ALUMNI FEATURE successful . And while it took three hours , we did make it across the border and into West Berlin that day .
Act II : July 26 , 1970 Inter-Berlin Border – Checkpoint Charlie
Two days later , we ventured out of West Berlin to explore on foot the terra incognita of East Berlin . Shepherded by assistant group leader Phil Rosato , SJ , we spent several hours walking about the East German capital . Even a quarter-century after World War II , much of it lay in ruins , in stark contrast to the luminous cosmopolitan feel of West Berlin . Gray , overcast weather only heightened the gloom , as if the sight of armed East German police and the Wall itself wasn ’ t sufficient .
Several of my classmates shared their own anecdotal remembrances .
After passing Checkpoint Charlie we met some Russian soldiers or cadets . We had a conversation , and when we left someone took a picture . Suddenly one of the cadets got serious , asked for the camera , and exposed the film ( pictures of the military were verboten ). – Sal Ferrante
I remember walking through the streets of East Berlin ( through the WW2 ruins of a university , as I recall ). There was a pair of East German policemen that kept circling the area , keeping an eye on us . I also remember most of us singing “ 99 East German Guards on the Wall .” – Diana Collins .
The contrast between East and West Berlin . The West was a vibrant city , but the tour in East Berlin showed us a city of gray monolithic-looking government buildings and neighborhoods , not lively like the West . Maybe that was the intent of the tour and the places we were allowed to be shown by the East German government . – Sam Liao
As we were waiting to cross back into West Germany , we had all this East German money that we had been forced to exchange for and hadn ’ t spent . The coins were made of aluminum . It was a windy day and we were flipping the coins in the air , laughing and watching them float away . A jeep full of machine gun-toting East German soldiers told us to stop . – Greg Groth
My own starkest memory of the divided city is not that day in East Berlin , but a visit
the previous day to an observation tower in West Berlin overlooking the Wall . With perfect symbolism , amidst the barbed wire that festooned the top of the Wall like an ugly crown of thorns , a sparrow lay trapped , unable to free itself and fly away .
Impressions such as these and the many others from that summer in Germany were life-changing in the sense of broadening the horizons of a working class Bronx kid like me and , arguably , being the first step on the road that six short years later led me into a long Foreign Service career . Fifty years later , I suspect the impact on the current crop of Prep students who likewise now go forth to discover the world beyond is no less .
PHOTOS : DOMINIC DIPASQUALE ’ 71 AND DAN ZUKOWSKI ’ 71
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