European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 7, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Story and photos by Joe Mapother staff writer the site of the ancient town of pergamum is a Mere two hours drive from where Carey Slesinger and Glenda Tyler reside in Turkey. But it took three Days of space available flying and a bus tour to East Berlin for the two travellers to see what adorned that extinct Hillside Community 2,000 years ago. For $8 apiece Slesinger and Tyler joined a Busload of International Tours and travel itt visitors for a six hour tour of East Berlin that included stops at the treptow cemetery for russian War dead the russian War museum and the pergamum museum named after its most famous exhibit the altar of pergamum. The excursion is one of a wide variety of itt Tours available to military visitors in Berlin. Donnita Whittier was this Day s tour guide. A College trained russian specialist Whittier was the right person for the soviet stops. Like other tour guides she underwent a two month training period before being Road tested As a guide. First however there was the paperwork a Check of passports for civilian passengers and of military identification cards for Active duty travellers 14 stripes Magazine july 7, 1988 and the collection of East German Money for museum Entrance fees. Even though tour registration was held before the Day of departure a full hour was needed to process the bus passengers. The next order of business was a briefing on l ast Berlin travel Given by Whittier As the bus rolled through West Berlin toward checkpoint Charlie. Whittier said she tries to mix a Little humor into such briefings but the Bottom line is serious business. If they get in trouble Over there it is potentially an International incident she said of her customers. East Berlin is so close to West Berlin that people Don t realize they re technically behind the Iron curtain. I Don t really relax until i get Back  the crossing into the russian sector of Berlin went smoothly. Uniformed personnel were told to ignore the East German guards who checked the bus from the outside. Civilians held their passports open to the picture Page to the window As the guard walked by. The smell of soft Brown Coal Standard heating fuel in the East bloc wafted through the bus As it passed the historical Nikolai Section of town and the , Gray building that houses the seat of tin East German government. A View of the Berlin Wall White painted on the Eastern Side As opposed to the Graffiti covered Wall in West Berlin was available As the bus drove to the cemetery in treptow. Five thousand russian soldiers a quartet of the russian dead during the 1945 Battle for Berlin found their final resting place in treptow. The memorial combines monumental socialist architecture with acres of Green grass and weeping Willows. The Central piece of sculpture depicts a russian Soldier carrying a German youth. Legend has it the Soldier leaped a barricade to get the youth out of harm s Way and was shot and killed for his trouble. It made you feel compassionate said Jeri Tomsic from Pittsburgh who took the tour with her husband son and daughter in Law. You always think of your own that died and you never realize. And of course we have a son in the  next Stop was the russian War museum in Karls Horst and the Day s major disappointments. Normally wives of soviet soldiers give Tours through the 14-room museum but a larger than usual number of visitors that Day meant the Job fell to Whittier. The crush also axed an English introduction film. Only a Small percentage of the exhibits carried English or German explanations so this tour group above tourists watch the Goose stepping East German cadets at the Monument to the unknown Soldier. At left inside the pergamum museum a guard at attention at the Monument. Below tour guide Donnita Whittier gives americans a briefing on East Berlin. Was Lucky to have Whittier along to decipher the russian language signs. The museum building was the site of the official unconditional surrender of Germany s armed forces and that room is preserved Replete with the flags of the four allies hanging behind the surrender table. Much of the exhibit keys on the soviet capture of Berlin. There Are concessions made to current soviet policy such As the Post-1944 captions on photographs of romanian troops marching against nazi Germany the explanation conveniently leaves out the fact that until 1944, romanian troops marched for nazi Germany against the soviet army. The one hour visit concluded with a Stop at the basement snack bar where a russian added up the tabs with help of an Abacus. A running commentary from Whittier accompanied the ride past the Center of East Berlin Alexande Platz to the Monument to the unknown Soldier along the wide Boulevard leading to the Brandenburg Gate Unter Den Linden. Goose stepping East German army cadets performed a changing of the guard ceremony and then it was on to the pergamum. The altar discovered by German curl human in the late 19th Century dates to about 180 . It and the frieze surrounding it were dug up and sent Back to Europe in the 1870s. Two decades of patient work were needed to piece the fragments together. Even in Antiquity the lessons of a communist slate Are not forgotten. The initiated German equivalent of . Is . Vor Christus in the pergamum it becomes . Before our time. There is much More to the museum and Many of the visitors said one hour in the pergamum was not enough. But the time schedule ruled and a Quick Stop at the Eastern Side of the Brandenburg Gate sans Wall was All that remained before the bus crossed Back into West Berlin. It was different Debbie Tomsic said of the tour adding that the Western sectors Are interesting but life there is similar to where she and her husband Are stationed in Hoechst West Germany. Capt. Michael Tomsic said he preferred going with the tour group to crossing into East Berlin on his own because he did t stand out so much in the required class a uniform. You Don t feel comfortable going Over there on your own he said. It was different Eri Tomsic agreed. You not Only got to hear How someone else lives you got to feel  july 7, 1988 stripes Magazine 15