Very Warm for May

For two months, East German Communists had militantly whooped up a Whitsunday youth march on West Berlin. The Reds had proclaimed that, on May 28, half-a-million members of the Communist-run FDJ (Freie Deutsche Jugend) would converge on Berlin's Western sectors in military formation. Their slogan: "Forward--Berlin Must Be Ours!" In Meissen, a Communist speaker had added a warlike warning. Said he: "When the first shot is fired, that will be the signal for the storming of Berlin!"

Last week the Communists switched their tune. The new theme was not war, but hearts & flowers. On its front page the Berlin Communist press featured a breathless letter from the youth marchers:

"German youth . . . wants to be able to dance and sing, free from care . . . Youth, with blue flags, merry songs and smiling eyes . . . will move through the streets of the capital. . . Who, dear friends [i.e., in West Berlin], is more welcome to you--peaceful German youth, or the atomic bombs of American rear-guard generals?"

Few West Berliners were impressed by the Reds' new tune.

Meanwhile, out in the Soviet zone, FDJ auxiliary units scrounged busily to supply uniforms (blue shirts, black trousers) for the Whitsunday marchers. Harassed farmers were peremptorily ordered to provide extra travel rations. The East German Finance Ministry announced that the marchers were eligible for special Whitsuntide death and accident insurance. In Saxony, Communist youth leaders, many of whom had learned their trade as Hitler youth, instructed their new charges in street-fighting tactics.

Western Germany was taking no chances. In Berlin, Police Chief Johannes Stumm ordered special riot training for his entire force, launched a recruiting drive for extra policemen.

Despite the Communists' protestations of pacifism, Berlin's war of nerves waxed hotter & hotter--even though Whitsunday was still seven weeks away. Said one Allied official: "It's like having a fortuneteller announce that you're going to die in exactly seven weeks. You can try to laugh it off, but you'll be pretty nervous until the fatal day is safely over." Whatever tune the Communists played, it was obvious that Berlin was going to be very warm for May.

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