Evening star., 1939-12-13
Few Smiles Seen
In Germany Despite
Victory Claims
Upper Class in Berlin
Listens to Radio With
Anxious Expression
(T,Denty-eighth OF a Series. J
BY w. L. WHITE.

| ~ W. ~ vv4AA
BERLIN (By Air MaiD Ut is
5-oclock-tea time, so the string
orchestra is playing in the thickly
carpeted salon of the Hotel Bristol,
which would correspond to the
Plaza in New York, but which
physically resembles the old Balti-
more in Kansas City.
All the tables are full and at
many OF them are young German
officers with their girls, or often
with their parents and sisters. You
remember our cartoons of the Ger
man officer during the war-a rat
face with monocle and cigarette
under a high flaring cap, tall, with
huge epaulets on a tightly tailored
wasp-waisted overcoat, and high
black boots? Well, the uniform has
changed hardly at all.
But these boys, by their faces,
might be Dartmouth or Yale seniors
For the most part they are young
lieutenants, little uncertain in
their new flnery, and so their
scrubbed pink young faces are stiff
and sober. Most of them are prob
ably on weekend leave from the
Westwall. Their girls, all of whom
are wearing dowdy German hats. try
to ease things with a gay chatter,
but Germans have little gift for
small talk. Just opposite is a family
party-the old father, his red cheeks
laced with dueling scars, close
cropped white hair, wing collar and
in sober Sunday black. The dowdy,
plump mother, a sister and a couple
Of younger brothers, also pink,
combed, scrubbed and in black, who
can't take their eyes off the gleam-
ing silver epaulets.
Gorgeous Array of Sweets.
At this table they all have tea,
and now the pastry wagon rolls by,
over the thick carpet. With ges-
ture. the proud old father halts it.
A gorgeous array of cakes and
pastries, meringues, white, pink and
chocolate icings, cream and custard
Filings, rare now in Germany but
still in costly abundance at big
hotels like the Bristol.
For the young lieutenant who
must go back to the Westwall, a
huge piece of cake with chocolate
icing. Yes, the old man insists he
must take it. For the two younger
brothers, whose eyes glitter at the
tray, single eclair to be divided
between them; for the mother. the
sister, the old father, nothing.
Maybe they aren't hungry. But
they proudly watch the young
lieutenant eat.
NaZi Announcer Confident.
The music stops, and there is a
sudden hush in the undertone of
talk as the big radio loudspeaker
is switched on. The very, very
confident voice of the NaZi an
nouncer. First some news. An air
dog fight over England-of course a
German victory. And Germany now
has absolute control of the North
Sea. Then away from the news,
into a confident account of the
| power and the spirit of 10000 900
German people.
These prosperous upper-class
Berliners listen gravely and with
anxious expressions to the clear,
confident Nazi voice. But their
faces do not light up when he talks
of German victories. There is little
smiling today in Berlin, in the
| brooding shadow of the Westwall,
although news announcers are clear
and confident and string orchestras
pluck out pretty little tea-time tunes
in the big hotels and the girls or
wives of the young officers do their
best to break up those long silences.