Wieneke Archive Book 4j : War Presscuttings

...e assti111111111 THE AUSTRAUAN Monday October 2 1978 -9 all: Communism's ate obscenity ost-war politics. He in various Menzies 7 to 1964. In this ockade. I and controlled snl- r Cecil Weir, Ch'lr- the Economic Corn- t4ing to restore the economy; and with Murphy, General althea' adviser who 'ady famous for his !ion with General it the winning over of e French in North r 1949. i Murphy how it was Allies had got them - o their present tangle n. :id a slow, drawling d a dry manner. He lid, "Well I guess we rusted the Russians." v and I were later to friends I went ungton and he was secretary of State isenhower. were lunches, dinners options every day I e, with Allied officers it wives, and West officials and civilians, dr fair-haired con - o, and not a little ne and whisky. a time of enormous we literally did not ,hat each new day ing, or whether some n t might occur us into World War y perhaps overheated :on the atmosphere ehwere between the of Richmond's ball Waterloo, and "eat, al be mer.y for to- -e die." ! is time and for afterward the Airlift with increasing in- rtd effecttvness. In ere were more than lights, and at the of the Airlift about as of coat, machinery er material were tin- ach day. rated in all weathers a day, the big planes in and taking off s every half minute. pelhof and at Gatow d them at night corn - under arc lights, Ig to a standstill, the-, y's opening lad the eoal, brace's of ma - hood and other goods awered into the watt - Ks, and then turtling Ind roaring out again THE wall at the Potsdamer Platz. Photograph courtesy Landesbildstelle, Berlin. Before the end twice as much was coming in by air as had conic in by road, rail and water before the Blockade. It was a triumph of organi- sation and timing, and it broke the Blockade. American writers have been inclined to treat the Airlift as if it were solely a United States effort. Their effort was superb and they had biggei bombers and more of them; but the British effort was superb, too. Many of the RAF pilots had been flying and fighting for years, and some looked bone-weary, but they brought their Lan - casters in and swung them out again with cool precision. The people stood firm Despite discomfort and danger, the people of West Berlin stood firm, too. They were terrified of the Russians -- not without reason, having regard to Nazi atrocities on the EaSterll front - and they repeatedly demonstrated in support of the Western Allies: on one occasion 300,000 gath- ered in the Tiergarten near the burnt out Reichstag. The great danger was that the Russians, seeing that the Blockade was failing, might start to shoot, but that risk had to be taken. In, General Clay's words the Western Powers, "facing the Most vital issue in the world since the littler aggression," were determined to stay in lBerlin "tip to the point of Was " There was no war and, after ti months, the Russians Pfted . the Blockade and the big planes went away. Everyone in West Berlin believed, as I still believe, 'that the Airlift saved West Germany from commu- nism. When my visit ended I left Berlin in another RAF plane for the British air base at Buckeburg, near Hanover. Again I sat in the co-pilot's seat and again I was fright- ened, not this time by the MIGs, but by having to fly blind through thick fog, so low that at one time I felt the swish of tree tops against our landing wheels. Next day I flew back to the peace and tranquility of Eng- land's green and pleasant land. And now, just 30 years later, was in Berlin again, flying this time with my wife in a Pan Am jet into a trans- formed and re-created city. Fast Berlin had been rebuilt and there were linden trees again in the tinter den Lin- den, and the site of the Reichschancellery was now just a grassy mound. But East Berlin was a drab place compared with West Berlin which was clean, bust- ling and prosperous, with well - dressed people, better houses, a multitude of motor cars, and stores displaying the same goods and luxuries fa be seen in Hamburg, London, Paris and on New York's Fifth Ave- nue. The shattered cathedrals, opera houses, government of- fices and other public build- ings had been demolished or rebuilt; the Reichstag had been restored; the winged vic- tory figure was back on the Brandenburg Tor; and dense groves of trees with their thick foliage were growing right up to the edge of the roads and in the Tiergarten. There were buildings of new design too. I saw one ultra- modern structure, a concert hall, the front of which looked like tile lips of a great gaping mouth. It had originally been nicknamed "The Pregnant Oy- ster" but this has recently beers changed to "Jimmy Carter's Smile." Notwithstanding this dra- matic contrast between the desolate scene of 1948 and the restored city of 1978, it was not hard to recognise Berlin as the same city I had seen 30 years ago - the geometric design, the broad boulevards. the river, the lakes and the woods. Recognisable, except for one thing - The Wall. It was put up by the communists in August 1961 to stop the flood of refugees leaving East Ger- many for the West. At first it was largely an affair of wire fences and quickly thrown -up barricades with soldiers on guard. Now most of it is a high stone or concrete structure with barbed wire or spikes on top. The West Berliners have erected platforms which citi- zens or tourists may mount to look over The Wall across the deadly no -man's land into East Berlin. Those who were shot On The Wall on the western side are many, many pathetic little crosses with names and wreaths beneath in memory of those who tried to cross over and were shot down. At night East German searchlights play on The Wall, soldiers stand on guard and there are dogs abroad, It is the ultimate obscenity. I saw an enlargement of a photo taken In tile early days of The Wall. It shows a little boy holding his hands out trying to get through the wire back to his faintly. He is about to be helped by a com- passionate young East German soldier until, looking over his shoulder, he sees his officer watching him, and he stops. The story is that the soldier was taken away and ncarr again. People can gel used to most things and there lais been some relaxation with the issue pessee permitting some visits beta -en East and West. t Check Point Charlie and °tier points. 7 -.en so, oily a few weeks ago a young man was shot trying to cross over without a pass. West Berliners (and per- haps many East Berliners, too) bitterly hate The Wall and all it means, and the way it divides families, kinsfolk and the German people. This determination not to let people out is based on fear - not the fear of encircle- ment that the' Russians an, always talking about - but fear lest greater knowledge of what the West is like, its greater freedom of speech and choice and movement, its va- riety, Its prosperity and com- forts, may make those; who live behind The Wait challenge the system which will not permit such freedoms. The changes will come There are signs that these feelings are abroad already, in Russia itself and especially in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslova- kia and elsewhere; and that, when the young me!' now coming tip to power in the communist hierarchy displace the old men now there, changes will gradually come. It may be so, but not yet: the old men are still in charge. In the meantime, The Wall is there, public evidenrsl of the essential brutality of the communist system, and evidence, too, of its tailor() in that it has to trsort to such methods. Those Australians who think that communism is just a kind of socialism, and that the presence of the Soviet and its client states in the Middle Sailt, Africa and South -East Asia. and of its fleets in the Indian Ocean, is of no impor- tance to Australia, ought to pay a VISit to The Walt. It intebt, just might, change their minds.