y GEORGE LAMBERT

ARSAW — The signing of
meaty for “normalization”
Blations between Poland
est Germany is undoubt-
Dne of the most important
towards a détente in Eur-
N Oreover, it shows that
Vill and a sense of realism
Mvercome all obstacles —
hing from which the USA
srael could learn a good
1 in the interest of’ their
Meople and that of the na-
# Indochina and the Mid-

_ decades the
«cratic governments of
7 ermany refused to recog-
the final character of Po-
’ Western frontier on the
and Neisse rivers, as de-
Mted in Potsdam by the
Mhree” and later approved
® French government, and
led and supported all irre-
* movements in their ter-
Hl Claims against Poland.
’ movements, inspired by
“siness, militarists and neo-
_ had and still have the
28 of large numbers of
ens who had been trans-
» to West Germany from
‘ITitories ceded to Poland
he Potsdam Agreement.
) Made things worse was
ict that, as. qa leading mem-

Christian

* NATO, and as one of the

‘Promoters of the cold war
rope, West Germany de-
ed access to nuclear wea-
Such a situation posed a
reat to peace and security
Ope. .
he face of these develop-
the. socialist countries
ot remain passive. The
tw Treaty member-states
hened their military pow-
do at the same time per-
In their efforts to bring
a relaxation of tension.
» for instance, proposed
for a nuclear-free zone in
Europe, and later a
t “freezing” nuclear wea-
nd installations in that
put the West German gov-
Nts were not interested.
ver, a growing number of
In Federal Germany were
ng wary of their govern-
Policy, realizing that the
es that had taken place in
ar Europe could not be
ed by peaceful means,
t, nuclear war, would be
trophe. Large sections of
€rman youth revolted
the Establishment, were
y the crimes commit-
the Nazis during World
» and staged militant
Strations against U.S. ag-
Vietnam.

S “new eastern Olicy”’
Imed at splitting the x
Camp, and wishing to pro-
€ idea of a European se-
Conference, as proposed
§ eee Treaty coun-
ay 1969 Poland again”

tr 4 normalization of re-
with the Federal Ger-

Pent swith’ the | “Free
), he responded
€ new govern-

faty and. a treaty with

renouncing the use
n relations between
untries and recogniz-
lolability of the exist-

ce j
0 co
. Inv
;

Chancellor Willy Brandt at the Warsaw Ghetto Memorial.

ing European frontiers, includ-
ing the Oder-Neisse frontier
and the frontier between Fed-
eral Germany and the German
Democratic Republic.

Polish-West German negotia-
tions lasted, off and on, 10
months, and were crowned with
success on Nov. 18 when the
treaty was initialled in Warsaw
by the Foreign Ministers of the
two countries and signed on
Dec. 7, also in Warsaw by
Prime Minister Jozef Cyrankie-
wicz and Chancellor
Brandt.

The preamble to the treaty
reads as follows: ‘Considering
the fact that more than 25 years
have passed since the end of
the Second World War in which
Poland was the first victim and
which brought great misfortune
upon the people of Europe;
bearing in mind that, in the
meantime, a new generation has
grown up in both countries, for
whom a peaceful future should
be assured; wishing to create a
durable basis for peaceful co-
existence and the development
of good and normal relations
between them; in the endeavour
to fortify peace and security in
Europe; conscious that the in-
violability of frontiers and re-
spect for territorial integrity
and the sovereignty of all states
in Europe, within their present
frontiers, is a fundamental con-
dition for peace, have agreed:”

The five articles of the
treaty declare that the. existing
border line, the course of which
was determined in Chapter IX
of the decisions of the Potsdam
conference of Aug. 2, 1945,
forms the western state frontier
of the Polish People’s Republic;
that they affirm the inviolability
of their existing frontiers, now
and in the future, and mutually
commit themselves to  unre-
stricted respect for their terri-
torial integrity; that they have
no territorial claims against one
another, and will not raise such
claims in the future, that they
will be guided in mutual rela-
tions, as well as in matters con-
cerning the safe-guarding of se-
curity in Europe and in the
world, by the purposes and
principles laid down in _ the
Charter of the United Nations,
and will therefore settle all their
disputes exclusively by peace-
ful means and will refrain from

Willy

the threat of force or the use
in matters which affect Euro-
pean and international security,
as Well as in their mutual rela-
tions; that they will undertake
further steps towards full nor-
malization and comprehensive
development of their mutual re-
lations, including an expansion
of their cooperation in the area
of economic, scientific, scien-
tific-technical, cultural and oth-
er relations; that the treaty does
not affect bilateral or multi-
lateral international agreements
concluded by, or affecting the
two countries.

But the treaty requires rati-
fication by the West German
Bundestag and the Polish Seym
(Parliament). This presents no
problem as far as Poland is
concerned but West Germany is
a different story. Besides reser-
vations about the treaty by the
Christian Democratic Party
(CDU) and its right-wing Bava-
rian branch, the _ Strauss-led
Christian Social Union (CSU),
extreme right-wing forces have
now formed a “Resistance Or-

ganization” made up of neo-
Nazis, veterans’ associations, re
settlers’ organizations, and oth-
er reactionary groups whose
aim is to prevent ratification of
the Soviet-West German and
Polish-West German treaties.

The welcoming of the War-
saw-Bonn treaty by a number
of Western governments, the
articles published by many of
the West German newspaper
correspondents who came to
Warsaw for the various stages
of the negotiations, the state-
ments by Willy Brandt and
Walter Scheel blaming the loss
of territory on Hilter and call-
ing on the resettlers to forget
the past and look to the future
— all these should go a long
way towards overcoming oppo-
sition to the treaty, and the
prospect for substantial expan-
sion of trade with the socialist
camp is bound to bring support
on the part of a certain section
of the West German business
circles.

Here is an interesting side-
light. Foreign Minister Walter

MUTT eC TTT TOUTE EEE E EEE E EEO OU CC CUCU TEEEEEEEEEEEEEECEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECUEEEEEEEEREREUECECEEOCEEEEEECEEERS

Road is opened to European security

Scheel arrived in Warsaw on
Nov. 2, All Souls’ Day, when
homage is paid to the dead, and
he noticed candles burning in
the front of buildings where
groups of Poles had been exe-
cuted by the Nazis, and there
are thousands of such places
in the city. Anyone with a hu-
man spark in him is bound to
be moved by such a scene. Wal-
ter Scheel visited the former
Auschwitz death camp where
almost four million people had
been murdered by the Nazis.
After a tour of the camp he
wrote in the Memoral Book: “In
humanity, it is our task to
face of this monstrosity, this in-
tect the most supreme values—

human dignity and peace among

nations.”
On the day when the treaty

‘was signed Chancellor Willy

Brandt laid a wreath at the
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
and wrote “in the Memorial
Book: ‘In memory of those who
fell in World War II and of the
victims of violence and injustice
—in the hope for lasting peace
and solidarity of the nations of
Europe.” The West - German
Chancellor laid another wreath
—at the Monument to the Her-
oes of the Warsaw Ghetto —
following which he knelt down
before the monument, as if to
pay homage to the three million
Polish Jews who were murdered
by the Nazis.

The Moscow-Bonn and War-
saw-Bonn treaties, as well as
the negotiations between Fed-
eral Germany and the German
Democratic Republic, are part
of a long process, initiated by
the socialist countries “to im-

prove the situation on the Euro-,

pean continent and to bring
about the application of the
principles of peaceful coexist-
ence of states with different so-
cial systems”, as the Consulta-
tive Political Committee of the
Warsaw Treaty countries de-
clared. The Committee hailed
the tendency towards détente
and good-neighbor relations in

Europe, which corresponds to
the interests of all the European
countries, big and small, and
‘which helps to ensure lasting
peace throughout the world.

Customers have their day

By LAURETTA RIX

BERLIN—The fourth Tuesday
in the month in Karl-Marx-Stadt
sees many a citizen purposefully
heading for the City Hall. Some
of them are after reliable infor-
mation concerning purchase
complaints or guarantees; oth-
ers to make suggestions for im-
proving service to the customer.
For the word has got around:
every fourth Tuesday between
11 and 6, the Information Cen-
ter for Customers’ Rights is in
session.

Since beginning its operation
two years ago, the Center has
advised hundreds of citizens
and their complaints were dealt
with quickly and with a mini-
mum of red tape. The director
of the center explained that the
Committee was started as an
experiment after consultation
with the leading wholesale and
retail outlets in the district. It
was felt that a centrally operat-
ed information office could save
the customers much time. Here
they would receive accurate

and binding information on all
aspects of their rights as buyers
and practical help where neces-
sary.

It was also hoped, that by
providing reliable information
on price policy and socialist
customers’ rights, the public
could be enlisted to help in the

- further improvement of the en-

tire retail service area.
Members of the Information
Center, who give their services
on a voluntary basis, include
representatives of all retail and
wholesale outfits and the Cham-
ber of Industry and Trade. All
complajnts are dealt with quick-
ly, often on the spot, and the
members of the committee stick
with the complaint until a final
and just settlement has been
reached: no ring-around-a-rosy
with the customers is allowed.
In one case, where a clothing
manufacturer tried to play such
a “game” with a customer, he
was quickly taken to task by the
committee. The manufacturer
refused to accept the complaint
of the customer and the criti-

cism of the committee that his
product in this particular case
had not come up to the required
standards. His reason for refus-
al: he had been awarded the
“Q” for quality label 45 times!
However, further work on the
case, including the opinion of
the awarding committee on the
lack of quality in question,
backed up the customer’s com-
plaint and forced the manufac-
turer to make good.

The successful experiences of
this Information Center for Cus-
tomers’ Rights in Karl-Marx-
Stadt are to be spread as more
cities and districts in the GDR
take up the work in similar
committees.

MOONLIGHTERS
WASHINGTON—Four million
workers are moonlighting, hold-
ing more than one jobs, says the

‘U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Four out of every ten “moon-
lighters” said the reason was to
meet expenses and pay off
debts.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, JANUARY 8, 1971—PAGE 9