. Germans Leave Communist ‘Poverty’

Up to 12,000 more East Germans began leaving this city for West Germany today and were applauded by about 1,000 Czechoslovaks who gathered to watch them depart.

The first of 10 special East German trains left here after a delay of nearly 24 hours, caused by more people crowding stations in East Germany in the hope of hitching a ride to the West.

As the East Germans boarded buses sent from East Germany to take them to the railway station, about 1,000 Czechoslovaks clapped repeatedly. The departing refugees waved and made the V-for-victory sign.

“Here we see the poverty of communism,” Charter 77 human rights group member Daniel Kummerman told Reuters as thousands got into the buses. “It is sinking in.”

Meanwhile, 18 disgruntled East Germans trying to get to the West sought refuge in the U.S. Embassy in East Berlin. An embassy spokesman said American and East German diplomats were discussing the next move.

Problem ‘Resolved’

A Czechoslovak government spokesman, Marcel Jansen, said the train shuttle that had been expected to start Tuesday had been delayed by people crowding stations in East Germany and blocking tracks in the hope of hitching a ride.

“The problem has been resolved,” Jansen said, without giving any details.

Travelers arriving at Hof, on the border of the two Germanys, had reported large numbers of mainly young people at stations along the route of the Prague-bound train.

“In Plauen, 20 miles north of (Hof), the train station is said to be totally occupied by young people,” a West German railway spokesman said.

East German church sources reported that police cleared and sealed off the main station in Dresden, near the Czechoslovak border, after up to 3,000 people swarmed over it and blocked the tracks.

West German television, widely viewed in the East, repeatedly showed an interview in which a previous train jumper described how he did it and announced the trains’ probable route--that used by previous refugee specials last week.

Tow trucks began removing hundreds of East German cars abandoned in Prague by those at the embassy, and the state news agency CTK said Prague will hold talks with East Berlin on how to dispose of them.

Visa-Free Travel

East Germany has agreed to allow all its citizens who had come to Czechoslovakia to proceed to the West.

Several thousand of them arrived at the Prague mission overnight, the last to take advantage of visa-free travel to Czechoslovakia that East Berlin terminated Tuesday to halt the exodus.

The number of new arrivals slowed today, a sign that the suspension of visa-free travel is having its effect.

Police in riot gear patrolled a park at the back of the embassy during the night, but officers did not block access to the front.

Plainclothes officers attacked hundreds of East Germans on Tuesday as they scaled the fence into the embassy’s rear garden. Ten were hurt, one seriously.