European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 13, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse In Rcv to Heinz Ebel has spent a big slice of his life at Berlin coif clubs amps Ken Georges Berlin institution by Ron Jensen staff writer w Ith All of the changes and turmoil that Berlin has seen recently it is Nice to know that there has been one constant. Heinz Ebel. Ebel the Caddy master at the Berlin coif club has been at the 27-Hole course for a get this a 53 years. Quot i be seen everything Quot he said. Mathematicians will note that 53 years ago the world was at War. As the third Reich was smashing through Europe with the ease of a 1 foot putt Young Abel was cad dying at the Golf course. But by War s end the tide had turned and Ebel was called into service in a desperate attempt to save nazi Germany. For his efforts he end Earp in a British prison Camp in Flensburg Germany. A British officer saw him swing a Broom like a Golf dub and investigated. Told of Ebel s prewar Job the officer evidently a golfer sent Ebel Back to Berlin. Quot i came Back right away to the Golf course Quot he said. The americans hired him and he has been there Ever since. He soon became the Caddy master in charge of the caddies. Many of the Young boys who caddies for him came from East Berlin. Ebel is proud of his friendships with the generals who have commanded and golfer in Berlin. Several former commanders visited him at the course during recent Independence Day festivities. Some were surprised to find Ebel still employed at the course. Now 66, Ebel has seen the Berlin Golf club enter american hands in 1945 and he will now see it leave american hands at the end of this month. The course will be turned Over to the Golf and land club Berlin wan see on aug. 1, the organization that brought Golf to Berlin in 1895 and built this course in 1924, said Bob Wise the course manager since 1989. A Wise said the new operators will still allow american id card holders to play for 30 percent of the Normal fee. A amps Ken George Tina and Herbert Kram play the Berlin course. This course has seen a lot of history. And a lot of famous golfers. Quot Jack Nicklaus thinks this is one of the Best courses around Quot Wise said adding that the course has changed Little Over the years. Quot some bunkers have been added and some have been taken away. But the course is basically the same As it was in 1924/ Gen Dwight Eisenhower played the course while still in the . So did Many other top officers. And who in Ebel s opinion was the Best Quot that s hard to say Quot he said diplomatically. Quot they were All in the hallway of the clubhouse is a photograph of the building taken from the air in May. 1945. It was flattened rubble. Wise said the russian was advancing toward the Golf course from the West in the final Days of the War. Quot they were taking heavy casualties. The German artillery was very precise Quot he said. The russians finally figured out Why the artillery was so accurate. A German artillery spotter was perched in the Bell Tower of the clubhouse. Quot they just blew the hell out of the clubhouse Quot Wise said. The course was not inactive for Long. In june 1945, the first Berlin open Golf tournament was held. Only six holes were playable Wise said so one round meant playing those six holes three subject an Berlin prepares for its final sign off by Ron Jensen staff writer Greg Foss station manager for an Berlin remembers the night the Berlin Wall opened. An an camera Crew was of the Wall taping the events when one of the Many trabant crossing to West Berlin stopped and a woman waved and shouted to the of to of to a a that was once the stations Call letters and the East berliners shout was recognition that broadcast Waves have never been stopped by Walls. A a what an amazing thing Quot Foss said. Quot and we had it on Ever since it began broadcasting on aug. 4, 1945, the Berlin station has captured a lot of history on tape both audio and video from the Berlin blockade to the construction and eventual demise of the Berlin Wall. O. Now Foss and the station prepare to write their own obituary. With the due to exit Berlin by the end of september the station will have its final local broadcast on Friday. A special three hour radio program will begin at 10 a.m., broadcasting throughout the entire an european network to 52 countries and 375,000 military members and their families. The special program Wil feature music from the stations history rebroadcasts of its coverage of important events and interviews with Many of the station s former disc jockeys. A Well say our Good byes Quot said Foss who has been at the station for 15 years As a Soldier and civilian. The station will then carry the. Network wide broadcast until the end of september. It was not Quot Good Bye Quot but Quot hello that an Berlin was saying a few years ago in the Wake of the Wall s collapse. The station had Many longtime listeners to Greet. East berliners would drive into the parking lot just to look at the station that had Given them a taste of Freedom for so Many years. Some would ask to enter and Jook around. Quot this was like a special place for them Quot Foss said. Helga Lehmann who has worked for 20 years As the station Secretary said some listeners across the Border did no to wait for the Wall to fall. Quot we got mail from East berliners when the Wall was up a she said. Quot every once in a while a letter made it a russian Soldier once told Foss that when he was stationed in East Germany he would go to East Berlin on his leave simply so he could listen to an. Foss said the station was the first to bring swing music to Berlin and the first in the City to broadcast Rock a no Roll. Michael gliese 30, a contractor and Berlin native said listening to the american station was part of growing up in West Berlin. A every Young kid was listening to an. They had All the new music Quot he said. Quot it was so Chic to listen to it. Every kid knew the disc jockeys names at now with the station s demise just around the Comer berliners in a United City Are expressing their sadness Foss said. Quot tears. I have at least 10 or 15 people a week a older germans a come in Here with tears in their eyes Quot Foss said. They ask him he said Quot what will we do when an goes away Quot wednesday july 13, 1994 the 5tars and stripes 17
