Invitation To Germany, Vignettes-7

Chapter 24 West Berlin, Behind the Wall

… steps led to platforms that were constructed high enough so we could look over the wall into Potsdamer Platz, and see how the other half existed.

We could see the tank-traps, the barbed wire, concrete “dragons’ teeth,” and the guard towers that protected the Wall that imprisoned the East Berlin citizens. A terrifying sight.

Chapter 25 East Germany

But the worst thing that happened to us behind the Iron Curtain, not only didn’t happen, it happened three days after we returned to West Germany.

At the border, some vehicles were carefully searched by big German guards, and some were carefully sniffed by big German shepherds, but they just glanced inside our RV, checked our papers, and off we went.

Chapter 26 After the Wall, Former E. Germany

Stendal … several visits to cities and towns just 45 miles west of her home. … “If we had known the truth about life in the West, there would have been a revolution years ago.”

Hamburg/Berlin Autobahn … there’s one fantastic difference. As we approached the border point, we saw a sign that said “Checkpoint Harry.”

Grevesmühlen … “For forty years this area was occupied by Communists from the East, and now it has been invaded by the Capitalists from the West.”

… wonderful to observe how fleeting and how superficial that brainwashing was. The ideas of freedom are so ingrained in human nature, no debriefing or retraining was needed. They knew instinctively how freedom works.

Chapter 27 Northern, Former East Germany

Schwerin … His company had sent several groups of people to the US for three to four months at a time, and when they returned they regaled their friends with stories about “low” prices and “great” service in the US.

Pasewalk … The high pointy steeple was being covered with shiny new copper, the interior was in need of and was receiving a lot of work by artists and craftsmen.