Word: zone
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...weeks ago a huge billboard covered with propaganda posters of the Soviet-backed Socialist Unity Party (SED) attracted unusual attention in the heart of bomb-shattered Dresden in the Russian zone. Plastered squarely in the center of the billboard was a red poster bearing the slogan: "Wir haben kein Papier, aber wir sind auch hier" (We have no paper, but we are also here). The poster was signed by the anti-Communist Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Firemen soon tore down the poster, but thousands of Dresdeners had enjoyed a good chuckle...
...course speak so plainly. Yet that was the real motive of Secretary of State James F. Byrnes's reply to Molotov in Paris-which was to demand immediate economic unification of Germany, and to announce that the United States would make a start by uniting its zone of occupation with any or all of their zones. By this statement, Byrnes in effect invited the British to join with us in the great contest for Germany which has now been initiated...
...incident typified the political situation as Germans in the Soviet zone prepared to vote last week in the first "free and democratic" elections since 1933. On the surface all political parties and organizations like trade unions, which are recognized by the Soviet military administration, had equal rights in the campaign. In practice the dice were loaded heavily in favor of the Socialist Unity Party. In private conversations with Germans, Russian officers recently have gone so far as to refer to the Socialist Unity Party as the "Staatspartei" (state party). After all, it is the outgrowth of last Easter...
...Dresden billboard incident points up only one of many direct and indirect methods the Russians have employed to give the SED maximum advantages over the other two parties, CDU and Liberal Democrats (LDP). Lampposts, streetcars, newspaper kiosks, billboards and public buildings scream with SED campaign posters throughout the Russian zone, but CDU and LDP posters are almost as rare as a swastika. In the Land of Saxony, the SED has a daily newspaper with a million circulation. The LDP organ, appearing thrice weekly, has 50,000 circulation and the CDU newspaper, with 35,000 circulation, is published only twice weekly...
...spite of all, the CDU seems able to claim considerable strength in the Russian zone. CDU leaders, like capable, sincere Chairman Jacob Kaiser, seriously considered boycotting the elections, but finally decided to participate. Their reason in effect was: if we don't participate, it means virtual dissolution of the party. But the Russians probably would continue the party artificially as a stage decoration with weak leaders who would bow to the Russians. On the other hand, our participation may attract the rest of Germany's and the world's attention to the situation in the Russian zone...