Bonn to Pull Up Welcome Mat : E. Germans Won’t Get Special Aid

Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s Cabinet today agreed to begin scrapping special benefits for East German settlers in an attempt to stop them from flooding into West Germany, a government official said.

The government said it will close reception camps and scrap cash handouts starting in July to stop an exodus that has brought half a million immigrants from East Germany in the last 15 months.

Bonn simultaneously tried to reassure East Germans by telling them that their virtually worthless currency should be replaced by the West German mark this summer as a prelude to unification.

Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said the government will ask Parliament to repeal a 1950 law under which 4.5 million people have been resettled in the country.

He said the introduction of currency, economic and social union between the two Germanys by this summer will give East Germans an incentive to stay at home.

“With these measures, the need for a reception procedure will disappear,” he told a news conference.

Schaeuble said the reception camps that house East Germans until they have found a permanent home will close starting July 1.

From the same date, East Germans will no longer receive handouts of $120 in cash and cheap loans of up to $2,400 to buy furniture.

Until economic and social union, settlers will remain entitled to “assimilation money” of about $600 a month, officials said.

The decision is aimed at encouraging East Germans to stay home and help rebuild their country and to relieve the burden East German resettlers are putting on West German social services.

The Cabinet move came two days after East Germany’s first free election in which a conservative alliance allied to Kohl’s party won. The winners are still negotiating on forming a coalition East German government that will help set the pace for unifying the two Germanys.

In Sunday’s elections, East Germans gave 48% of the vote to a conservative coalition actively backed by Kohl that promises quick unification. After the victory, Kohl appealed to East Germans to stay home. He repeated the message Monday night on West German television.

“Please stay home,” the chancellor said in an interview with the ZDF network. “Unpack your bags. Go back to the factories and offices, and help in building up the country.”

A new ZDF poll released hours after East Germany’s election said only 13% of West Germans still welcome their compatriots from the East now that they have freely chosen a government. The poll showed 43% of West Germans have no understanding for the continued exodus, and more than half want to cut aid to the immigrants.

Bremen, one of the 11 West German states, said it will not help East Germans find housing. The local government said that its camps for East Germans are overflowing and that it will accept only those who find their own housing.

Bremen Mayor Herbert Schmalstieg urged the federal government to close reception centers for the refugees and send back all East Germans who cannot be housed by local communities.