§ 2. Mr. Peytonasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs how many instances there have been of kidnapping in Western Berlin since the end of the war; on how many occasions have protests been made to the Communist authorities; 349 how many replies have been received to such protests; and in how many cases have those replies been satisfactory.
§ The Joint Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Lord John Hope)My information relates only to the British Sector of Berlin. As far as I have been able to ascertain from the British records available, there have been 103 cases since the end of the war in which individuals have either been arrested illegally and removed to the Soviet Sector or have disappeared in suspicious circumstances. In thirty-seven cases the circumstances were sufficiently well established to justify protests or requests for information being made to the Soviet authorities. Since 1950, replies have been received in eighteen out of the twenty cases taken up. None of the replies was satisfactory, but in seven cases the individuals concerned were subsequently released.
§ Mr. PeytonDoes my hon. Friend realise that this is a horrifying tale and that this story, which really has shocked, and should shock, the conscience of the free world, should be receiving far more publicity and notice than it has done? Will he undertake to raise it at the United Nations? Does not he think that there can be no ground whatever for confidence in anything undertaken by any Communist authority anywhere in the world so long as this disgraceful story continues?
§ Lord John HopeI have a great deal of sympathy with much that my hon. Friend has said. I think that in ventilating this, as he rightly says, horrifying state of affairs, he has performed a great service this afternoon.