Canadian visitor's impr

R. S. KENNY

Earlie®@in 1970, I had an op
portunity of passing through
the German Democratic Repub-
lic, but it was in a train and the
time was in the dead of night.
This was not very satisfactory,
so I was deeply interested in the
prospect of returning to the
GDR with the plan of spending
10 days there. The event of my
visit was to attend the Confer-
ence on Frederick Engels which
was beimg held in Berlin on
Nov. 12-13. It was after the
conference that I had the op-
portunity” of seeing Berlin and
its environs and of turning south
to visit two cities, Dresden and
Weimar, which have always
been of great interest to me.

I took a plane from Amster-
dam arriving in Berlin in the
early afternoon. At the airport

I was met by a small delegation.

welcoming me to the GDR. They
placed in my hands the first
bouquet of flowers that I re
ceived during my stay, in this
instance, red carnations. We
took the™highway leading into
Berlin, and now I was to form
my first #mpressions.

I fou ast Berlin altogether
different “from the picture pre-
sented im the press and tele-
vision in my own country. The
city hag® been restored and
splendid squares have been
created. The Alexanderplatz
surely. mtist be one of the finest
in the werld. We drove along
the Unter den Linden and stop-
ped to.gee the Brandenburg
gate topyad by the flag of the
German=@emocratic Republic. I
looked agross at West Berlin
standing.gs a living symbol to

the malignancy of the powers
allied fe the USSR in the
anti-fascii. war. The intention

of these gewers is not to pre-
serve democracy in an area in
the GDRj.but to cripple the
GDR in @s effort to create a
new society where fascist val-
ues have.~<been: destroyed, and
where am-immense achievement
-is being.completed to enable
Germany ‘bnce more to take its
place in the ranks of the world’s
progressive forces.

We had lunch in the restau-
rant that has been, opened in
the new.dglevision tower erect-
ed rrear the juncture of East and
West Begjin. It is a revolving
restaurangy and as I looked
down, it @was not apparent to
me whet it was East or West
Berlin af“Which I was looking.

Of particular interest to me

was an examination of the kinds .

of housing provided for the
working people of the Republic,
the centres for their leisure
hours and their cultural  pur-
Suits. In all these fields the GDR
is making great progress.

* * *

As a collector and reader of
books I ‘fad a special interest
in examining the bookshops. I
have always believed that Ger-
man books are the finest in the
world in respect to the paper
used, thestjpe faces chosen, the
bindings and the illustrations. In
particular I have always admir-
ed the fineness of photographic
reproduction and the excellence
of color-fflustrations. Handling
these books led me to the resolve
to make my reading of the Ger-
man language more effective.
“Visiting these fine bookshops I
could not but contrast the books
on their @&elves with those that
line the B6okshops in our part

Berlin, Weimar, Dresden, Buchenwald .. .

International Scientific Conference on th

Engels, Berlin, GDR.

of the world. My visits were on
ordinary working days and the
crowds I saw were not Christ-
mas shoppers. On these shelves
I saw all the books necessary
for the. cultivated life.

oo * *

At the conclusion of the con-
ference, my guide and our driv-
er took the broad highway lead-
ing south to the city of Weimar.
I cannot but rejoice. with the
people of the GDR that it em-
braces within its territory three
of the greatest cities in the ar-
tistic and literary heritage of the
German people—Leipzig, Dres-
den and Weimar. Rain was fall-
ing and the: leaves were gone. I
should have preferred to see the
city in summer, but in any sea-
son a visit to the celebrated city
Weimar .has been one of the
objects: of my: life..I was met
at the ElephantHotel, and on
this occasion ‘the flowers. pre-
sented to me were yellow au-
tumnal blooms. After dinner we
set out for Goethe-House and I

recalled the emotions I experi-
enced when I entered the house
of Keats in London and the
home of Victor Hugo in Paris.
In the instance of Goethe it is
not only the home of the: great-
est representative of German
literature but also the place
where the concept of a world
literature was conceived. The
house is substantially the same
as it was on the day that Goethe
died there in 1832. I could not
but notice that although Goethe
had lined his house with objects
of art for his delight and the
delight of the many friends who
visited or stayed: in his house,
the remaining furniture. was of
almost Spartan simplicity. My
guide quoted a remark of
Goethe ‘to the effect that luxur-
ies. are required only by men
who have no imagination. We
continued: on = to the Goethe

Museum to examine the wealth:

of items:associated with his ‘life
and work. We are reminded that
Goethe was but one of a bril-

Pu

e@ occasion of the 100th Anniversary of the birth of Frederick

liant constellation in Weimar
that included Schiller, Herder,

‘Wieland and so many others.

* * *

In the early hours of Sunday
we made the short trip from
Weimar to Buchenwald. A short
distance, but what a world sep-
arated Weimar from Buchen-
wald! In the first, the finest
flowering of Germanic culture;
in the second, the appalling re-~-
velation of the monstrous in-
humanity of man to man, the
darkest descent of man into all
that is anti-social and bestial.

We passed through the gate
of Buchenwald above which is
still displayed the grim Nazi in-
scription. “To each his due” and
in the cold light of morning with”
the mists still hanging over the’
valleys we: surveyed the grounds
of the prison-camp. surrounded
by high barbed wire. The still-
ness of death lay over the land-
scape. We turned to the great
memorial that overlooks the val-
ley, commemorating the more

Dresden—new buildings in the city on the Elbe River.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1971—PAGE 10

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than 50,000 dead and the’ neal
300,000 who were channel
through this camp to slave-lall
or death in other camps. In™
last days of German fascism ™
20,000 remaining in the cal
overcame the resistance of
guards and liberated the cal
before the arrival of Allied 5
diers. d
‘It is a heart-chilling exP®
ence to stand in this aw

of those forces in Germél
which are rescuing the Gert!
people from this fearful P4
In the volume “Immortal Tes!
ment”, dedicated to the victlt
of Buchenwald and other cat
words are quoted from an
dress made by the En@l j
novelist James Aldridge 4 j
writers’ conference in werd
in 1965, “What a responsibil!
for the people, what a res f
bility for the nation to overc™
this attitude! In my case if
thing of this feeling still rem f
with me. But for the first 1
in my adult life I can re fl)
from here and feel again th# ,
love Germans. This is not &"
to say unless one really i
it. What this country, the GD
and this meeting means 1?
ig the restoration of a peopl@”
culture and a future which 1
hitherto not existed for m& —
%* *. * |

The sun broke through hd
clouds as we turned to the BR)
way that passes the outskirts
historic Jena, past the great fi
dustrial complex of the Ke
Marx-Stadt, on to the city |
Dresden on the Elbe. + th
Like all visitors, I visited
great art gallery of Dresdé? )
view its amazing treasures “7
to rejoice that these works
art. escaped the ravages oo
war. From the. gallery I of
to the -new™ Palace~ of: Cull,
built» for the advantage OF
working: people of Dresde™,
is a splendid centre, "mab 4,
cently equipped with: every |
cility for the furtherance o ).
tertainment: and cultural @"

ity.

cs * *
I did not go to the Gert
Democratic Republic witht
‘knowledge of its past. } iy
followed with attention it tot
velopment since its found@ I
in the post-war period. tio!
aware of the terrible genera iy
out of which the new Gere "
sprang. I knew of the eye
ting effects of the Hitler P®
on the mass of the German |
ple. I sensed the enormous ! ,
facing the new socialist sit
many.’ From those progres af

elements in German life ©
had miraculously survived aff
fascist period and whic ne
placing their hope on 2 Gok
generation of Germans, the ©
is restoring a German comm of
ity to the proud position it ob
held in the intellectual vot
It is creating a Germany — oy
fied by a rising economic “ith
dard of: living which is
its rightful place in the ©
munity of socialist states: pi
Marx and Engels had at 2 4”
ing conviction that the G&, ig)
fall te

working class would not *
its task of being a leader tet
development of socialism. ~ jye
the dark night of Hitleris™ 9
existence of the German tha!

cratic Republic is a proO™ fy
int

the confidence of Marx ae
gels in the German WwW?
class was not misplaced.