WEST GERMANY: In the Master's Footsteps

One Nikita Khrushchev, fist-waving and shouting interruptions, was startling enough. Last week the prospect loomed that Soviet diplomats the world over may, at the appropriate moment, follow in his shoeless footsteps.

In Bonn, West Germany's Economics Minister Ludwig Erhard was addressing delegates of 24 African states, who had come to Germany to discuss trade and political ties. Erhard warned them against "losing your freedom," orated that "colonialism has been overcome, but worse than colonialism is imperialism of the Communist totalitarian pattern." Up from the front row of invited diplomats jumped Andrei Smirnov, the Russian Ambassador to Bonn. Waving a fistful of papers, he rushed toward Erhard shouting: "You talk about freedom. Germany killed 20 million people in our country."

The flabbergasted Erhard remarked stiffly: "I did not come here to talk to you but with our African friends." Smirnov turned on his heel and stalked up the aisle, where a German attendant, not realizing it was the Soviet ambassador, grabbed his arm and marched him out of the hall. The 60-odd Africans present remained silent. But Bundestag President Eugen Gerstenmaier had to warn angry Germans in the audience that Smirnov had diplomatic immunity.

The West German government stiffly advised the Soviet embassy of its "regret" that the incident had occurred, but a spokesman emphasized this did not imply diplomatic apology. Since Smirnov is noted among Soviet diplomats for his even-voiced courtesy and easy charm, the German news agency D.P.A. concluded: "Smirnov could hardly have acted in such an unusual manner for a diplomat if he had not had instructions from Moscow."