PARTISAN REVIEW
solidarity and for a turn away from the present trend of totalitarianism
and war. For others it means effective opposition to the East and the
certainty of war. For most, however, America is only the other side
of the coin which, however thrown and however it will fall, spells doom
for Europe in general and for Berlin in particular.
Although deeply involved in Germany and Berlin, the occupation
army knows how to keep its distance from the defeated. The isolation of
the Americans is perhaps even more complete than that of the British.
They live their American-way-of-life in heavily guarded compounds,
comprising large territories in pleasant natural settings. They have their
own churches, schools, and kindergartens; their own movies, concerts,
lectures, restaurants and stores. No German foot is to set there, except on
missions of service. As distinct from the British, no program of austerity
interferes with the Americans' pleasures. All less desirable activities ate
performed by Germans; Polish guards watch over them, their unbombed
quarters are inaccessible to all but those with proper papers. Security
has been developed both into a great art and a great science. To judge by
the weapons displayed and by the red tape employed, the life .of each
American seems to be in constant danger. Even the
Frauleins
need a
"social pass" attesting to their physical health, which was in former
times required only of prostitutes. From another view, however, all this
isolation seems not at all queer, for it corresponds to the division of
rich and poor that sets up barriers everywhere. The Americans in Berlin
may be looked upon as a kind of new bourgeoisie, more sharply divided
from the slum-dwellers than the bourgeoisie of old.
Of course, business closes the gap; the coffee from the States must
be sold, valuables which escaped the Russians must be bought, and the
requirements of the elevated social position demand a great amount of
German labor. But work is fantastically cheap. Prior to the currency
reform the weekly pay for any. category of work did not exceed the
German Mark equivalent of ten American cigarettes, that is four cents,
as the P.X. sells the carton for eighty cents.
Nevertheless, the U.S.A. feeds part of Berlin. The Americans never
tire of pointing to their deliveries and to the fact that they themselves
manage without German-produced foods. Like the nation as a whole, so
her citizens separately feel like philanthropists, the more to be admired
since it is the former enemy they benefit. The hungry beggars have no
choice but to be grateful, and their excessive submissiveness supports the
conqueror's illusion of generosity. But there is no love for the Americans.
The block-busters are not forgotten. The Americans are preferred be–
cause of the crumbs that fall from their tables and because they are busi-
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