European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 10, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Curtain continued from Page 13 has descended across the continent now would need an epitaph the Iron curtain begins without preamble a a string of buoys m the Baltic sea and then a Row of Border posts marching ashore at the Ernvall Peninsula at the West German port of trave Munde there just weeks after East Germany opened its Borders is a sense of what the Iron Cutlan was Freedom up to the Border markers with strollers braving the icy wed then barbed wire and watch towers looming  out of the fog then is  South comes the first sign of change the Guiet checkpoint of schist up Buz no with trabant. The Smoky Little East German cars that have become the most immediate Symbol of the new freedoms new holes were constantly opening in the 871 mile Chain of a is Fence and watchtowers of the German Getman Border at hit Zacker 50 Miles South of Lubeck a ferry Toots its Horn the last passengers scramble aboard and it chugs off on a is minute voyage to the East German Bank of the Elbe River Michael Brese 31 is skip Pering the first service across fhe Elbe since april 1945. When his Grandfather s ferry was sunk by american artillery As soon As he had heard the Border was opening he says he sent leaflets to the East German Village across the nver Quot be Al the Fence on nov in. We re coming to fetch you Quot in the past such audacity would certainly have gotten him arrested now he finds hundreds of East germans waiting for him pressing against the Fence shouting. Open the gate1 the East German guards refuse but they soon Cave in so Many cheering weeping people clamber aboard that the Terry is briefly grounded when we were children we used to fish in the River and we would gaze across Hoamg to see maybe a face in a window or someone  he says we had a saying the Elbe has Only one Bank a Well now it has two Banks again Quot Brese has punched his own personal Hole in the Iron curiae before the Iron curtain descended Between them the 700 villagers of Picherie and Bockwitz shared a school Dairy and fire brigade but then Picherie became a Younst attraction where westerners could stand and stare at the lost Eastern portion of the fatherland now the Wall is open a Man from Zich Cne walks through presents a Glossy Calendar to the East German guards in Bockwitz. And returns beaming with Pride at his contribution to German brotherhood Quot everything we Leach Here has suddenly become  says Birgit Meyhaus. Who works at Tichene s political education Center where West germans can learn about East Germany one recent Day. She says the unthinkable happened an East German teacher showed up to ask her whether he could bring in his class to learn about West Germany As american soldiers patrol at Philippsthal m the West German state of Hesse bulldozers open a new crossing above czechoslovakian Border patrolmen Cut Down barbed wire along the austrian Border near Bratislava. Right a czechoslovak worker repairs a farm Fence near an abandoned Border watchtower. Two its walk up. Looking for pieces of the Iron curiae As souvenirs the East German guards Are uncooperative and the gis leave empty handed an american patrol ambles up to the 650-year old Bridge linking Philippsthal to Vacha. The soldiers gaze at the crowds walking Over the Bridge past an ugly Gray watchtower the Philippsthal people pay no attention but across the Way. The East germans never having seen Quot the  seem fascinated things have changed Horst Badura the Philippsthal town councilor exults Quot we used to to Siberia now we re the Middle of Germany Quot Christian Schlen Czek a Hessen forester no longer has to wait six weeks for permission from East Germany to fell a dying tree near the Border Fence at 10 15 am on a sunday a Gate in the old Border Fence at aute Hausen in banana opens and people Are reunited with neighbouring Ltd eau hundreds surge through led by a brass band. An East German Border guard poised to stamp passports is washed aside m the flow forget  his commander tells him Quot this is hopeless Quot the two villages look remarkably alike half timbered houses narrow lanes farm smells but for 35 years they saw nothing of each other except their respective Church steeples a mile apart Herbert Angermueller. 65, who was born in Ltd eau. East Germany is Back there for the first time since 1944 each time to starts a sentence he interrupts himself with a gasp or a cry the old Smithy his old bedroom window the Fountain whose splashing Sang him to Steep As a boy and there in a doorway a could it be he bursts into tears and Falls into the arms of Augusta Beyer. 83. His next door neighbor All those years ago Bratislava. Czechoslovakia a City of 500 000. Lies right on the Iron curtain but now it seems As if it had just experienced a liberating explosion. Posters and political cartoons adorn every Wall and shop window. A building displaying a Hammer and sickle of communism is festooned with 25 protest banners we Are with you Quot a on an unfinished Highway Bridge. Quot return sir Ekovich to the people a m a sporting goods shop referring to a government ski chalet. Page 14 a a a stars and stripes saturday