REMARKS ON EAST-WEST RELATIONS AT THE BRADENBURG GATE IN WEST BERLIN ON JUNE 12, 1987 are the most powerful remarks made to the whole world revealing the 20th. century tensions of the east and west. PRESIDENT REAGAN expressed what all free and unfree people felt in their heart. When I visited the wall in the sixties and also went across on a tour beyond CHECK-POINT CHARLIE, I and the others I was with were generally silent as we went through the procedures in going across and then taken for a bus tour. Little did we know that OUR PRESIDENT WOULD MAKE SUCH A MEMORABLE SPEECH revealing the yearnings of humankind and too that, THAT WALL WOULD INDEED BE TORNED DOWN.

Our group had been in Berlin about a month taking all kinds of tours, wining and dining in the great German Restaurants, eating their delicious pastries, drinking their variety of beers and celebrating in their pubs; visiting their museums, attending concerts, plays, operas, and numerous cultural activities; going to their festivals; shopping, and all else that was available. Some of us had been in Berlin before but all of us could not believe how GERMANY had recovered after the war, in particular BERLIN, WEST BERLIN. Getting around was a breeze since almost all Germans we met not only spoke English but several other languages.

We loved Germany and Berlin but everytime we passed the WALL we wondered what was behind there and why they needed a wall to keep people from coming to West Berlin and keep people from going to East Berlin. We knew our history but to us it didn't make any sense. Some of us decided to go on the tour which would take us behind the wall.

West Berlin was colorful, busy, and full of life like all the cities in Western Europe but the minute we passed the wall and were in EAST BERLIN everything changed to earthy colors and brick buildings all over. There was hardly any noise nor cars on the road. As a matter of fact we hardly saw any people. Off and on we would see lines of people with a bag or a package. Their dress was also of earthy colors and very simple. Men seemed to wear hats and the women a scarf. A few times we got close enough to see some faces and they looked blank or sad.

The guide spoke English well and he did answer some of our questions. He too was dressed very simply in baige and brown. We had all graduated from college and he was interested in our careers and asked many questions about Western Europe and the United States. He liked the way we were dressed,

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