Blackmail

East Germany's Reds needed machinery and tools from West Germany to bolster their lagging Five Year Plan. This is how they went about getting it:

Four weeks ago they stopped trucks leaving West Berlin for Germany's West zone, demanded a toll of $75 a round trip to pay for "road upkeep." They had already cut off the Berlin-Mittelland barge canal for "repairs" and hampered railway parcel-post shipments on still another pretext. Meanwhile, Red negotiators sat down with West German officials to talk about a new trade agreement between East and West Germany.

Last week, Bonn signed the one-year treaty the Reds wanted, providing for the exchange of $120 million worth of goods. In return, the Reds agreed to lift their creeping blockade of Berlin. As a first step they dropped the $75 road tax to $2.50. The West waited for the other barriers to come down.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.