Thousands Flee to West German Border

SCHIRNDING, West Germany--Thousands of young East German refugees rolled into West Germany at the rate of more than 100 an hour yesterday, causing a traffic jam that stretched several miles back into Czechoslovakia.

"The people will keep fleeing as long as they can," said Christian Schreiber, a 23-year-old East German who joined fellow citizens taking advantage of the new freedom to escape their Communist homeland through Czechoslovakia.

Driving their sputtering Trabants and Wartburgs filled with stereos, luggage and children, the refugees needed to travel only 15 miles from the East German border to reach Bavaria in West Germany.

At least 15,000 East Germans had arrived in West Germany via Czechoslovakia by yesterday, West German border officials said. They came by special trains from Prague or drove their own cars to the border after learning of the new escape route. Schirnding was the closest border crossing for those using the new route.

The refugees ignored pleas by new Communist Party leader Egon Krenz to remain in East Germany and scoffed at his promises of reforms. So far this year, about 170,000 people have left seeking freedom in the West.

"People just don't trust the government," said Schreiber, a dental technician from Staaken outside East Berlin. He and his wife and son had been waiting seven hours in the cold and had a long wait still to go.

"How long will they keep coming? That you have to ask Mr. Krenz!" said Uwe Luetjhe, the federal border police duty chief.

"You can see how patient these people have been," Luetjhe added. "They learn that from waiting in lines for so long outside shops."

On Friday, Communist officials in East Berlin agreed to allow neighboring Czechoslovakia to open its Western frontier for East Germans seeking to go West. East Germany on Wednesday lifted its month-old ban on travel to Czecholslovakia, the only country East Germans can visit freely.

Those who have stayed behind have demanded that the East German government make democratic reforms and allow freer travel. As many as one million people demonstrated on Saturday in East Berlin urging reform.

In East Berlin, a sign prominently displayed outside the City Hall during a debate between local officials and citizens yesterday said: "The Communist Party is Driving the Citizens out of the Country."