The Daily Grand and Sundry

The flight to West Berlin from Amsterdam was uneventful, though the pilot did make an announcement that we were strictly forbidden to stray from the air lane by the government of the German Democratic Republic(East Germany, Communist Germany).

But the East Germans did allow the plane to fly completely around the city of West Berlin prior to landing.We were free to do that, to fly completely around the city. Why? So that the East Germans could show off their masterpiece from the sky, THE BERLIN WALL.

That was a misnomer, for it was two walls; an inner wall manned by watchtowers, and an outer wall which abutted West Berlin territory. In between was a minefield.

It was an amazing sight; in this modern age, there was a modern city COMPLETELY, COMPLETELY surrounded by a wall. COMPLETELY. I had seen the walled city of Avila in Spain, but that was walled to keep the Moors out; this wall was to keep their citizens in. COMPLETELY.

THE BERLIN WALL IN 1988; THAT IS EAST BERLIN IN THE BACKGROUND, THE MINEFIELD IN BETWEEN.

West Berlin had a cool social life,a mite Weimar for my tastes, decadent without the fun of Paris.

I entered East Belin at CHECKPOINT CHARLIE. That was the American manned entrance between West Berlin and East Berlin; the point where World War III was suppose to start.  The American Guards were goofy, questioned my sanity for wanting to go into East Berlin, and waved us through, ten yards to the STASI checkpoint. 

My Tour Guide had been hired for the day in West Berlin, but he specialized in crossing into East Berlin and getting back. Someone later told me when they finally released the STASI files after the fall of the Berlin Wall, he was in them as an agent, but then again who wasn’t? 30% of the East German population were informers for the STASI.

“The Ministry for State Security, (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit, commonly known as the Stasi [ˈʃtazi] (abbreviation German: Staatssicherheit, literally State Security), was the official secret police of East Germany. The MfS was headquartered in East Berlin, It was widely regarded as one of the most effective and repressive intelligence and secret police agencies in the world.

Which meant in practical terms, one out of every three girls you dated was telling about your sex life to the Government. No wonder the people of East Germany were subdued.

The STASI Guards  were waiting, checked out our papers and waved us through, no questions asked; the East Germans were not interested in who was COMING INTO EAST GERMANY.

My papers were in order, I was on my way to Museum Island.

 “Museum Island (German: Museumsinsel) in Berlin, Germany is the name of the northern half of the Spreeinsel, an island in the Spree river in the centre of the city (the southern half of the island is called Fischerinsel (Fishers’ Island)).” to visit the ISHTAR GATE…

from the ancient city of BABYLON……..a most dazzling sight.

My sense of balance was in harmony, the ISHTAR GATE outside of the BERLIN WALL.

East Berlin was drab, dull; the people subdued. The city was occupied by six(I counted them) different armed forces from police to para military to military, protecting the government from its own people, and from the other armed force.

AK47s are the Winchesters of Communist States, ubiquitious and loaded. But not in the hands of the citizenry.

Our trip back to freedom was eventful. My tour guide had a small car, a Midget. We were stopped at the other end of the driveway from Checkpoint Charlie, asked to step out, frisked. The car was searched, and a mirror on an extension pole placed underneathe the chasis to look for East Germans trying to cling to the rust coating for freedom.

What was most frightenig was the youth and callowness of the Guards; it was like being frisked by the male  cast of BEVERLY HILLS 90210, or GOSSIP GIRL, (on second thought those actors are much older than the STASI Guards). But they held you as a captive audience because of those AK-47s, safetys unlocked.

They did not wave you though, instead they gave the wee car an escort, walking along side the slow moving car, the car being forced to crawl down the driveway, til right before CHECKPOINT CHARLIE they peeled away. The American Guards smiled and waved us through.

I took the train back to West Germany, Hanover from West Berlin, through East Germany.

Outside of Madgeburg the hills were black as far as the eye could see with the black tents of the Red Army on standby to invade West Germany across the North German Plain.

The train was one of those trains featured in an Agatha Christie film, all compartments. Right before the West German border, the train was stopped, and armed guards of our friendly STASI  got on board, checking papers, passports, people.

I tried to look unconcerned, and continued reading Stephan Hawking.

There were five Germans in the compartment with me, they had smiled, but not said a word. I was an outcast, but they had been gracious. Then we heard, through the closed compartment door, this voice of doom.

“eine amerikanische”

Which means one American, and I was transformed from an alien in the eyes of my train mates into a leper. They ALL tensed up.

Three men entered the compartment, one Prussian type(the Nazi types always find work in Communist regimes) and two young, YOUNG boys with those AK-47s unlocked.

The Prussian, “I speak English, your passport”

I showed him my passport.

The Prussian, “Your visa?”

I showed him my visa.

The Prussian, ‘The book?”

I gave him my Hawking book.

The Prussian, “Your camera?”

I gave him my camera.

He dropped it.

Thank God it was a cheap one.

 Then he kept looking at me, very steely. I did not look back, partly out of fear, but mainly because I was watching those two young boys with those AK47s fidgeting. They were fidgeting, with AK-47s. That readers IS a very frightening sight.

The Prussian, “The German Democratic Republic is happy you came, tell everyone what you have seen. Promise?”

I promised.

For the rest of that trip to West Germany, not one German in that compartment would look me in the face.

COMMUNISM

I have been to five Communist countries, two of which don’t even exist anymore. I have never met a cowardly Communist. They are all brave.  But all that bravery is used to occupy their own people. Communism is an occupying force descended on its own people. They are occupiers to their fellow countrymen.

One final note, as we are about to fall in love with the Castro brothers all over again, let me say this. No one has ever been braver than the Castro brothers. They land 86 men off of a rickety yacht to overthrow a government. After the first battles they are down to maybe twenty, twenty against the world. And they win.

In a world of sitcoms, and scripted reality TV, their bravery makes them TOWERING.

But they are Communists, and only one thing defines Communists, and it is not  their economics, nor their ideology.

When the selector switch is in the upper position on a AK-47,  the safety is on.

A Communist in Moscow, Havana, Sofia, Hanoi only share one thing in common;the selector switch on their AK-47s is ALWAYS on the bottom, ready to fire. I have NEVER seen a Communist AK-47 with the safety lock in the upper position. That is Communism in a nutshell, they don’t believe in safety locks on their guns. There is never a second before they shoot.

On this May Day, which Communists celebrate world over, their true contribution to the world is making the AK-47 safety switch obsolete.

Tags: CASTRO BROTHERS, EAST BERLIN, ISHTAR GATE, MUSEUM ISLAND, STASI

This entry was posted on Friday, May 1st, 2009 at 3:19 pm and is filed under THE WORLD. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.