Evening star., 1961-08-19
Doors Nailed,
Berlin Street
IsPureChaos
BY LYNN HEINZERLING
Associated Press Staff Writer

By LYNN HEINZERLING
Associated Press Staff Writer
BERLIN, Aug. 19.-It is pure |
chaos in HarzerstraSSe.
Everything north of Harzer-
straSSe is in CommuniSt-ruled
East Berlin. The street and
sidewalks are in West Berlin. !
The people living along the
north side of the street have
had the best of two worlds. |
Their back doors opened up on
the bounteous life of West Ber-
lin.
Then a group of grim work
men nailed shut every door on
HarzerstrasSe and plastered |
brick walls inside the doors.
Other workmen put rather
ugly concrete walls across the
end of the three side streets
leading into HarzerStrasse from
the north. Several hundred
people liping in the four story
apartment buildings along the
street were consigned to the |
restrictions of Communist liv-
ing.
Red Police in Place
Communist police and SOL
diers took up positions on near
by roofs to see that nobody
tried to jump out of windows.
They also took up positions be-
hand the walls in the street.
They laid barbed wire in one
flower bed at a corner where
the occupants might possibly
jump six feet from a balcony
to freedom. A little farther
along the street Communist
soldiers took up positions in
some gardens, climbing through
the neat cabbage patches and
the petunias.
All this resulted apparently
from the fact that Harzer-
Strasse was, a popular exit for
fed-up East Berliners early in
the week.
The blocked-up doors and
the new walls at the intersec-
tionS attracted crowds all day.
The young Peoples Police"
and soldiers on the other side
of the walls took a lot of
heckling.
Yesterday 10 of your men
came over" shouted a man
from the capitalist side of the
wall. Maybe there'll be more" ."
Maybe" said one of the SOL
diers.
Old Lady Turned Away
An aged little lady who had
come 25 miles to see a friend
couldn't get into the house to
see her. The friend was Sob
bing from third-floor window.
A mmuniSt policeman
blandly told the old lady to
walk to the nearest authorized
entry to Communist Berlin,
about 4 miles away.
You must be crazy" a West
German shouted at him. Cant
you see she's not going to start
a revolution?"
Along the street there were
similar scenes. One woman
shouted up at the third floor
of an apartment: Tell Elsa
to come to the window"
Il suppose that's permitted"
she said to a soldier with a
Submachinegun. The 18-year-
old soldier smiled wanly.
Another woman shouted:
Tell auntie to get through Ell
senstraSSe and come over"
Auntie lives across the street
and Elsenstrasse is about 2
miles away.
Flower Pot in Action
NeighborS said they knew of
one Communist living in the
affected buildings. He dropped
flower pot from the third
floor on demonstrating West
BerlinerS last Sunday, they
said. He also is the only man
in the building with a televi-
sion set, they stated as though |
this proved he was a Commu-
mist.
A West Berlin policeman
who had been watching the
antics of the Communist forces
all day shrugged and said,
"Other countries, other Gus
toms" He said many of the
soldiers across the wall were
not Berliners.
He said the East German
soldiers seemed to be depressed
and would not talk with him.
He looked down the pleasant
shaded street and sighed.
The new wall, described by
some West German policemen
as the Chinese WALL" is made
of concrete building blocks, /
nearly 6 feet high. Iron bars
have been inserted along the
top for holding barbed wire.
The wall is not continuous, but
is laid across every street or
vacant area which might be
an escape exit.
At PotSdamerplatz, once one
of the busiest intersections in