Show isaia isa ii germans hope to rebuild re bild country out of wreckage expect quality of products to restore reputation of lost beauty of cities seek raw materials for industry by BAUKHAGE news analyst and commentator service 1616 eye street N W washington D C GERMANY one G german erman who otherwise gets along very well with the american occupation officials and Is thoroughly in sympathy with what is going on tn in the court house will nev nevertheless e rth eless be one of the happiest men in germany when the trials are over ile he is a little black haired bespectacled bespectacled roan man named hans ziegler of the city the best translation for or his title Is plain mayor but because all german cities have at least one deputy mayor some of the american writers who have seen service in london translate melster as lord mayor herr Z flegler egler says frankly that his wa work rk will be easier when the huge organization required to support the international military tribunal has folded its tents and departed when he told me this I 1 was rather surprised since at first blush it might seem that the city would benefit from all this american activity however when one considers that what the americans here buy with the germans own money we print it and they have to redeem it the profits can hardly seem desirable the central german government when there is one will eventually redeem the paper marks but all germans will have t to 0 contribute in the fox form m of taxes in n Nu emberg although as I 1 said the city budget had been cut 50 per cent the taxes have already been increased 33 per cent military tribunal imposes burden the chief burden which the military tribunal imposes on the town and the one which presses down hard on the mayor derives from the fact that it takes a lot of tons volts and manpower to keep the wheels of justice moving coal is gs as it Is ger banys chief problem what the russians get out in their zone the chief coal areas in germany the french have taken in theirs transportation has broken down without fuel to heat their homes or to cook with gers have bought up every sort of electrical heater and cooker and this plus the large amount of power used by the americans has put a terrific drain not only on the power plants but the cables it takes coal to ma make ke electricity here where th there er e are no tumbling cataracts As I 1 write the snow is falling in great christmas card flakes a and d even the ruined houses are assuming a touch of beauty but that beauty is of little littie comfort to people living in cellars or rooms without roots roofs half of gs houses were destroyed the mayor told me a third partly demolished the rest can be made livable but alas the military tribunal took over one third of the labor available tor for building and repair and a large stock of materials A two hour walk through the city revealed no shops open except a few food and meat stores in spite of this almost total eclipse of visible industrial existence I 1 was surprised that the mayor placed first on his list 0 of f objectives a restoration of gs long established reputation tor for expert craftsmanship for goods of high quality toys of course but also precision instruments light machinery and pottery we cannot restore gs beauty its historical buildings which brought so many tourists here said mayor ziegler but we can win back our reputation as hard workers and fine workers the city has a long established record for industriousness and exper craft as producers of high quality goods that reputation goes back to the middle ages of course we will have to be very patient we must first rehabilitate our city then we must wait for good raw materials which we must have to produce high quality products and of course all this must wait until germany is once more permitted to trade in world markets but I 1 interjected at this point what about the food situation that in the mayors province he took the view which later proved sound lound enough that america americ would not let the germans starve if that was our intention a after all it solved all problems and there was no need to discuss the other questions the mayor by no means took lor for granted that america was an end less source of supplies that we would forever provide the food which germany herself never had and never could produce all he expected was to be tided over until germany could pay her own way and buy the food for her people and feed for her cattle that brought this keen eyed little man ight back to his original theme our small industries must get back on their feet so that we can sell se 11 our goods in the world mar ket and obtain exchange tor for food imports remember he said the russians have taken over germany s bread basket A great seg ment of the country has been cut away and a million and a quarter german food producers who are also food consumers have moved b back 11 ck within the nonfood non food producing area of germany the ruhr and areas never could possibly teed feed themselves now more people are crowded into them as well as into this area where most of the land Is already under cultivation these newcomers cannot raise food but they can work in our tap fae tortes and produce products who can call buy the food from the rest of the in e world to do that we must be b all allowed owe d to get the raw magerl materials IS and be permitted to trade in the world world markets otherwise there will be starvation riots and chaos which will spread all over europe european economy out of kilter later on I 1 learned more about that spreading in berlin I 1 sat in the office of american food and agriculture administration through that office thit that morning had passed a czech a belgian and a hollander the czech came in to beg permits to in bring sugar into germany which has none the czech s best beet fields have not been de stroked royed st they can cant t ship the beet su sugar gar abroad but they could easily push it across the czech german border where the germans are starving tor for it and the germans have great piles of 0 unused salt the hollander said the germans love my fish they are starving you are importing food for to them my fish is rotting and there are still enough parts for agricultural tu ral machinery in germany and plenty pi enty can be turned out in small factories fa c tortes which we must have it if we are to continue our farming the belgian had the same story from time immemorial belgian cheap beet beef has gone to luebec and other west german cities to go into german sausage the belgians have plenty of scrawny cattle which concoct concocted ed tato lato german sausage would be received only too gladly by the germans what shall I 1 do with this cat tie they are no good tor for anything else and we could get plenty jt if manufactured products in germany to pay for them if you would let only a few shops start manufacturing fac turing the things we need in the russian zone a number it factories are working supplying the russians of course but likewise yielding return enough to keep the germans alive to make more things the russians need I 1 witnessed striking evidence of this will to survive on the part of business men for the th most part it represented the retail er but it is typical of the town I 1 walked through the nightmare of the altstadt the old town which Is withie the ancient city wall and was the famous sightseeing sight seeing center as well as the location of the main police station and city hall where the SS troops held out to the last man the destruction is too horrible to dwell upon it is an exaggerated coventry but all along the main streets now cleared of rubble were brand new well painted signs bear ing the name of the shop owners who had once done business there with visitors from all the world and plain to see wa was the notice of a new address it gave one a strange feeling to see bright bits of neat board stuck in a dump clump heap a neat dump heap it made you think of the restless hand in the tha old tale projecting from the grave |