The Refugee Danger
At well over 1,000 persons a day, the refugee movement into West Berlin from the east hai passed the danger mark. At first this influx looked like a local and temporary diffi- culty for Berlin; but its persistence and mounting volume made it a serious problem for Germany; and now it is assum- ing the proportions of a danger to West Europe as a whole. The mental attitude which made it possible for the Western Powers to accept without great uneasiness the steady move- ment of refugees from the east which has never ceased since the war must now be changed. Dr. Adenauer has already sounded an alarm for all Germans. He has said that movement on this scale cannot but intensify the difficulty of re-uniting the two halves of Germany—an aim which no true German ever forgets. He has, therefore, solemnly asked all those Germans who are not in immediate personal danger to stay on In East Germany if they can. He has also welcomed the first signs that the Western Powers are awake to the danger to the whole precarious balance in Europe which must follow from a new large-scale exodus from the East. For West Germany the refugee problem is already a political complication which is full of danger. Disgruntled misfits, potential Nazis; the hard core of unemployables and semi-criminals who still hang on In the refugee camps, and the sprinkling of Communist sympathisers who can move in among the crowds of new arrivals are all a menace to stability. To regard the refugees simply as a living proof of the impossibility of living a decent life free from fear in East Europe, or as an early sign of coming collapse there, is to underestimate the strength of the forces of State control in Communist countries. It-is impossible to Ignore the possibility that those countries may be strengthened by the departure of some thousands of their least enthusiastic citizens. The influx into Berlin in the past few weeks is in no sense a subject for complacency. It is better to regard it as a danger-signal.
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