Evening star., 1954-06-21
Berlin Rises Above
Ifs 300 Million Tons
OF Wartime RubbIe

Stug Ssoff Correspondent
BERLIN (By Mail). - There
are still 800 million tons Of rub-
bic In Berlin.
Removal of this titanic mass
Of bricks. building stones. church
altars and all the debris Of loving
and living which was piled up
between the spring Of 1943 and
sthe end of the war has proved
FAR too formidable q task.
Some areas have been cleared.
Bricks and stones have been
piled in neat heaps. Some have
been ground up and mixed with
fresh cement to make building
blocks. But most of these piles
will be left where they are.
Such is the present picture Of
the once-world-defian German
capital rising with great pain
and tribulation from its ruins.
It hardly can be said that there
has been as much erasing of the
wounds Of war as has taken
place in France or Belgium or
England.
Z Still there has been an enor-
NOUS change. even in this little
damaged southwest section of
stone homes set in iron-fenced
gardens, since American troops
first entered the city in early
July nine years ago. Then the
picture was one of stark ruin
street after street Of completely
Quilted houses with hundreds Of
the dead still buried in the ruins.
Ruins Now MeIlowed.
Now there has been suficient
.elearing up-and the trees and
bushes have grown up so rapidly
that the ruins have taken on
something of the mellowness Of
historical antiquities. For some
years now smart shops and res
taurants have been in operation
I and perhaps there has not been
! too acute a housing problem. The
s75,000 tons Of bombs dropped in
the last two war years had a
part in that, reducing the popu-
lation Of the 80 per cent de-
sstroyed city to 100000 from
almost three million. It now is
|; back almost to two millions again
sbut it is "a head without q
body"
. Berlin no longer is capital Of
Germany - either the kaiser's
;Germany or Hitler's Third Reich.
Its position is almost that Of
Washington If the capital Of the
United States were moved to
Akron. The greatest number of
wage earners were civil servants.
As such many Of them were very
competent. They were not COM
petent carpenters or electricians.
Berlin had a quite secondary in
Edustry which it has been neces-
sary TO develop. It was, for ex-
ample, a world leader in manu-
,facture of electrical appliances.
This industry, with the co opera
.tion Of the three occupying
ipowers, has been encouraged. It
snow can challenge world mar
lkets. It has been able to assimi-
Ilate, even as common laborers,
smen who could have commanded
smillions in their day. This may
sbe an object lesson, however ter
.rible.
1 There Is another Berlin-how-
lever paradoxical. the center Of
sthe free thinking, of the world.
sAt least UP to the time Of the
First World War the University
Of Berlin was the great center
for men seeking advanced de-
grees in physics and chemistry,
for example. Some Of the great
est men I know in the world
are graduates of Berlin, and Of
the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute.
Last to Accept Naziism.
] AS it was explained to us
90 American correspondents
fiown here by Pan American Air
tines in commemoration of the
tenth anniversary Of the allied
Invasion Of Europe-Berlin was
lone of the last communities in
Europe. despite all its govern
.ment clerk bias, to accept Nazi-
Ism.
! ! remember nine years ago.
ran into a very distinguished
German astronomer. He was a
very bitter man. He talked freely
but made me promise ! would
not mention his name. broke
the promise. The next I knew
some of the most celebrated
American astronomers were
calling me and asking if there
was anything they could do for
their colleague.
! remember an old German
biologist. He had raised, over
many years. q pure strain of
rabbits. With them he could
I make many experiments on
heredity-for example of can
Ger. The Russian GIs had in-
vaded his laboratory and let his
rabbits out of their cages. A
(: lifetime Of scientific labor came
y A.