HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1950-01-05, Page 3. . .. .......
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pro,ecutor waving hands, (Atice rt - Rendiling Stories Of
agaill SOU911L Out tile (10VII(7:111t,
And then lot her eyes drift to tlt,-
Happen"ngs Behind IronCurtain defeadant's wift. She was a thin,
pate wonian, dJl ui %hed, exhau:itt-d.
A few years older flian the do.
alld -aid , nf list;se
0 1 e of Lilt. must IlLart-relitlilig tial, who, across the baize greexterzadt fend&IIL. ::afraid
Stories from behinol tile Iron desk top where her file folder Res years
Curtain is thto plight of those seek. open, offers her "fathoriy*2 advice: "Look, • grawhila"'. Jillinly had
'Ing to get Out, In this article Ed- "Are You really. quite.suro you said,, "You may be goillig home to-
night but I'm not. Now, dan't get
1111 -Ind Stevens _ veteran !Moscow want to go to America, citizeness?" ON oil your high horse. For better br
correspondent of The Christian he inquires solicitously, "especially
Science writing front after the news from there? 'Why, fOr worse, you know
Berliti—cles The dofendant's wife was gazing
critics the sad case of with tile rise` -o corning.on, your bus�
sialt-born wolliell who illat- band may lose his job any day And xm. at thp, defendant. Editb Balton saw
the Rns.
ied foreigners And lvere denied qle the wornall's worshipping, owning
you yourself be out on the street, eyes.
right to leave their country With starving." Women had . always looked that
their Iltisballols.
After a pause to let this dire warn-
ing sink in, he adds: "Besides, you way at Jimmy. Everywhere, always.
The customers in ber Own shop.
A current Moscow al ecdote cull -
as a Russian will be under suspi- The trim, stupid itssistant decora-
cerris Ivan Petro
vich'.
who is sent cion everywhere. The Un-Americion �"X/: tor. The sagging, avaricious rug
abroad oil "liakniatidirovIia" (offi- Activities Committee g",!i' buyet—even the seventeen -year -
will be after
,,i :l business assignment), Fran] you, You won't have a moment's
old stock girl with the, hanging
Warsaw, his first stop, be •-wires the peace. And remember, if you go, alip, the run-down heels. Riob (w
home office! "Long live Poland, free it's for good. Never again can you
Poor, rheumatic or infantile, they
and independent, Next, fran
oin set foot on your homeland,"
all looked at- Jimmy,
Prague, he wires "Long live Another pause, during which the But she had to stop straying,
Czechoslovakia, free and illdellell- official thumbs through her file,Rdith Boltan told herself sternly.
dentl" When he resumes talking, his kind -
She mustn't think of Jimmy it#
The cables are ret)eated in ilh� ly tone has steeled slightly: "Cit -
1. -lie shop, the stock
Vile back of t
same vein as Petrovich journeys to izeness, it may take a long time to girl in his arms. She musn't think
Roluailitt, 'Out-' ria, -Jungary, and get Your exit permit --- �a long time."
a I Of anything now but this trial.
3 other satellite countries. Then, after �(Outrigfit re-usals are not in ac- There was a decision to tnake
a Period of silence,
cattle$ a Message cord 'with usual Soviet practice,) there was no time left foi- debat-
frOul S%vitzedalid t1lat reads: "Lolig Then, in a more persuasive note: ing or wondering. Ili five or ten
live Petrovicli, free and indepell- You are young, attractive. Is it minutes the Prosecutor would end
denti" 'Chat'.-, the last !Moscow hears really worth waGting the best Years his summation. The jurors would
of this partictit!MoscowYvan, according to of Your life for the sake of a for- retire. Tilley would listen to bet-,
The anecdote,'. i
eigner P IS he really worth it? What's just Plain Pooped—For his alertness j13 spotting the human interest qualities its this scene and because she was the strongest, She
wasn't tired at all. They camplained.
TO Soviet w1ves of foreigners, try. wrong with our Soviet fellows? for his skill ill following througli with the camera, Rudolph Vetter, photographer, was awarded
ing foe y.ears to join their busbands Look..around you!" of the h -lie didn't even feet
eat; s
abroad, to husbands struggling to Next, with a wrathful crescendo, a $25 prize. The attitude of the dozing damsel, 7-niontli-old Sharon Hart, sbokys how conipletely
tuckered out she -was after all exciting all -day tour of the Fair and Livestock Show,
free wives and children whom the rising to thundering. climax, Detertuitidedly, she leaned for. -
Soviets clairn, this story has tragic cannot understand how You, w1io ward, surveyed the courtroom. Shat
poignancybeyond all litunor. 'l'o claim to be a loyal Soviet citizen, dollars a week. Forty-five do glanced at the judge, at the droop-
ing tipstaff in the corner. Her eyes
them the Iron Curtain is no abstract can, be prepared.to renounce your Ears
ch-urcIlillian metaphor, but some- birthright, to desert the socialist wasn't much to live on travelled to the defendlillit, and tfiert
Jimmy had spent almost as muen
thing very' hard and impenetrable. motherland that raised and educated to the table with its pile of State's
"The Smile That Convi s
Let the record tell L the evidence. Once again, she checked.
story. It you, for an American!" on, a single Shirt. "Forty dollars
includes the names of some 350 If,,at this point, the victim shows By Louise Lee Outlaw off each article, weighed its Sig.-
foi- one shirt!" Site had stared. at
ce. The tagged, greasy y gun
Soviet wives of American citizens obvious signs a-.' mental anguish, the him, waiting for the Explanation nthe fingerprint charts which
who have sought Permission to leave inquisitor suddenly relents: "Here, Oil and on droned the voice of She turned quickly back to the
that didn't come. fust the smile,
the country in the past. nine years. here, Citizeness. I did not wish to the prosecutor. Above' him, oil 'the garrulousprosecutor, tried to listen the hand oil 'her shoulder, weaken- iir'6ved nothing- the roat. 'f'lie
Of these, 15 women inarriedfornier hurt your feelings. I simply was bench, the judge seemed half asleep yo -urs, coat for his wife.
Yo him, tried to wriggle away froon 11
inx tier. "What's mine i. It was a sturdy, coarse-graiuetl[
members of the American Embassy trying to help you' with sound ad- eyes drooping wearily. At all oaken the memory of the smile. But, tile
baby." lie had said. "and vice versa WOO
staff in Moscow. N-Minety-seven, of vice—not as an official but as an table, blied defense a5prney, a small, smile Persisted, hung before'lier in right? For bet -e' or for worse 1. She knew fabrics, could ap_
their value to' the dollar,
the others are wives of United older fellow countryman. Go home stringy man, slaudhed beside the the air—ffie full, firm lips, cutting pact Number Three: The defend- praise
Thirty-five dollars, retail, Call,..
States. veterans, —think it over." defendant. Ill tile jury box,. the -a little at the edges, cutting sweetly
ant had a, wife and child. Forty-
Plettly styleless, a revoltbig color.
Apart from the embassy cases, jury shifted restlessly and coughed like a girl's . . . five dollars a week wasn't intleb,
%. jA, She had always hated fire-eij,,:iiie
the great majority are from former At home, the chances are that if and shifted again. Obeafer's lips, har's lips, Jilulny,& for a wife and child. A coat for his red . . .
Baltic states, the wife happens to live with her It was the last day of [lie trial, lips.
eastern Poland, the wife, the defendant had said, a Site' stared at the coat for a.
Ruthenia, or Bessarabia, and were parents, and likely as not in the and they were -all tired, tired of the But she niustu*t let herself flv woollen coat to keep her warm.
mattlen
married before 1939—tbat is to s 'But b's employer had call t, and then, with a sweep-
Same room, she is the target of volumes 6f tvards that had been off; 'She must be fair, She ba -do al- ht bi-at ing, vi(
ill tile, stockroom, the stolen :tOriOus feeling She couldn't'
before these territories were annex- constant nagging. 1-1 er famity poured into the record, tired of the ways been fair. It wasn't the de- coat
Ed by the Soviets and Soviet citizen- Choruses: Mountains of eviden"ce 'that vveiglhed fendant!s fault that he looked like over his arni, TheY struggled, the explain, she looked at the deietit-1-
ant's wife, The woman ]tad long,
rias ship automatically were conferred "I't's all very "well if you choose. .013 their minds, and yet receded Jimmy. It had nothing to do with prosecutor said. The ein-ployer's
frizzed hair—orange red.
on all' the inhabitants, to wreck your own life and queer indicnever they tried to pluck from the case. She would base tier deci- gun went off. Two hours later, the
But he wouldn�t do that� tier
1V yourself, But you've 110 right to the ruountain one clear fact. Stan Oil factual evidence, comb
en plover died at Bellevue I-Iospital.
mind closed in oil the thon,,jit,
li� AS -tile Sovlet Union rievel, has ruin out lives. By getting yourself Only juror Number Five, a through tile maze of circumstances, But tile, defense had a different
clamped around it, I -Te woul"'I'.'t
admitted the right of expatriation, mixed up with foreigners, you've M-Oluall, -looked attentive. She sat pluck out the telling fact ... story. 'I'liere had been no struggle, give a redhead to red coal! Not
the rule, is that Soviet citizens are brought us all under observatioi� •
upright, shoulders indepeadent al She felt tier eyes easing back the defense claimed. Tile defendant
-Mid started to •r the defendarit—he'd know better
permitted to go abroad only in the you'll the s�rai-ht-backed -chair. From a to the defendant at the oaken table, un from the stock- than that. Even if lie were Stealing,
get us all into trouble. It's room.. The employer pursued him,
interests of the government. Per- time to put all end to it. Vorget distance of twenty feet she looked twelve :feet from where she sat. even if he were pressed far -little,
sonal reasons, however compelling, about that America; You'll never young. Front a distance of ten feet Once more She saw the thick eye- gun in hand. At the bottom of he wouldn't pick a red coat for a
cut Ila ice with the MVD (secret see it anyway." � I she looked almost YOU01g. She was lashes. ,-lie high. unlined forehead, the stairs. the defendant turned,
Possibly, she and her fa . wily will dressed in the relentless, glooint, the disarming, wavy hair, Sn-tooth- y redlicad. He'd know bettet—his
it police) Officials who pass on exit said. "Oka —1 give up," but it was kind always did. There might be
is visa applications, also be'needled in some way by tilt perfection of the prosperous bust- faced, pretty -faced, full of Smiles t 0.0 late then, Tbe employer had
Sortie men who wouldn't Iiic)%v
Nevertheless, up until a - few years house manager registration. for- ness woman. Periodically her eyes The kind, who smiled froat tile' tripped—come tumbling down the
wi ago one or two Soviet wives of niatities. shifted f stairs, And -his gun went off. but not the defendant. He'd know.
the prosecutor and cradle tip, smiled and got what lie
from He'd know. her mind insisted. YOU
American citizens were let out every Pew persons have the naorat stasis- gazed avidly at the defendant, wiltitedi smiled and plundered Who could prove the defetidaitt could tell by looking at his fa
-esLIed with the mail? Who
11-ror Number rive -was, Airs, Rditll Bolton jerked her sboul- hadn't wi cc,
year. But since August, 1946, even itia to resist si-16h browbeating in- J at the fickle, thick -lashed eyes, lic,
Edith Bolton, S -he was a Madison d could prove the defendant had in Sootici -al- later, all but ;I�,appe.d. off the thought, it
this tiny trickle has bden cut off. ers. * tended ta.eive hirii�clf up? Thera quick, j-41"ItY smile, Herb be hist
Avenue interior decorator was Tier insitiess
Ili another'anove, in this directionj the most steadfast wives hav' I- the de- to rhe,
to b'lie flie kind who would know about
e "vo - were no witnesses, women's clothes. the way he knew
oil Feb, 15, 1947, thf! Soviet Gov- untarily" broken down and filed fat fellse attorney knew those things Prosecutor—to listen hard, with
about her, and felt lie knew mail,- about women, She was sure of it.
ernment issued a decree prohibiting divorce. Ili such cases, the stringent judicial ears. And the story about title coat—
Soviet citizens fr , more. As the prosecutor ruin -bled "And the State bas shown," the a coat for his wife. 'Atiat was -a He'd be the kind who would be
am marrying for- Soviet divorce laws suddenly are shrewd excuse, designed to snake
-es tile jurors* Ileart swell with pity.
eigners, This grotesque attempt to relaxed. A process that usually tali i, the defense attorney turned to prosecutor. said, "that the defend- proud of his taste. arro�ant abotit
ii legislate affairs of the heart is not niaijy manths is completed I the defendant and whispered, "Re- ant robbed and caused the death it. Like Jiturriv,
it a few in . e�nber what 1 told you—keep of a man who had befriended flint The innocent, uplifted face, the
something the Soviet leaders are days, The requirement that both Still
dangling forelock. -1. wanted a A coat for my wife. 0)11. he jlad
proud of or care t; advertise, for tine parties niust appear before the coort Jing at Number Five." —a mail who. out of the goodness been shrewd, bhe defendant.
warn winter coat far my wife R
announcement was buried in the is summarily waived. The defendant's broad shoulders of bis heart, had given him a de- 'I'liei, knew how to find excuses,
had RI-Ost convinced tier. But thrg
columns of the Official journal of To crown her humiliation. vioved irritably. cent job started hirn oil a car- ses, coat hadn't been for his wiie at
the Supreme Soviet, so . methiiig few . the "Okay," The defense attorney eer the smilers, Witill Jimmy it had
wife also is "Persuaded" to write a all. The fire -engine red coat had,
drew in a hoarse breath, "But re- Yes, that was the -way it worked �een his mother. Willett the cilleck- beelo for some other wornan.- -
pers6ns ever read. letter to Pravada or Izvestia Public- Ing account Was overdrawn, it had soineorie younger.
'CoIlletIlber—it isn't enough that we You took the •smiliug charmer in, been for his mother. When he got
'tmy knowledge, the decree ly repndiathlg tier husband, de-. know you re intiocent. She's got You gave hint everythilig, in ex- someone blonde
never has lieen published or re- tiouticing his country in tilt ap- to lolow it, too I told you, the change for nothing. - a bank loan he Could never pay
ferred to in the Soviet press at large. Proved 'manuer and voicing her You bought his back, it had been for his mother, Liar. Liar froll, beginning a
jury's gaill- to listen to her. You'd clothes, you fed hint, 'you put Ili.,; en d.
When I mentioned it to Russians to ren2ain in the beloved I
better- smile, boy." name oil Ms another—who was Shen -waisted
their first reaction was one of atter Soviet homeland. your shot) window: slid having' made tip her naiad. Edith
The defendant. charged -with "J aine blonde and twenty-two. What
X incredulity. When correspondents s and Edith Bolton, Decora- Bolton didn't bother to listen to
first-degree murder. glanced at tors did he give Iter ,now; 14".110111 was
New York allot Miami" You the final words of the prosecutor.
tried to send tile story abroad it was Things have not guile. well ivith Jliror Number Uive. Painfully, he made tip Papers—".Ianie,; and Edith lie robbing now for Ilis mother?
killed by the censor, the few girls who stubbornly have Ited his lips. "'I'lle defendant has a clean res- Slie sat back in her chair, feeling
What makes this law especially clung to their hearts' desire; T'her'e ]I Edith Doltoil caught flie smile Bolton, .Associates"—and ill a Ord." the defense lead said, J." light alid ease. And not at all bitter,
breatli's time you signed away half she told herself- of at all like aL
brutal is the apparent intent to ap- was the Soviet wife of a certain and was thoroughly conscious of the business you'd Sweated to build, It"Tt character, the Arinv records woman wlio had received tier final
ply it retroactively, American . foreign service officer. what had prompted'It. Rach iveek you Net had claimed, A fine bo the char- a clievk for divill-ve decree in the ulorllili..� mail,
liaving tried but failed to get a Sou- A'bribe, she thought. 011, he's a him. his share al' tile, profits, the to his wift., the def 'lilt's neigh-
acter wllnv�es ]lad added. Ilievoted
It works •like this. When a wife iet exit visa for tier and their small sill-cli d one. share 'for which lie never ivorl.ed. end,
who has been waiting years for all child, he had to leave up(,n termina- had agreed.
"What do I knok& aboiit this fRoct-
Z$ exit visa goes round to the visa tiou of his Moscow assignment. Itilt whai did neighbors knoA4.
palits business?" Smiling, snlilitl*s.
department for a routine inquiry Six months later the house inall- to the flat she shared Pocketing Ule cllvcl� "YOU and .1hiliny iita�e stich.
on the status of her application she ager --a Profession w=hich in Russia with her parents, And announced site 1-3,tit that was Thi sweet Coltiple," tier friend: had said 1
4A
is received by a "sympathetic" offi- 110 Iriliger could be registered there had
itiOudes the dwies of police rotor- Ilotbilig to do w I s(t often—her older friend;, that is.
ith the defendant.
'and vm.,t move oil itutriediately, I 1116' 1% ere the ones lie didc't smile
She'd Ila%?(. to cl'�ar her mind keei al. i'lle 011es t0lo couldn't whell slic pleaded that she had Ila- it C.10all dn't possibly
-evivkv [lie (act,
I and cipon, i ta
where to go, the hoose ill I'llow. the right, she spent
one Otte
It, lli� ilgl% flillpallrie"4
it If,) 'tile Americans: `a u t Ntimber olie:
b.N
"'ne
ul
1:11n1l ltltll� after you",
ve"t
i Rill had hovii in the ;\,,Illv for tltrve�
Zg, le. via" given lodging and a job R101le . . .
year$: he NNa�, a of 'North
-m,ekeeper at all entbassy billet,
as lit Africa an Anio. to Bill pro.
Otte (k viltor. The pro
day a ii vek later she failed to art his -ectilock; voice was
-ool a tris, to the market. hittindignant, as if lie knetv -,,It
return (I hifil ill vI 1, ilitligil'i
Chest, overseRs mp rocky
over
j and Ila,-; licit liven heard front [orelle v\as sliniling ala.) front him. Edith
ad, Over the dipping black
IN, fast- M
1,
hair 'ibbolls, ened her e\tls oil his fili'l--ol ve-
I'lit, customary diploniatic represen- llollctc �Iraigllteiied, dutifully= y lizi(l had I
-% have too, wid a jaunty sel to; his rap.
tabuns to tile l"Oreign Millist)
Produced the customary silence. lienloll iacv.
and he ])act
smiled at tier over the Zt
Wives of Americans all([ Britons of th P etI3 'AN't. have viliv I]- defelidalit's
e r
110
the 1)"osecutor ,aid. "We
are b� )to weatis the. only victints QS-Ses at Vile Callteell. \Ild late" 1 I'me olih- the del,plidaliCs word.. -
of the no-exit-visil policy. The case that iti.,ght, tI103. had talked a I,, i Weapon Wedding
file ;turd of ;ill admitted thief-_
former Chilean ani- it talke(f. and It had been faint will erric]" It" a bride of lilt- d;kv,
of the son of the foi a 4 ec
bassador Ili Moscow ,vas brought delight ol,lit-11 lie toocile'l her agaill'i the %ur\ tangible evidence
before the. United Natiuns. Anotilel* of dvaill, Itliv 11111ch :alt \oil tl,tl.4t
o."e. involved tho Russian fe of I think of dle defendant. '�llc i%ord of a itian wbit %vonlol fivers. 20. of lj,•i
W, "Lit tile flefLiendant. Fact Milli_
'011, all onlifloyer who es. I'l., fo -ved It( - to Ili,
the Greek ambassador. In Mitilev ft bad V )i 1 -,1 arvy.,
MAR '1"517 "WO; The defendant had bi-eu i kind to Iiiiii, exceedillgiv gen- 117 al gill] poilil. B\vr, said
ittatance did ambassadorial rank honorably dit�c,harged from lilt,
-to Tol
ftrn v ,ith the visa depart- Army. 14e had gotten a jo sile elol)ed Nk'itll Ifitil ka-
1) with a Rdi-ill llo,�Ioli glanced past the
inew. rtr-floeli
AMR
By Arthur Pointer
'YOU'LL VANCJIF 71;9SNUEM W DANCE VIMCTOI? IS AN el�
.. .. ... .. ... r-APGAT... ST19P INTO 7HE AUDIrOklioM
146 *AN PLAYS AND \NArCg HIM IN Ar -TION
4xp W,
ANo TO NI His
J, TIM 14ANp ORGAN _"A
NOW TURN THE
DANCE' AOUT#N
CIZANK WHILE r Go A
vwu Your poo-rrtov
7,7
Sitting This One Out—'Demoilstriltirig soilledling liew ill waterpjl � UN, illf
Akiiing, Nd !.tacit, mouthed on his favorite ehair over air of
Waski's,ter 8t goeg skinlilling over flif water. .laid has prorm-sed V4 9,
to try a Iloirldrig chair Insfied oil two Aarka for his meat dellioll - L
lift season rolls h-fbil-ria A9,0111'KiAl
MEANWHILr- 11JE P,?aD4JCVR I14`rERVtrV4S
THE k" MNI LZN.=N OF Ti4t; PRESS _ .. ,