Waiting for Justice

Dr. Karl Hamann, a grimly handsome gentleman farmer and a leader in the Liberal Democratic Party in the Russian zone, made his choice when the Russians set up the East German "Democratic Republic." He decided to play along, and was made Minister of Trade and Supply.

But he was often a little naive. In January 1952 he skipped across the border to visit relatives in West Germany incognito, was discovered and sent back. Another time, at the height of East zone food shortages, he made a propaganda visit to Bonn and was hit by an overripe tomato square on his chest. Such adventures embarrassed his government. His pretty wife saw the signs, urged him to flee before it was too late. "I have a clear conscience," he told her. "I will stay. There is still justice here." A few weeks later, in the winter of 1952, Minister Hamann was arrested, accused of creating the food shortage and having "criminal relations with imperialist agents."

His wife escaped to West Berlin and broadcast appeals to friends in East Germany for help. Reports reached the West that he had tried to commit suicide in his cell. Last week, 19 months after his arrest, the East German news agency, A.D.N., announced that Dr. Karl Hamann had been sentenced to ten years' hard labor in a Communist prison. The charges: having "systematically sabotaged the supply of foodstuff for the population."

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