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which carries programming of Radio DDR I and II to local audiences along with a few hours each day of local programing.

In addition to these legitimate radio transmissions, East Germany is the site of several clandestine transmitters operating on frequencies ostensible assigned to the Soviet forces in Germany. The Soviet station Radio Volga, founded in 1946, is on the air 193 hours weekly, but of this only 13 hours comprise its own programing, the balance being divided between retransmissions of Radio Moscow's program for the Soviet troops in East Germany and Czechoslovakia, and its Czech and Slovak programs aimed at that country's civilian population. Of the clandestine transmissions the Turkish-language Our Radio and Greek-language Voice of Truth directed against Greece, Turkey, and Cyprus, have been broadcasting since 1958 and are on the air 30 and 50 hours per week, respectively. Between 1961 and 1963 clandestine Persian-language transmissions also originated from East Germany, but were subsequently transferred to Bulgaria.

Of greater significance are the clandestine transmissions directed to West Germany. A station calling itself Deutscher Freiheitssender 904 began broadcasting in 1956 as the voice of the illegal Communist Party of Germany (KPD). With the decisions to absorb the KPD into the legal German Communist Party (DKP) and to promote a policy of normalization between the two Germanies, the station went off the air in October 1971. However, 2 months later programs in Greek, Turkish, and Italian aimed at foreign workers in West Germany were heard on this frequency. These transmissions were not a new venture, but a resumption of programs on the air between 1967 (Spanish-language programs had been attempted as early as 1964) and January 1970. A second station calling itself Deutscher Soldatensender started operations in 1960, directing its appear to the West German military. It broadcasted 30 hours weekly until 1972 when the two German states agreed to stop directing military propaganda against each other.

The East German television (Fernsehen der DDR; prior to 1972, Deutsche Fernsehfunk) transmitted 90 hours per week in 1971 over two channels. Several hundred hours included programing taken from the Eastern European INTERVISION network, of which Fernsehen der DDR is a contributing member, airing as much as 100 hours of East German programing to its eastern neighbors annually via the larger network. Approximately 20% of Fernsehen der DDR's programing in 1970 was directly related to politics or news reporting, but the largest share of transmission time (23.4%) was devoted to feature and documentary films. The East Germans have constructed the highest TV tower in Eastern Europe. The tower at Alexanderplatz in East Berlin (Figure 32) is 1,200 feet high, second only to the 1,700-foor TV tower in Moscow. The East Germans have both black and white and color television. The black and white is compatible with West German and Western Europe's EUROVISION. East Germany inaugurated its color system during its 20th anniversary celebrations in October 1969 and in 1971 was transmitting 9 hours of color TV weekly on Channel II. East Germany uses the SECAM 3-B color TV system, a French system not compatible with the West German PAL color television, the choice of most countries in Western Europe. The West Germans are installing a converter-relay network consisting of a number of special installations along the inter-German border that would change their signal to the East German pattern and then boost it across the border.

'''FIGURE 32. A view of the East Berlin television tower. This structure, located in the middle of East Berlin's reconstructed city center, has become a trademark for the East German capital along with the Brandenburg Gate, and with its viewing pattern and revolving restaurant at the 670-foor level, it has become a leading tourist attraction.'''

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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110024-7