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/Kaiser: More than 100 German citizens have been abducted from Berlin
and the Federal Republic by the Soviet zone's terror regime since 1948;
83 Germans were abducted by trickery, 86 by force. We remember each of
their names, and we commemorate with all sympathy the pain and sorrow of
their relatives, some of whom have been waiting for years for their
return.
The latest and one of the most blatant cases of kidnapping
cost Dr. Walter Linse of Berlin-Lichterfelde his freedom. If ever the
total disregard for human rights was demonstrated to the whole world,
then the Soviet regime did it with this kidnapping of Dr. Walter
Linse.
Even more, ladies and gentlemen. The Soviet zone's press has
threatened further abductions, from Berlin and from the Federal
Republic. The Federal Government, ladies and gentlemen, will work
tirelessly and emphatically with the occupying powers to persuade them
to release Walter Linse.
The Federal Government will also bring all
cases of kidnapping on German soil to the attention of the Council of
Europe and the United Nations. It will ask these international
organizations for protection and help against the continuing threat to
German citizens, and all cases of kidnapping will be compiled in a white
paper. The crimes and reaction of the Soviet zone's regime show that
the threat to the freedom of German citizens in West Berlin and in the
Federal Republic requires comprehensive protection and extensive
security measures. Ladies and gentlemen, it should be noted at the
outset that Berlin and the Federal Republic of Germany are genuine
democratic states and cannot abandon the principles of the rule of law
in the protective measures to be taken.
This must be said, ladies
and gentlemen, to those voices calling for reprisals. If it is countered
that the SED and its henchmen only understand the language of violence,
this cannot be a reason for us to answer injustice with injustice, but
we must take other defensive and retaliatory measures.
The Federal
Government has noted with satisfaction that the Berlin Senate has
provided all arterial roads from West Berlin to the Soviet zone with the
necessary security against kidnapping. Increased police protection has
been set up at the zone and sector borders.
The Federal Government
will ask the Senate of Berlin and the Allied city commanders of Berlin
to take all necessary security measures, also for the personal
protection of particularly endangered persons. In the opinion of the
Federal Government, however, the danger can only be effectively
countered if the population, the police and the occupying powers pay
increased attention to all suspicious occurrences. In order to protect
the population in the federal territory against abduction, the Federal
Government is of the opinion that the zonal borders must be secured even
more extensively by the Federal Border Guard.
Ladies and gentlemen,
as long as our Germany is divided, the life and freedom of the
population and its security will remain under threat. And that is why
there is only one effective, definitive solution for all Germans. That
is our reunification, our policy is and will remain directed towards
this goal.
/Chairman: I would ask the ladies and gentlemen who wish to vote in
favor of both motions to rise from their seats.
Now I ask for those
opposing the motions to rise.
Abstentions?
Ladies and
gentlemen, I note that the two motions have been adopted by an
overwhelming majority of the House, with only a few votes
against.
/Reporter: Only the few Communists voted against the two
motions tabled by the FDP and SPD.