Untitled Page 401

May 4 1960

I came to Berlin with certain misconceptions (as I can see now in
retrospecT) which I think raise from my reading of American newspapers
and listening to American TV and from my conversations with kids
who had been there. Thus several of my own wrong inaccurate ideas are
perhaps shared by most Americans. I expected above all to see in Berlin
Communist economies. I also expected to observe clear examples of
suppression of freedom of action and the "big lie" used to mislead
people in the communist system. My misconception lay in the simple
world- the contrasts that do exists are more subtle and not so readily
visible to the eye.

One did see in Berlin the difference if physical appearance at the border
in east and west Berlin. In west B. there is tremendous building activity
both downtown and in the suburbs and the skyline is dotted with numerous
beautiful modern structures. There are endless new stores of all kings
displaying a variety of consumer goods (fine ones) and the streets are
crowded with shoppers. In East B there are acres of war ruins where
only the loose rubble has been cleared away leaving shells of bldgs.
and here and there a lonely survivor head above the flat bush covered
ground around it. There is Stalin Allee as an example of the new construc-
tion style but its tastely design (after the Russian model) is all
the more depressing and its stores are obviously fewer and contain less
in both variety and quality than in the west.

But we must be cautious in the conclusions drawn from these observations.
West B. doesn't prove the success of Capitalism per see - it is economically
a completely unnatural situation in two ways. It is entirely cut off from
its natural source of food supplies; it must there fore be subsidized by
the west German govt to the extent of $370 million dollars a year and
its ind stries are also given tax discounts etc. Neither do the conditions
in east B. simply prove the failure of the Communist system; rather it
probably illustrates deliberate choices on the part of the east govt
to develop favorites ahead of consumer goods or housing projects.

When I turned to the subject of apparent freedom of action. I was again
surprised. For in walking around east B. the people we saw didn't look
any sadder or fearful than those walking around West B; they seemed
to go on about their own business etc. As to propaganda again the
black-white version was unsatisfactory. To begin with one senses everywhere
the presence of two propaganda lines one from the Communists and one from
the west. They are quite alike in their exaggeration too:

The West says:

1. East Germany is a country of
17000000 enslaved people held unwillingly
under the heel of Communism by Rusian
takes and soldiers.

2. West B. is a beacon of freedom to
suppressed peoples in the midst of a
Red sea

3. West B. must remain exactly as is
and even to discuss changing the
status-quo in any way is dangerous
and unwise

The East says

1. West G. is a hotbed of Naziism and
militarism.

2. West B. is the center of imperialist
espionage and agitation.

3. West B. mus become a demilitarized
free city.