East Berlin’s Bid To Attract Tourists

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31028, 6 April 1966, Page 22

East Berlin’s Bid To Attract Tourists

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter) EAST BERLIN. East Berlin is trying to cast off its forbidden-city image behind the grim concrete wall—to lure Western tourists and their money.

More than four years after the Communist authorities erected the Berlin wall, they are adopting a different attitude as evidence of their new economic and political confidence. In the West the popular impression of East Berlin stems from photographs taken from atop the wall, which show a deserted street bearing heavy scars of the last war. Communist authorities aim to change that. A new television tower taller than the Eiffel Tower, is being built. Although at present it is only 30 feet high and will not be finished for three years, it is already being described as “tourist attraction number one.” One of an increasing number of tourist pamphlets laid out at Checkpoint Charlie, the crossing point through the wall from West Berlin for foreigners, says: “You will see it when the plane circles to land or when you approach Berlin by road—a huge silvery-white glittering ball resting on a concrete shaft. From a cafe high up in this towering edifice you will be able to look right into the

heart of the city.” A new hotel, Unter den Linden, on the famous street of the same name and a modern complex of restaurants and cafes are almost complete. The buildings will complete the impressive rebuilding of the boulevard, laid waste by the war, from the Brandenburg Gate, set in the wall, to the main MarxEngels square. The East German Foreign Trade Ministry, the Soviet Embassy, Humboldt University, blocks of flats with blue glazed frontages and the modern hotel and restaurant blocks stand among the new and restored buildings. In Marx Engels square a new modern foreign ministry has taken shape, with builders working day and night. It will be finished next year. The wall is not included in the official attractions, but Communists are not embarrassed by it. “Protection Wall” Built in 1961 to halt the ruinous flood of refugees to the West, it is now officially described as “the antifascist protection wall” warding off Western “provocations.” All visiting foreign delegations are taken to the wall at the Brandenburg Gate—its most palatable section—just as all Western visitors to West Berlin are

shown the “inhuman” wall from the other side. A recent innovation in East Berlin was the opening of a lecture room in the portals of the Brandenburg Gate to explain the Communist attitude for parties of visitors. Many areas in East Berlin’s centre are still ruined and drab and bombed sites are not rare, but in spite of this, the tourist pamphlet at the checkpoint is headed “the heart of Berlin—more attractive than ever.” A wall sign invites foreigners to telephone a certain number if they want a city guide from the travel office —all this at Checkpoint Charlie where only four years ago Russian and American tanks faced each other across the width of a street. In turning to tourism from the West, East Germany is a long way behind other Communist countries like Jugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria, which long ago began to encourage its benefits. This was because of East Germany’s position in the front line of the confrontation with the Western world in Europe and the fierce ideological struggle between the two halves of Germany. In 1963, 24,000 tourists visited East Germany from “non-socialist countries.” The figure rose to 39,000 in 1964 and more than 50,000 came last year. Tourist Contract Increased contracts between the East German State Travel Office and travel bureaux in other countries lead East Germany to expect 150,000 tourists from the West this year. In comparison, 400,000 are expected from East bloc countries. The East German hinterland is much less known than East Berlin and prohibitive notice boards are frequent in the countryside where an estimated 20 divisions of Russian troops are stationed. Nevertheless the drive is on. Advertising campaigns have been praising the Baltic Coast beaches, the Harz mountains, the Saxony hills and Thuring-

ian mountains and cities like Dresden, Leipzig and Weimar. But like other East bloccountries, East Germany suffers from a shortage of hotel accommodation. Only two hotels have been built in East Berlin since the war and in other towns they are few and almost always full. A building academy study group has reported that former hotels and boarding houses now used for other purposes have a capacity of 5000 extra beds. The group has also recommended the reconstruction of major houses and castles as hotels. This is being considered by the Ministry for Trade and Supply.