Conference in Berlin

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In September 1980 I attended a conference in Berlin, and decided to take Linda along.

To get there by car we had to pass through East Germany, which required flag orders under the agreement that partitioned Berlin into four zones, one each for the US, UK, France and the Soviet Union. The Soviets were required to grant access to the other three countries forces following the Berlin Blockade. Crossing the border was interesting. We had to give our passport and papers to the Soviet border guards, not to the East German guards.

We then had two hours to reach West Berlin. We could only drive on the autobahn that went directly to Berlin, which was built by Hitler and had not been maintained since. If we didn't arrive in Berlin within two hours they would come looking for us. We got there in time and stayed at the U.S. Officers Club.

When I wasn’t in meetings we toured West Berlin and the many museums. We visited the bombed out Reichstag and the Wall, with crosses for those who tried to cross to freedom, but died trying. We saw Checkpoint Charlie and could look into East Berlin. The contrast between East and West was dramatic, although the East German government tried to make the part of the city next to West Berlin apprear modern. They built a tower with aluminum skin that reflected the sunlight in a cross pattern. They did everything they could to elinimate the cross, but never succeeded. When the Wall came down on November 9, 1989 I was working at NATO. It was wonderful to share the joy of our German counterparts;but they wondered what would be next. Would their allies agree that Germany could become one nation again? We visited Berlin in the summer of 1991, but that's covered in another entry.

One evening we ate at the French Officers Club and enjoyed French cuisine and wine.

On our way back to Stuttgart we stopped for the night in Goslar, for old time’s sake. We had stayed there on our way back from Sweden after picking up our Volvo.

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Photos

Berlin Wall with guard towers
Guards were instructed to shoot to kill anyone trying to cross

Checkpoint Charlie
Crossing between East and the U.S. Zone of West Berlin