Ohio Jewish Chronicle, 1991-09-26

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The Ohio Jewish Chronicle.
•, -   Serving Columbus and Central Ohio
. lewish Community for Over 60 Years
VOLUME 69
NUMBER 40
SEPTEMBER 26,1991
18 TISHREI S752
DEVOtED  TO   AMERICAN   Atytt   JEWISH   IDEALS
Merrill to highlight
Tifereth Israel Gala
page2
Robiris to be^ honored
by Heritage Village
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Soviet Jews picking
Germany; over Israel
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P#.ge 4
attorney
to address Council
page 4
WaEicks participate in
Prime MinisterYMi^^^
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THE JEWISH TRAVELER
Berliners busy creating new city
By Aaron Leventhal
Last summer I spent eight
days in Berlin and felt like I
was visiting an emerging nation instead of Germany's
largest city and reunified capital. I have pieced together
some fragments from my
journal that I hope capture
some of the extraordinary excitement and apprehension
facing Berliners as they undertake the monumental task
of creating one new city out of
East and West Berlin.
Berlin is enormous. Its diverse population is fast approaching 4 million with a
land mass exceeding 500
square miles — larger than
the combined size of Cleveland, Boston, Atlanta and San
Francisco. Hundreds of miles
still remain in woods, parks,
lakes, recreation areas and
farmlands.
I spend the first night in
West Berlin at the Berlin Pen-
ta Hotel, near the "Kurfur-
stewdamn" or "Ku'damn,"
the Champs Elysees of West
Berlin. Interview Penta manager Detlef Kruse who tells
me that even though the Wall
was torn down on Nov. 3,1989,
"It is still very much up in the
minds of East Berliners.
There is distrust on both sides
because of broken promises
made by politicians. East Berliners were told they wouldn't
lose their jobs, and they did.
West Berliners were promised
that taxes would not rise substantially, and they have gone
up like crazy. There are new
taxes on everything — utili
ties, food, TVs, apartments,
airport and an additional VA
percent income tax."
Spend the better part of the
day strolling through the heart
of cosmopolitan and carefree
West Berlin with its sophisticated shops, outdoor cafes and
beautifully landscaped boulevards. Board bus 129 in front
of the KaDeWe, the European
continent's largest department store serving 70,000 customers daily, for my first excursion into East Berlin. Exit
at Checkpoint Charlie and
walk through no-man's land to
Unter den Linden, East Berlin's most famous and grandest avenue.
Shock. I am unprepared for
the dramatic visual contrast.
The abysmal failure of Communism and its totalitarian
legacy is in evidence everywhere. I walk through a desolate wasteland of crumbling
buildings, many still pockmarked with bullet shells
from World War H. Rubble
and gravel is strewn everywhere along dingy streets littered with shriveled-up and
unattended plants and shrubs.
Meet a young Berlin woman
leisurely riding her bicycle.
She confesses to a letdown
since the euphoric days of
1989. "Everything doesn't go
as rapidly as we expected.
The East Berliners are used to
having everything taken care
of for them by the government. It doesn't work that way
any longer."
Another woman visiting
from northern Germany tells
me, "You can cut the city in
two with a knife at night. The
East is so dark and quiet.
There are no street lights in
East Berlin."
Stop at the newly-opened
Dom Hotel near Unter den
Linden and marvel at the exquisite furnishings, lobby
fountains, chic cafe and pianist playing delightful classical
melodies for the guests. I inquire at the desk about rates
and information, but neither
clerk seems to understand me
nor can they produce a brochure in English.
At the Berlin Kunstmarket,
a flea market where just
about everything is for sale, I
meet Vladimir, an elderly
Russian professor now teaching in England. "I came here
to see all the changes taking
place. You really can see the
differences between East and
West Berlin, you know. In the
East there are many more
public toilets — so you see the
Socialists really did care
about the people," he laughs
sarcastically.
Michael Gorski, 40, serves
as my guide the following day.
He is an owner of Berlin's first
limousine service and is bullish on the city's economic future. 'Trent an apartment in
East Berlin at Postdamer
Platz, near no-man's land,
that costs $1,500 a month, and
prices are going up every day.
Property is going for $6,000 a
square meter; a small two
bedroom apartment will cost
$300,000 if you can find one."
We drive to Potsdam in
East Berlin to see Frederick
the Great's Sans Souci Palace,
how tragically in complete
disrepair. Michael points out a
massive Russian barracks
complex where 250,000 troops
are still living in squalor with
broken windows, barbed wire,
trash and weeds everywhere.
"The Russians never integrated into German society. They
are hated here. The East Germans were forced to leam
Russian in school but never
spoke it' outside the class- .
room."
Gorski boasts that Berlin is
undoubtedly the center of Germany today. "We lead in commerce, the arts, movie and TV
production, fashion, higher education and government.
There are excellent investment opportunities for Americans, especially in tourism
and housing. It is estimated
that we need to renovate or
build more than 300,000 apartments."
We rush back to my hotel in
West Berlin so he can make a
few business calls before the
end of the day. "Why didn't
you call from East Berlin," I
ask.   ■'."'.
He replies, "Their phones
seldom work when calling the
West." And we were only two
miles away.
Break up my stay in Berlin
with a three-hour railroad excursion to the northern port
city of Hamburg, reputed to
be the wealthiest city in Europe. My guide Christa Wes-
sel, who also serves as an airlines executive, points out the
city attractions, including Al-
ster Lake, in the heart of the
see BERLINERS pg. 13