Christmas in Berlin

Snow fell in Berlin last week, effacing" some of war's ugly scars. The kids were excited, like kids everywhere, with a good fresh pre-Christmas snow. Some of the grownups were excited, too, for they had plans for the kids. There was going to be a Christmas party in the Admiralspalast Theater for 2,000 youngsters of the U.S., Britain, Russia, France, and their German friends. Then the grownups' plans--as grownups' plans frequently do--went awry.

The famed boys' choir of the Dresden Kreuzkirche in the Russian zone was scheduled to sing songs of all nations. Although all four occupying powers had approved the choir's appearance, a German employee of the American Information Control Division, on his own authority, notified the Russians that the choir would have to be banned. The choir's conductor, he said, had not yet been de-Nazified.

As soon as the indiscretion was discovered, the head of the American Control Division called the Russians and told them that the German employee had no such authority. But it was too late. The hypersensitive Russians had already withdrawn the choir and their participation. The party was off.

Outside, in the white unity of snow that blanketed the entire city, the kids still played. For them, Christmas would be little changed. There would be other parties. In the French sector there would be a party for French children, and a party in the British sector for the British kids, and one for American kids in the American sector, and for Russian youngsters in the Russian sector. This was Christmas in Berlin, 1947.

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