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The first case was a man and his grown daughter; the family had been
operating a private laundry business in the suburbs of east Berlin.
A couple of years ago, in order to put greater economic pressure on
such private businesses (force them to form larger "people's fac-
tories") the State passed a law that a factory would now be any
business employing more that 3 people (previously the number had been
11). Thus, the family had to begin paying factory as well as personal
taxes; over the years these taxes were raised to even more pressing
levels. Also thare are laws restrictig the amount other people can pay
such private businesses (i.e. price controls to eliminate friendly
assistance from neighbors and to make profits impossible) and also
restricting where their goods can be sold. Such economic pressures
as this were eventually supplemented by direct threats that the busi-
ness would be closed and the people forced to work in the "people's
factories". At this point the family fled as refugees.

The second man was a lawyer, had been working as a tax adviser in a
town in east Germany. The State had, over the years, been collectivising
farm and hand workers in his community, thus eliminating his clientele
(who must then deal with the State's tax advisors). As a more imminent
personal distress, one of the sons (there were 2 sons and a wife who had
fled with him) had been detected writing unfavorable comments in private let-
ters to a friend in the western zone. When this was somehow discovered
he was brought up for punishment, given an alternative of joining the
Secret Police and spying on his schoolmates (really this is no fic-
tional horror story- it happened!!!) With the threats on his son and
the pressure on the father to become a State lawyer (which means joining
the party too), the family fled to west Berlin, will go on to Stuttgart
where the man has a job arranged through friends.

The third and fourth cases were both farmers fleeing in face of the
pressure to give up their private farms and join the Collective farms
as I already mentioned. Here we observed, the stress has been more
openly political. They (the party organization) call meetings in each
town, request that the farmers voluntarily sign up for the party and
collectiveization (thus they can say in propaganda that it was "voluntary"
and had the peoples' support); Those who don't sign are then pressured to
sign ("voluntarily", mind you) by city officials, visits from party
people, even loud speakers going through the streets screaming the man's
name as a "friend of Adenauer". If the "Voluntary" appeal doesn't work,
the man is, I think, then required to join anyway, and of course his
stalling makes him the less popular in the government's eyes. As one
wide note on the dangers involved in a refugee's flight to the west, one
of these farmers came by train with his wife. He and his son (with the
son's wife and two young children) had arranged to leave at the same time
and travel separately (for greater safety in smaller numbers). They were to
meet in Berlin. But there is so far no sign of the son and grandchildren.
They were either delayed or picked up by the Police. It is illegal to flee,
try to flee, or even to know of someones feelings without reporting
it to the police! As I realized the torment this couple must be suf-
fering, not knowing their son's fate, the personal brutality of the
Totalitarian system really hit me, and I felt literally almost like
crying in sympathy.