More East Germans Pour Into Camps in Hungary

BUDAPEST, Hungary —  Hundreds of East Germans poured into refugee camps in Hungary on Saturday, joining thousands of others waiting for an unprecedented exodus of East Bloc citizens to the West.

More than 3,000 East Germans already were inside the camps in and near Budapest, awaiting passage to West Germany under an arrangement between Bonn and Communist Hungary.

Authorities will not say when the transfer is to take place, although it is believed it will begin within days.

It is the first time a Warsaw Pact nation and a North Atlantic Treaty Organization country have worked together to move huge masses of people from another Warsaw Pact nation.

Hungarian Red Cross official Andras Kovacs, in charge of the Csilleberc refugee camp in Budapest, said Saturday that six buses carrying about 250 people had departed for Zanka, a new camp opened 90 miles to the southwest to house the overflow from the Budapest camp.

Crowded Emergency Quarters

For weeks, thousands of East Germans have crowded emergency quarters in Hungary, refusing to leave unless guaranteed safe passage to the West.

About 6,000 already have fled to West Germany through Austria. The exodus started shortly after Hungary began removing barbed wire and other barriers from its westernmost border in May.

West Germany grants East German refugees automatic citizenship and assistance in starting a new life. The influx has generated resentment among some West Germans, who feel that the large number of East Germans coming into the country will strain its resources.

West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl alluded to this concern on Saturday during a speech in Cologne. He urged West Germans to show more tolerance for German refugees arriving from the East in search of a better life.

“We would be going a bad way if we didn’t now help the Germans from East Germany and Poland,” he said, adding that the emigrants should not be looked down on as economic refugees.

Traditional Vacation Spot

Hungary has been a traditional vacation spot for East Germans who have difficulty getting permission for legal travel to the West from their hard-line Communist government but can come to the liberal Soviet Bloc country relatively easily.

About 200,000 East Germans are now in Hungary. Hungarian Prime Minister Miklos Nemeth has estimated that up to 20,000 want to go to West Germany.

In Bavaria, West Germany’s main border state with Austria, hundreds of Red Cross personnel began work Saturday on a fifth “tent city” for the expected influx of East Germans.

A West German spokesman said work was on schedule, with all five tent communities expected to be standing by late today with a capacity of 5,000. Austrian railway officials, meanwhile, kept up to 50 train cars ready for quick movement to border points with Hungary when the transport starts.

Austrian border officials said about 50 more East Germans fled illegally from Hungary overnight.

Under a bilateral agreement, Hungary is obliged to send East Germans trying to flee to the West back to their Communist homeland.