Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-07-26
STUDY IN CONTRAST
From West to East Berlin

woman. Like the sentries at
Brandenburg. Gate. her at
titude is neither hospitable
nor hostile. but neutral. She
will, one presumes, be ones
guide through the beautiful,
light. healthful and cheap
model fiat for working people,
with comforts and facilities
such as were formerly only
to be found in the houses of
the rich"
The assumption is at least
partially correct. The woman
is prepared to show the model
apartment. AS to the COM
forts and facilities of the
fiat, one can only think that
the poor rich had relatively
little in their days of pre-
Communist dominance. In
eastern terms, the fiat may
be light and airy. But on
this bright, sunlit day its
foyer, or entrance hall, is
dark. The bedroom. about IL
by Is feet, furnished with a
double bed, a dresser and
chest of drawers, is lighter
and would be airier were the
windows opened. which they
are not.
There are two other rooms
counting the kitchen. and
also a bath. The kitchen and
bath are manifestly austere
in their simplicity. but prog
ress is a relative thing and
they no doubt represent a
marked advance over what
workman occupants have
known before.
The living-dining room is
the largest, probably IL by Is
feet, and equipped with fur
nishingS Starkly simple in
design. The most inviting
aspect of it is the view across
Stain Alice which Is bright,
airy, and at this almost mid
day. deserted.
The woman in charge, who
speaks German with a Rus
sian accent, is to be credited
with letting the apartment
speak for itself. 1t has an
interesting story to tell-the
difference between eastern
and western concepts of the
comfortable and healthful.
From Stain Alice, the tour
through the democratic
sector" of Berlin proceeds
through the industrial area
to a much more dramatic
and startling point of inter-
est. This is Treptow Park, a
once lively playground for
BerlinerS, now surely the
most immaculate expanse of
greenSward and tree-lined
walkways in Europe. Trep-
tow is now a shrine, domi-
mated by the famous Soviet
war memorial which shows a
Russian soldier with a Ger
man infant in his arms and
standing with his foot upon
the corpse of FaScism.
Treptow has the atmos-
phere of a cathedral, but one
erected to a political god. 1t
is a park that is not a park
unless one may describe it as
the most uncomfortable park
in the world. There is not a
cigarette butt to be found
anywhere on it's broad ex-
panse and the Americans who
are its only nonworking &C.
cupants this bright morning
light up a smoke to their oRn
discomfort. To do so means
finding an iron sewer grill
down which the offending
stub may be dropped, or of
putting a fellow human to
the necessity of picking it up
and dispoSing of it.
This is asking too much of
verence for a huge
wrought-iron soldier, casting
a giants shadow on an ex-
quisitely groomed grass plot
that at once extends and
withholdS an invitation to re-
lax. To relax, however, is to
be an individual and a man,
and this is deviation in East
Berlin. This, one saves until
he has turned around, made
the long trip back along the
west bank of the river Spec,
read the endless banners adj
vocating votes for peace (as
who needs such urgingO,
paused to inspect the bunker
where Hitler and his tyranny
died, and returned via Pots
dam Platz to the western Sec
tor.