Two Germanys Trade Charges Over Refugees

BONN —  East Germany and West Germany exchanged accusations of bad faith Monday over their negotiations that allowed more than 6,000 East Germans to go to West Germany from Czechoslovakia and Poland over the weekend.

At the same time, East German refugees continued to crowd into West Germany’s embassies in Prague and Warsaw.

By nightfall Monday, more than 1,000 new would-be emigrants from East Germany were reported to have entered the West German Embassy compound in Prague. About 5,000 had been there before Saturday’s surprise exodus.

Sent to Guest Houses

About 150 East Germans made their way into the West German Embassy in Warsaw, where they were registered and sent off to guest houses on the outskirts of the city.

The Communist government of East Germany said in East Berlin that the Bonn government had broken its promise to close its embassies in Prague and Warsaw in order to keep additional East Germans from flooding in.

The official East German news agency ADN said that East Germany had “resolutely protested” that West Germany, after promising to halt the influx, was instead allowing additional refugees to enter its embassies.

An East German official, Horst Neubauer, was quoted as calling Bonn’s action “a gross breach of trust.”

Political observers here think the East Germans now believe that their “humanitarian gesture” in allowing their citizens to leave for the West may have backfired. ADN said that Neubauer, the East German official, was insisting that the new East German refugees in Prague and Warsaw “be ejected and returned to East Germany.”

In reply, Juergen Chrobog of the West German Foreign Ministry denied that any deal had been made to close his government’s embassies as part of the agreement to allow those already in Prague and Warsaw to go by special train to West Germany.

Meanwhile, Hans Klein, chief spokesman for the West German government, said that Chancellor Helmut Kohl has been “in constant contact” with Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev concerning the refugees crisis, which has soured East-West relations in Bonn, East Berlin, Prague, Warsaw and Budapest. He offered no details.

6,300 Left Saturday

In the agreement reached between the two Germanys, about 6,300 East Germans were allowed to board trains in Prague and Warsaw late Saturday and to proceed through East Germany to reception centers in West Germany.

Chrobog, the West German Foreign Ministry official, said the embassy in Prague was closed for a time Sunday because extensive renovation was needed after the thousands of East Germans had been living in the buildings and on the grounds.

“It is in an appalling state,” he said.

But when additional scores of East Germans started showing up, he said, “it broke our heart not to let them in. We could not leave them standing outside.”

As for the future, Chrobog said, “it is West German policy that any German citizen turning up at a West German embassy for help will be helped.” West Germany recognizes only a single German citizenship, which entitles an individual, whether from the east or west, access to Bonn’s missions.

East German Anger

Chrobog’s statement was sure to anger the East German government. Its citizens need no special documents to travel to Czechoslovakia, and Prague, which is only about 60 miles from the East German frontier, could continue to be an unofficial exit point for East Germans headed for West Germany.

The area around the West German Embassy in Prague was clogged with cars abandoned by East Germans seeking asylum in the embassy compound. Other East Germans, burdened with suitcases, hiked through Prague on Monday looking for the embassy. Their numbers grew as trains arrived from East Germany.

“We are losing the equivalent of a village a day,” an East German official said.

Also, the refugee crisis, which began in May when Hungary opened its frontier with Austria, threatens to spoil the long-planned celebration of the 40th anniversary of the founding of the East German state on Saturday.

West German officials said they told the Czechoslovak government in a protest filed Monday that the police in Prague should not try to prevent East Germans from entering the grounds of the West German Embassy there.

Earlier in the day, police seized two men trying to get into the embassy. Both were released after a West German diplomat intervened and escorted them into the compound through the front gate.

Shortly before that, police were seen beating and grabbing at four East German youths trying to get into the compound through the rear garden. But by afternoon, refugees could walk in through the front gate.

The Bonn government asked East Germany to allow the 1,000 East Germans who entered the embassy in Prague on Monday to join those who were allowed to proceed to the West. It said in a statement issued by Rudolf Seiters of the chancellery that only a change for the better in the Communist regime could stem the flow of emigrants.

“Now that East Germany has made the basic decision on letting refugees leave, I would like to ask it to deal with this problem as well,” Seiters declared. “The East German leadership must recognize that it must change course if its young people are not to run away.”

The East German regime has called East Germans who fled to the West “irresponsible, anti-social, criminals and traitors.”

East German Offer Stands

In East Berlin, special negotiator Wolfgang Vogel said the offer he extended last week still holds: If the East Germans in West German missions return home, they will be guaranteed legal emigration within six months.

But few appeared to be heeding his words.

Czechoslovakia and Poland, like Hungary earlier, are caught in a dilemma: They have signed treaties with East Germany that commit them to refuse to allow East Germans to exit without credentials, but at the same time they do not want to offend West Germany, a major trading partner and supplier of economic aid.

The Soviet Union appears to be opposed to the East German position. It has called on East German leader Erich Honecker to undertake Soviet-style reforms.

In this light, Western diplomats believe, Soviet President Gorbachev’s scheduled visit to East Berlin on Friday and Saturday promises to be tense.