Crack in the Ice

While ideological thaw crept through the satellites in the wake of the 20th Party Congress, East Germany's Socialist Unity (Communist) Party remained the iceberg of the Communist world. Goat-bearded First Secretary Walter Ulbricht, 64, an old-line Stalinist, kept his party and his nation under tight control. Intellectuals or students showing signs of "liberalism" were summarily jailed.

Last week the iceberg suddenly cracked. Without warning, Ulbricht fired three of his top associates, labeled them members of "an opportunistic group trying to change the political line of the party." In short, the three had shown signs of thaw. "Others" in the party, added the announcement, were associated with the group--a sign that a good-sized purge was in progress.

Most important was grave, bespectacled Karl Schirdewan, generally considered Ulbricht's prospective heir as Communist boss of East Germany. When Ulbricht visited Moscow last year, Schirdewan sat in for him as First Secretary. Schirdewan was charged with "advocating a safety-valve policy akin to that applied in Hungary and Poland." In an indictment that was also an unconscious admission, a Politburo spokesman explained: "Had we followed [Schirdewan's] opinions, very probably we would have had to suppress a counterrevolution with use of arms."

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