Word: berlins
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...rampart has inevitably inspired false tales of bravado and derring-do. Two weeks ago, Heinz Braun, an East Berlin tire salesman, captured worldwide attention when he claimed to have escaped to the West by painting his car to resemble a Soviet patrol vehicle and dressing himself and three mannequins in Soviet army uniforms. Last week Braun admitted that his story was a hoax. His coconspirator, West Berliner Wolfgang Quasner, said the bogus flight was intended to dramatize the tragedy of the Wall on the eve of its 25th anniversary. But there is speculation that the two men staged the stunt...
...their long separation, the two Berlins have acquired markedly different personalities. West Berlin (pop. 2.1 million) is a city with insomnia. By day the streets hum as dark-suited businessmen brush impatiently past roller skaters clad in little more than G-strings, and camera-laden tourists gawk at punk couples in Dracula makeup and matching spiky hairdos. So fast is the tempo that when a quarrel erupted recently between two West Berliners, the story goes, one snapped at the other, "Slap yourself for me. I don't have time." At night the city grows more manic still, with revelers jamming...
...Eastern side is now undergoing a much needed face-lifting. The city fathers have renovated some of the oldest and finest buildings, including the twin-spired St. Nicholas Church in the historic heart of Berlin. They have embarked on an ambitious construction scheme that aims to enliven the city with dozens of new gathering places and 117,000 apartments by 1990. "When the construction is finished, there will be more cafes, restaurants and beer gardens," says Rolf Liebold, a spokesman for the Berlin City Council. "No one will be able to say anymore that East Berliners are dour and unsocial...
...perceptible easing of hostilities between the sister cities has helped dispel the East Berlin reputation for gloominess. The process of normalization was set in motion in the early 1980s by Richard von Weizsacker, who was then West Berlin's mayor and is today West Germany's Federal President. Von Weizsacker became the first West Berlin mayor to meet with Erich Honecker, East Germany's Communist Party leader. Small signs of cooperation began to emerge on areas of mutual concern like waste disposal and pollution. Although the almost daily contacts are still conducted on an unofficial basis, the numbing silence...
Still, tensions persist. The bitterest quarrel concerns the human tide of refugees that washes through the two Berlins. Drawn by advertisements for East Germany's Interflug airline and the Soviet Union's Aeroflot, the impoverished and the war weary from Africa and the Middle East have arrived in East Berlin in droves. Most of them then hop on the elevated railway that connects East Berlin's Friedrichstrasse station with West Berlin's Zoo station. Once over the border, the newcomers take advantage of a liberal provision in West German law that guarantees asylum to political refugees. In the first...