Druzhba!

At Nuernberg, the Russians were plugging a vengeful justice; everywhere else in Germany, they were plugging Communism. While Russian prosecutors fiercely denounced Germany's war criminals, Red Army officers staged an all-out campaign for druzhba (friendship) with the Germans:

P: When delegates from trade unions in the Russian zone held their first congress last week, Colonel Sergei Tulpanov pointedly welcomed them to Berlin, "the heart and capital of Germany." The delegates cheered wildly, for there was anxiety in Germany that, if the French had their way, the capital might be removed from Prussian Berlin.

P: Germany's Communist Party continued its agitation for "national unity," flatly announced that it would fight separation of the Ruhr and Rhineland from the rest of the Fatherland.

P: Wilhelm Furtwaengler, famed conductor of Berlin's Philharmonic Orchestra and Nazi-tainted Prussian State Councilor, was invited by Berlin's Soviet-sponsored mayor Arthur Werner to help direct the city's culture revival. Wrote the mayor: "German music. . . is trying . . .uncompromisingly [to realize] its genuine national value . . . Germany needs Furtwaengler. . . ." The Russians benignly approved; U.S. authorities opposed the appointment.

P: Ahead of her western Allies, Russia re-opened trade with Germany last week. German factories were getting Russian raw materials; half the products would go to shortage-ridden Russians, half would remain for shortage-ridden Germans.

P: Combat-happy Red Army occupation troops who, until recently, had terrified Germans with their merry rounds of loot and rape, were being replaced by more disciplined units from Russia.

This functional friendliness was not the Russians' only weapon. They also put on direct pressure for a merger of the Socialist and Communist parties. Last week, Communist Chairman Wilhelm Pieck set the date: "before May." Fusion would virtually assure a leftwing election victory, solidify Communist control of the Soviet zone.

The western Allies watched worriedly. Though they could not use the Machiavellian salesmanship of their totalitarian allies, the western powers sought.ways to strengthen their own occupation program to counter Russia's determined steps. Many a German looked on smugly: nine months after their victory, the victors were contending for the allegiance of the vanquished.

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