The Strongest Emotion

Despite 21 years of isolation, continuous anti-West propaganda and the ominous presence of 22 Soviet divisions, the strongest political emotion in East Germany remains a fervent desire for reunification with West Germany. The strength of that desire was reflected all across the walled-in country last week as a furor broke out over the question of closer contacts with West Germany.

Ironically, it was East Germany's Red boss, Walter Ulbricht, 72, who inadvertently touched off the outburst. As a propaganda ploy, Ulbricht has for years written an annual letter to the Social Democrat Party in West Germany, piously imploring the SPD as the representative of the working class to join with his Socialist Unity Party in bringing about German reunification. Each year the Social Democrats had refused to answer the detested Ulbricht--until this year. Reflecting West Germany's new and more flexible attitude toward the Communist bloc, the Social Democrats last month fired back a reply that demanded unrestricted travel between the two Germanys, increased cultural contacts, and debates between Eastern and Western politicians to explore the possibilities of reunification.

Ulbricht was so pleased to finally get a reply from the West that he overruled his advisers and ordered Neues Deutschland, the official daily paper, to print the SPD letter. Though an East German rejoinder rejecting the Western proposals ran alongside, East Germans did not seem to notice. They were seized with excitement at the sudden start of a dialogue between East and West. The issue of Neues Deutschland, which was snatched off the newsstands within minutes when the letters appeared late last month, was selling last week on the black market at 40 to 50 times the original price. Factory workers held meetings to discuss the letters, and students talked of little else. All over East Germany, Communist functionaries were being bombarded with questions about why the Western proposals should not be accepted. So far, the answers have not been very convincing.

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