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Page 12 THE HERALD Wednesday November 15 1989 Memories of Berlin obituar the wall divides John Am To see and to hear and to read about what is happening in Berlin right now is such a deeply emo tional experience that I can t resist to write down some of my personal memories of this great and tragic city In the summer of when I was almost years old my parents went with us children to the Berlin Olympic Games for a week The Games were then thought the proudest achievement of the new Germany and not to be missed The wide boulevards of the city had been decorated by the designer of the State Opera House productions Benno von with banners swastikas and statues of nude athletes The connection to Greece and the ideals this ancient civilization represented had been stressed by a spectacular relay of torch bearers that brought the Olympic flame from Athens to Berlin Every propagandists means had been employed to glorify the regime and accordingly visitors from abroad marvelled at the vitality and affluence of Ger many in the middle of a depression that strangled all the other Euro pean and North American economies For me the week was a delirious mix of sports events wat died in the gigantic new stadium meeting in person some of the famous sports personages known to me so far only from photographs visiting the grandest of the sights the capital had to of fer and waiting with thousands of others m front of the chancellery for a glimpse of Hitler who from time to time on one particular day came out onto a balcony to wave and to soak up the adulation of the near hysterical crowd Seven years went by before I travelled to Berlin again This time I went alone My parents had given me the trip as a graduation gift The bombings had started but little damage was visible yet Because of war timeausterity the streets in the centre of the city were almost empty of traffic The theatres however were filled with soldiers on leave and their girls Potsdam and the park and palaces of Frederick the Great were as manicured as in peace time and open for inspection Only two years later Berlin was in ruins The war had come to a deservedly terrible end for us Ger mans and the military occupiers did with us whatever thej wanted in particular in the eastern part of the country I found myself in a freight train full of prisoners We passed through Berlin on our way to an internment camp on an island in the Baltic Sea Later after I had escaped from the island I again came to Berlin walking one early cold morning through miles and miles of total and utter devastation to get from one train station to another I was on the run and came to rest only many weeks later when I crossed the border illegally into West Germany Eventually I came to Canada In I flew to Germany on a holiday and I went to West Berlin to see an old aunt To my surprise the western part of the city had been resurrected and her war scars had grown over The huge to the west of the Brandenburg Gate a field of bomb craters in had been replanted The young trees were already high enough to give shade and comfort on a hot summer day The wall only five years old at that point looked and felt hideous of course dividing the city into two opposing political systems from which no escape seemed ever possible In 1975 my wife and I travelled to Berlin to see our daughter In nine years West Berlin had become a glittering metropolis in the middle of drab backward East Germany If anything the wall which one suddenly encountered behind the tall trees of a park or meandering across a street was even uglier than before reinforced with barb ed wire and fortified by the wat chtowers of the East German police And now this On Nov 1989 the sudden and unrehearsed opening of a 28yearold prison wall by the prisoners themselves who en couraged by the actions of a remarkable Soviet leader decided that they had had enough that they would not be servile to their managers any longer who had never given them anything but shortages evasions and lies The result is that Berlin has ceased to be a divided city It is now up to our leaders too if the division of Europe will continue or become a thing of the past one day CENTRE 211 GuelphSt Georgetown Hugh Allan Leslie passed away suddenly Oct 20 He had undergone two heart operations within the year The son of George H Leslie and the former Mabel Dolson RR4 Georgetown He gave up high school at 15 years of age to manage his father s farms when his father became Later he operated his own dairy farm on Hentage Road in Peel County He had a continuing interest in the local Plowmen s Association and in 19o0 represented Canada as Esso Champion in several coun tries in Europe As a diligent farmer and expert mechanic he enjoyed perfecting a job and did so to the best of his ability Life was a challenge and he met it straight on as well his enthusiasm for life spilled over in his good sense of humor The moved to Acton 11 years ago He leaves his wife the former Hyatt thrx daughters and a son Lynda and her husband Doug Swackhamer Shan Lou Cation Susan and David as well as six grandsons his brother Bob of Georgetown and sisters Margaret Chapman Bayfield Ontario Helen Montreal Ethel Samuels Toronto He is predeceased by a brother He was a member of Union Presbyterian Church Rev Crib- bar of Acton Presbyterian and Pastor Williamson conducted the family service on Monday Oct 23 at J S Jones Funeral Home Georgetown Burial was at Green wood Cemetery Georgetown Pallbearers were David Leslie Drew Swackhamer Michael Terry Leslie J Cameron and Allan Cook The grandsons helped to carry floral tributes Donations were gratefully ed for the Heart and Stroke of in Hugh s memory Clara Chapman a long time resident of Halton Hills celebrated her birthday at the Bennett Health Care Centre Nov 9 Ms Chapman lived in for 63 years She Is seen here holding a cake with her great niece Marilyn Oldham Herald photo FINE CUSTOM DESIGNED FURNITURE FURNITURE RE UPHOLSTERY NOW EXHIBITING 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