East Germany: Stopping the Refugee Flow

For the past several months, a growing stream of asylum seekers from such Third World nations as Iran, India and Sri Lanka has passed through East Berlin en route to the Allied occupied zones in West Berlin. The traffic has discomfited the Bonn government, but the East Germans have profited from the refugee business. Last week, however, the Communists were persuaded to stop the flow: as of Oct. l, no one may enter East Germany without a visa to that country or some other destination.

Bonn spokesmen said no money had changed hands in the deal. But they hinted that proposed East-West German agreements on environmental and scientific cooperation, which East Berlin seeks, would now be looked upon favorably.