Only minutes later we arrived at the Zoo Station in West Berlin. We were finally free people. We knew that refugees like us were being housed in camps, and we would have to undergo various political screenings by representatives of the English, French, and American sectors of Berlin. But we felt tremendous joy; these things were a small price to pay for the freedom we had just gained. We didn’t worry about these formalities. The major obstacles had already been conquered.We stayed in various refugee camps in West Berlin, including two months at a camp in Zehlendorf. During our brief stay, we visited the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial at Die Gedächtniskirche, a bombed-out church on Kurfürstendamm, in the center of the town. The Berliners had preserved the partially destroyed building as a macabre monument to the war and the tremendous destruction of the city. For many blocks in all directions, the war-torn buildings bore witness to the overwhelming devastation of World War II.Moving freely around the city, I was acutely aware of being in a free country for the first time in more than twenty-five years.
What do You think about Dancing Under The Red Star?
