Word: ulbricht
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...West resolutely girded for any Communist-made showdown on Berlin, East German Puppet Boss Walter Ulbricht showed signs of nervousness. He ordered the 100,000 men of East Germany's "People's Army" alerted to "maximum combat readiness" and gave them their first assignment: to use "all means" to try to stop the debilitating (and embarrassing) flow of refugees through Berlin to the West-an average of 1,000 per day last week. The Communists began to evict East Berliners who work in West Berlin from their homes, mounted a show trial of five East Germans charged with...
...Ulbricht also summoned some 1,500 party functionaries for a pep talk. "After all," he said, "when housewives come into the stores and can't find milk or butter, they begin to criticize. You must understand that we have to pay for all our imports with expensive products. Therefore we can't import any more food than is absolutely necessary." Ulbricht also had a few words for the commissars about East Germany's restive farmers. "You must do a better job of explaining questions of international politics," urged Ulbricht, "so that all the farmers understand that...
Burning Shoes. Ulbricht unwittingly was underscoring what every East German knows-and every refugee's escape mutely testifies to: that life is grim in East Germany and getting grimmer all the time. In its headlong efforts to emphasize heavy industry (East Germany is now the sixth largest industrial nation in the world), the regime has given short shrift to consumer goods. Buyers have to wait at least a year for delivery of refrigerators, up to two years for washing machines. Even the outrageously priced Wartburg car (selling in East Germany for $3,750, in West Germany...
...Souvenir. To Dresdeners, Americans are people from another planet. The mother of a young boy asked if she could have an empty U.S. cigarette pack "as a remembrance." Surprisingly, most were fearlessly outspoken about their dislike of Communist Boss Walter Ulbricht's regime. "Why did you come here?" asked a salesgirl wonderingly. "Why does anyone come here?" Quipped a bitter bartender: "Have a socialist drink: crush one potato in a glass, drink it fast and try to think of vodka." "Shall I describe how it is to live here?" sneered a girl government clerk. "It stinks...
...capacity as front man, Ulbricht was providing a foretaste of harassments to come if the West refused to knuckle under. Among his chosen victims: Germany's Evangelical Church, which had arranged to hold their traditional annual Kirchentag this year in Berlin. Ulbricht's men denied transit for twelve special trains the church had chartered to bring delegates to West Berlin. A Communist official stopped East German Bishop Friedrich Wilhelm Krummacher, refused to let him proceed to Berlin. Church officials planned to hold part of the rally in East Berlin; Ulbricht vetoed...