Impressions of a visit to Berlin

It all started on March 28 this year, when we received a letter from the ” Senatskanzler, Regierender Burgermeister, Berlin,” asking us whether, ” as former Berliners,” we were prepared to accept an invitation to visit that city for one week as guests of the Senat. If so, an official invitation would follow. It was not easy to decide. We had not been back to Germany since we left it in 1937. How would we react to the people, might be visit help us to come somehow to terms with the past, although nothing and nobody can wipe out the memories ? However, we accepted, knowing little of what was in store for us ! Looking at the whole event, one has to view three parts : The invitation purely, the Jewish community and ” Berlin “. We found ourselves within a group of 230 former Berliners, all refugees from the Nazi regime : 18 persons from England, a ‘plane-load full from the South American States, some from South Africa, some from Israel. The hospitality could not be faulted at any point. A representative of Hapag-Lloyds came as far as Frankfurt to guide us in and help with the formalities, a representative from the Senat met us at Tempelhof, a special office from the Verkehrsamt was at our disposal in case of difficulties and a chaperon wherever we went. The hotel was first-class, we received pocket money and theatre tickets for two evenings, and there were sightseeing tours. The main events were the invitation to lunch by the Chef of the Senatskanzler, which took place at the new Judische Gemeindehaus, the largest room available in Berlin at the moment, and a trip on the Havel with a ” BerlinerAbend” by courtesy of the President of the Abgeordnetenhaus. For this we had the sinister company of an East German patrol boat Where the border goes through the middle of the lake. At aim functions we were addressed by the appropriate dignitaries and assured again and again that the main idea behind the invitation was: ” die Normalisierung der Beziehungen “. One felt the genuine wish to please, to make good, to impress with the new spirit, but one also sensed the hidden hope that some of us might return, not only the old ones but their children and grandchildren. There were daily reports in the local newspapers, television interviews, and long articles in the national papers. Of course, representatives of the Jewish community were also always invited. The relationship between the city and the Jewish community seems to be excellent. Special services were held at the Synagogue Pestalozzi Strasse, Friday evening and Shabbat morning, the latter followed by a Kiddush. Attending the services we felt, for the first time, deeply moved! Services again in Germany after the event of the Third Reich!! ! That went to the heart. But what will be the future, with hardly any young people there? The Kiddush on Shabbat was every bit as lavish as the hospitality by the city. I proposed a vote of thanks, from the bottom of my heart! The amazing thing, however, was that although we met new friends of old friends, there was nobody we knew from olden times. The city has risen from the rubble like the Phoenix from the ashes. There are still a lot of ashes and what is new is no longer the Berlin we knew. Yet with all its new beauty, its vitality, its spilendour, it is a prison, and the people seem to dance on a volcano. Yet this report is not meant to be an article on political observations. We left Berlin as we came, honoured guests, presented with a miniature bear wearing a sash with the inscription: ” Denkt manchmal an Berlin “. We certainly will do that. (MRS.) L. LIBROWICZ