Bv NORMAN LINDHCRST (Farmville Herald Foreign Correspondent) Berlin. April 1 — Loudspeakers blare jazz as you drive up to the big orange and black billboard ex tending a "Hearty Welcome to the German Democratic Republic.” The republic referred to is not West Germany but Communist East Germany. The welcome sign marks the stretch of the best-known single stretch of highway behind the Iron Curtain—the 110 mile Hclmsted-Ber lin autobahn. In the past this highway was a favored object of Communist threats and harassment. During the Berlin blockade of 1948-1949 it was closed entirely to Western travel For the last year, however, the Communists have abstained from interference with traffic on this West Berlin-West German lifeline. And, for what it is worth, there is no interference with traffic on the road today, despite Soviet Zone un rest.

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