The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-05-10
Berlin Now Hideous
 Labyrinth Of Ruins

Street-cars lean drunkenly against the sides of buildings into which they were catapulted by the blast of nearby bombs. The famous Berlin subway or "U-Bahn" apparently is flooded under 15 feet of WE ter. Here and there in the FriedrichStrasse and elsewhere in the city center there are great craters from bombs that penetrated through the road way into the subway underneath and are now filled to overflowing with oily y-scrummed water.
 There is an eerie silence today over this whole area of total devast- ation. There are no passers-by in these streets which used to be the busiest in Berlin. No human being could live in any of these buildings, But thousands of still unlocated bodies are believed to be buried un- der mountains of debris which no one has had the time or interest to open up.
 It is only outside the central dis trict of Berlin that you see any Ger man civilians. Almost without eX- ceptiSn, they are only very old men and women and a few young Wom- en. The Russians estimated that 2,000.000 out of Berlins normal 5,000,000 population remained be- hind in the city. But where they all are is mystery because the streets are almost empty. The Russians say they mostly eke out a cave existence in their cellars like the survivors of Cologne and Aachen.
 The first thing in the morning and in the evenings you see long lines of women with pails lined up at emergency pumps in the streets. There is no running water in the city and the electricity supply has not yet been restored.
 Along the main streets of the less blitzed areas you see men and women Wearily trudging along push ing handcars. carriage thing on wheels, in fact-loaded down with dining room tables, wardrobes, chairs, beds, and other pieces of furniture. I saw one old man lying on his back in the gutter alongside a handcart. No one was bothering to see whether he was alive or dead. I saw many people with heads bandaged or arms in slings.
 These Berliners, who used to have the reputation of being cocky and loud-mouthed and arrogant, look desperately beaten today They are white-faced and haggard. They look like people who have just emerged from a nightmare, and who have no plans, no ideas, no hopes for the future. They trudge slowly along pushing their handcars of luggage or just stand, blank-faced and be- Wildered, watching the streams of Russian motor transport thunder ing past.
 The Russians are everywhere. The only transport is Russian. You see Russian soldiers Strolling in crowds along the main thoroughfares of the less blitzed areas. At every main intersection there is a smart Rus sian WAC in khaki uniform and beret Tagging the traffic along with red and yellow flag and giving a snappy paradeground salute to each vehicle as it passes.
 At the beginning of the Frank furter Allee-the main artery in from the east by which Marshal Zhukov' smen entered Berlin-the Russians have erected a gigantic, red triumphal archWay with Glory to the Red Army" in huge, golden letters. There are Russian traffic signs and notices everywhere. Here and there you still see WhiteWashed signs on walls in German. we shall never capitulate" and we remain forever German" But these are be- ing wiped out rapidly and replaced by slogans in Russian.
 All along the main arteries of the city throughout the day trudge seemingly endless columns of home ward bound foreign slave workers of the Nazis-Italians, Yugoslavs, Czechs, Poles, French. Belgians- pushing handcartS or leading rick ety horsedraWn wagons piled high with a motley mountain of baggage and carrying homemade flags of the nations they represent. Most of them carry Red flag also. No one appears to be directing these con- voys. They just trudge on in their thousands, heading someWhoW or other in the direction of their homes. At night they camp in the streets, tearing down telephone booths to build camp-fres. The Germans give them a wide berth. They appear afraid of these repre- sentatives of the millions Hitler dragged into slavery for his Nazi Third Reich.