Observations from Abroad

OBSERVATIONS FROM ABROAD In addition to H. Louis Kostanick and Edward T. Price, several other members of our Association of Pacific Coast Geographers were abroad recently: H. Bowman Hawkes (Fulbright) lectured in Germany; Richard F. Logan (National Science Foundation ) spent a year in South West Africa; Robert Mayfield (NRC-ONR) did field work in northern India, and Francis J. Schadegg (Fulbright) was exchange professor in England.—Editor Berlin Revisited The city of Berlin is still in occupation status, a 75-mile ring of Soviet guards encircling its western portion. Inside is the erratic 27-mile sector boundary separating East from West. Like the twitchings of a madman's pencil it zigs and zags through backyards , across garden plots, along the middle of one street, the east sidewalk of another. If I had been told twenty years ago, when I spent some three years in the proud and beautiful city of Berlin, that such a line would ever divide the city, I would have scoffed. If anyone had intimated that in 1957 telephone lines, water supply systems, bus and street car lines would be severed; that currency would vary from one part of the city to another; that motor cars on one side would be strictly different from those on the other; that identical wares on display in shop windows on Alexanderplatz and on Kurfuerstendamm would carry dissimilar brand names; that policemen would dress differently and people would look with some suspicion upon one another—if such a possibility had been suggested twenty years ago I would have said "utterly fantastic." Yet, there it is. The cultural contrasts between East and West visible in Berlin today suggest the elusive nuances buried beneath the surface. One wonders how these divided Germans feel about themselves . . . about their neighbors . . . about the past . . . about their relations with us. What kind of a world do they want? Or, not want? Are there deepburied antagonisms? A fixation on past glories? One may acquire a partial perspective by living among them sympathetically and with an open mind. For example, our landlady, a World War II widow, still cherishes a silent but deep respect for the bygone "glorious days" of the middle 1930's under Hitler. Her son voted for Adenauer, but he cast his "ja" with great reservations. One of our fellow roomers, a retired Prussian soldier, looked with deep suspicion upon NATO, likewise upon an atomically-armed and divided Germany. Here, under one roof, were three divergent, perhaps irreconcilable viewpoints. Among my colleagues at the Free University of Berlin opinions ran the gamut from complete rejection of German militarism to a rather haughty admiration and respect for it. Most, but not all, of the professors were anti-communist, and while the often-confused students were definitely pro-German and pro-European, they were not necessarily pro-Western. Even more thought-provoking were the impressions gained from friends living behind the Iron Curtain; in their eyes communism is not the unqualified failure we are led to believe. The last three months of my stay in Europe were spent in the Rhineland provinces of western Germany at the University of the Saarland. This is Catholic Germany and here the adherence to the Adenauer policy is much stronger than in Protestant Germany to the north and east. These historical and religious differences are of no mean dimensions. Throughout Germany there is much that will tend to support the status quo but there are also many tangible forces which would rally to a new "cause," i.e., a change in any one of several directions. Not only Berlin but most of Germany is vaguely dissatisfied with the status quo. —H. Bowman Hawkes 41 Christmas in South West Africa Christmas, 1956, was spent half a world away from UCLA—in the heart of South West Africa. We had gone into that distant land unknown, without friends, and much concerned about how we might be received. We had anticipated having to spend most of our time completely alone, and we expected that at Christmas our feelings wotdd be at their lowest. But it was quite different! Everywhere we went we were made to feel welcome. And at Christmas, we were made so much...