From the S&S archives: A look behind the Berlin Wall

ALTHOUGH ONLY a few hours in duration, the USAREUR Berlin Orientation Tour to the eastern half of the divided city deeply impresses them, participants say. The trip is part of a three-day arrangement to introduce Europe-based GIs to both parts of Berlin — the western sector which has Communist winds blowing down its neck, but is under the military control and protection of Western powers, and the eastern sector, behind the "wall of shame," which is the capital of the Communist-ruled German Democratic Republic.

USAREUR hopes the Berlin tour will "increase the soldier's value to the United States Army, Europe, through better understanding of the USAREUR mission and the Communist threat."

The only "threat" the soldier may encounter in the western half of Berlin is insufficient time for the many cultural attractions, historic landmarks and the night life. They all figure into the sights and sounds that implant memories of Berlin.

The main experience for many soldiers is seeing the Communist-built barrier splitting the city, and the tour of the East.

After a routine stop at Checkpoint Charlie, the busload of uniformed American GIs experiences its first brush with the untrusting attitude of those on the "other side of the wall." Soldiers with red stars on their hats and loaded weapons at their sides stare at them as the bus moves slowly through a maze of barriers built to control traffic.

On the east side, the U.S. soldiers view the old and the new — bombed-out buildings untouched since World War II and modern, showplace shopping centers that line wide avenues devoid of heavy automobile traffic. The city looks German, they say, but the stamp of the Soviet government is in marked evidence.

They visit the Neue Wache "Memorial to the Victims of Nazism and Militarism," where goose-stepping East German honor guards parade before the twin tombs of an unknown soldier and a resistance fighter against the Nazis.

Next on the tour is the Treptow Park Soviet war memorial. The "Garden of Remembrance" there is the resting place — in five communal graves bordered by lawns — of 5,004 Soviet soldiers killed in the battle for Berlin in World War II.

Monuments surrounding the graves bear reliefs depicting the wartime suffering of the Russian people.

The tour of East Berlin is short, too short, some say. But they agree that although it's a nice place to visit, they wouldn't want to live there.