WEST GERMANY ALT LANG SYNE BY BUS, AUTOMOBILE AND SPECIAL TRAINS, 250,000 
GERMANS ORIGINALLY FROM SILESIA POURED INTO COLOGNE LAST WEEK . JAMMING 
OPEN-AIR RESTAURANTS AND BIERSTUBEN, THEY SWAPPED STORIES WITH OLD FRIENDS OVER 
RHENISH BEER AND SCHNAPPS BENEATH BANNERS PROCLAIMING / FOR SILESIA . 
" THE OCCASION WAS THE REGULAR REUNION OF GERMANS EXPELLED FROM 
COMMUNIST POLAND AFTER WORLD WAR II . DURING A MAMMOTH RALLY 
AT FAIRGROUNDS ON THE BANKS OF THE RHINE, THE GEMUTLICH SCENE 
SUDDENLY TURNED INTO A RIOT ; STIRRED UP BY A RABBLE-ROUSING 
POLITICIAN, THE CROWD NEARLY MOBBED A GERMAN TV REPORTER WHO HAD 
SUGGESTED THAT POLAND IS DOING WELL BY THE TERRITORIES SEIZED FROM 
GERMANY AFTER WORLD WAR II . IN GERMAN POLITICS, IT IS 
AN ARTICLE OF FAITH THAT THESE TERRITORIES MUST ONE DAY BE 
LIBERATED AND THAT THE GERMANS DRIVEN FROM THE AREA WILL BE 
ABLE TO GO HOME . BUT THIS BELIEF, WHILE STEADFASTLY MAINTAINED 
IN PUBLIC, IS BECOMING INCREASINGLY HOLLOW . FAR MORE REALISTIC THAN 
LAST WEEK'S MOB SCENE WAS A RARE JOINT APPEARANCE BY CHRISTIAN 
DEMOCRAT CHANCELLOR KONRAD ADENAUER AND BERLIN'S SOCIALIST MAYOR WILLY BRANDT, BOTH 
OF WHOM PLEADED FOR RECONCILIATION WITH POLAND . THE EMOTIONS THAT 
CAN STILL BE STIRRED UP BY TALK ABOUT THE " LOST 
HOMELANDS " IN THE EAST SOMETIMES OBSCURE A MAJOR POLITICAL AND 
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN WEST GERMANY : THE REMARKABLY SUCCESSFUL INTEGRATION INTO 
THE NATION'S LIFE OF 13 MILLION REFUGEES, ONEQUARTER OF THE POPULATION 
. HAPPY MIRACLE . WHEN THEIR TREK TO FREEDOM BEGAN 18 
YEARS AGO, FEW THOUGHT THAT QUICK RESETTLEMENT WAS POSSIBLE . IN 
ONE OF THE WORST FORCED MIGRATIONS OF MODERN TIMES, 9,400,000 ETHNIC 
GERMANS WERE ABRUPTLY EXPELLED FROM COMMUNIST EUROPE, SHOWED UP IN WEST 
GERMANY IN TATTERED COVERED WAGONS AND WITH EMPTY RUCKSACKS . AFTER 
THE IRON CURTAIN SNAPPED SHUT, 3,600,000 MORE GERMANS MADE THEIR WAY 
WEST AND HEIGHTENED THE CRISIS . THE NEW ARRIVALS WERE PENNILESS, 
HOMELESS AND EMBITTERED . IN THE IMMEDIATE POSTWAR DAYS, WEST GERMANS 
THEMSELVES WERE NOT MUCH BETTER OFF . THE FIERCE COMPETITION BETWEEN 
NATIVES AND " ALIENS " FOR JOBS OR EVEN A ROOF 
CREATED AN EXPLOSIVE CLIMATE OF MUTUAL RECRIMINATION . IT SEEMED AS 
IF THE SHAKY NEW DEMOCRACY, DIGGING OUT OF THE WRECKAGE OF 
HITLER'S REICH, COULD SCARCELY SURVIVE THE HUMAN AVALANCHE . GERMANY'S " 
ECONOMIC MIRACLE " DRASTICALLY CHANGED THE PICTURE . AS THE PACE 
OF RECOVERY QUICKENED, THOUSANDS OF THE LARGELY AGRICULTURAL IMMIGRANTS WERE RETRAINED 
FOR INDUSTRIAL JOBS, AND BECAME INDISPENSABLE TO THE LABOR-SHORT GERMAN ECONOMY 
. SHARING THE CREDIT FOR THE TOUGHER POLITICAL MIRACLE OF RESETTLEMENT 
ARE THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC'S TWO MAJOR POLITICAL PARTIES . COMPETING ACTIVELY 
FOR THE " REFUGEE VOTE, " CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS AND SOCIALISTS BACKED 
A UNIQUE 50 PER CENT TAX ON ALL PROPERTY THAT WEST 
GERMANS HAD MANAGED TO SAVE THROUGH THE WAR, IN ORDER TO 
COMPENSATE REFUGEES WHO HAD LOST THEIR POSSESSIONS . A SPECIAL EQUALIZATION 
OF BURDENS BANK GRANTED THOUSANDS OF LOWCREDIT BUSINESS LOANS . SINCE 
VIRTUALLY ALL WERE HOMELESS, THE EAST GERMANS WERE THE CHIEF BENEFICIARIES 
OF 6,500,000 NEW HOUSING UNITS BUILT SINCE THE WAR . REVEALING 
SIGN . INEVITABLY, THERE HAVE BEEN DISAPPOINTMENTS . ABOUT 10 PER 
CENT OF THE REFUGEES STILL LIVE IN SUBSTANDARD HOUSING, INCLUDING 700 
SILESIAN AND SUDETEN GERMANS WHOSE FLOWERPOTS AND TELEVISION ANTENNAS EERILY SPROUT 
FROM THE RECONVERTED BARRACKS AT DACHAU . MANY STILL FEEL THAT 
THEY ARE WORSE OFF NOW THAN THEY WERE IN THEIR OLD 
HOMES . ONLY ONE OUT OF SIX FARMERS TILLS HIS OWN 
LAND ; WHEN HE DOES, IT IS ON A MUCH SMALLER 
PLOT THAN HE OWNED IN THE EAST . BUT MOST REFUGEES 
HAVE GOOD JOBS, AND SOME WHO ARRIVED PENNILESS NOW OWN THRIVING 
BUSINESSES . THOUSANDS HAVE MARRIED WEST GERMANS AND RAISED FAMILIES . 
MAJOR INDICATOR THAT THE ONETIME ALIENS NOW CONSIDER THEMSELVES REAL WEST 
GERMANS IS THE COLLAPSE OF THE REFUGEE PARTY, WHICH ONCE HAD 
27 SEATS IN THE BUNDESTAG . IT HAS HAD NO NATIONAL 
VOICE SINCE 1957 ; LAST MONTH IN LOWER SAXONY, WHERE REFUGEES 
COMPRISE ABOUT 25 PER CENT OF THE POPULATION, IT POLLED A 
SCANT 3.7 PER CENT OF THE VOTE DURING STATE ELECTIONS . 
SAYS HANS KOPLITZ, A SUDETEN GERMAN WHO NOW OWNS A PROSPEROUS 
LAUNDRY AND DRY-CLEANING ESTABLISHMENT IN MUNICH : " MOST, WE PAY 
LIP SERVICE TO THE IDEA OF RETURNING TO OUR HOMELANDS . 
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