Ella Barowsky was a member of the Berlin Town Council from 1946-1950. She was interviewed for the COLD WAR series in January 1996.

On life in Berlin after World War II:

First came the joy that the war was finally over. ... Of course, it was tied up with fears about what was now to come, as everybody knew quite well that naturally all sorts of nasty things can begin to happen following total capitulation. ...

Of course the main worry, first of all, was the refugees pouring through the streets. The sight of that had frightful associations, of course. [And] there were still bodies on the streets which now needed some sort of burial. [But that] was under Russian control. That was all really terrible and I must say the hunger was particularly bad as well. First of all the worry that you don't know how you'll stave off hunger the next day. That was all terribly hard. ...

An order from the Russians [required] people to clear bomb-damaged streets with their bare hands and with old buckets, without any anti-mine devices or whatever. And this in a city and in a country which had finally got a well-developed industry. So the economic destruction -- people were only too well aware of it and of course it was depressing. ...

The feelings were very mixed during these early times which were obviously governed above all ... by the primitive questions, "How are we going to survive? Will we get food, how will we survive"? One should not underestimate that life is first and foremost quite primitive, and everything else is secondary. ...

During those days in Berlin the bare necessities were still of great importance. You know, [things like] somehow getting hold of wood and coal for the upcoming winter, and longer-term. The trees in the zoo were nearly all taken down [for firewood]. ... It was also incredibly difficult to get hold of food. ...

The winter of 1945-1946 was terrible. And I should mention that the death toll in Berlin was very high at that time. Really high. Old people died of hunger and cold; they died like flies.

On German fears about the Soviet occupation:

They were not only fears: some really terrible things did actually happen. ... The Nazis, especially Mr. Goebbels ... had up to the last minute wanted to call Berliners to resistance based on the very claim that "When the Russian soldiers come you poor women of Berlin will be raped and things will be really bad." Anyone who wasn't a Nazi had long since stopped believing these statements. But then it became a reality. ...

A lot went on. Suicides were not infrequent -- suicides of older people who could not live, for instance, knowing their daughter had been raped, or someone's wife. So terrible things happened then, but in the forefront was the feeling the war is over and this dictatorship is gone and now we shall see what comes next.

I must have been amazingly lucky. ... The danger was as great for me as for every for every other woman. [But] I had a protector, interestingly enough, [who] in fact was a rather older Russian soldier. ... He had a whole group of younger soldiers under [his command] and he came into the apartment [where] we women all [stayed]. No one wanted to stay in their apartment alone. And in the house where I lived there was a woman who understood Polish and she probably understood a little Russian with the help of her Polish. And she said that he had said I resembled his deceased daughter -- whether that was true or not I have no idea. However, that was what saved me. ...

You had the impression things were better under the occupation force of the English or Americans or the French than the Russians, because the Russians had with their first measures -- what with the fear of the women, you see -- that was of course a critical time. And the [German people] had probably already got the impression that with the Russian army of occupation a new dictatorship is in the offing.

On the postwar administration in Berlin:

The Russians wanted to fill the [new Berlin] administration with their people. That is, their people had to have the administrative power. But it had to look democratic from the outside. ...

The first steps they took, although it was only at the level of Berlin's smallest administrative units, still made their political intentions very clear to me. I would like to mention a few things. First, all banks were closed down immediately. This meant, of course, that the population of Berlin had been leveled out completely overnight. Whether you had little or a lot, you could not get at your money. You were dependent upon what you just happened to have at the start of the capitulation in Berlin. ... Pensions were not paid, no civil service pensions were paid and so on. The factories were all closed. No one had a job or an income. With that the [Soviets] had established total parity, but [it was] a negative parity. ...

Then straight afterward the Magistrat -- that is to say a central Berlin parliament -- was set up in which all parties were represented, but of course the thing was run by communists.

On the Allied currency reform plan of 1948:

It had become clear -- at least clear to every German -- that the Reichsmark which we had then was no longer valid currency. Firstly, [it was] no longer [valid] after the war because you needed ration coupons as well. But above all, inflation was such that you could only buy those things with fixed prices. Nothing else. [And] you had the cigarette exchange. People swapped what they got with their ration coupons; those who were not smokers, for instance, took their cigarettes gladly, as they [then] swapped them with someone else for something else, a little tea, perhaps, even in some cases for bread -- which I could never quite understand: giving your bread for cigarettes! But yes, we all did that -- that was the cigarette currency. ... [And] the black market was thriving. ... The Allies among others had tried to abolish it ... [but] the black market was the only thing keeping people alive. But these were all conditions that the Allies had noticed. If something didnŐt happen soon in terms of money then we would never have gotten Germany straight. Not to mention Europe. ...

On the communist raid on the Berlin Town Council meeting of September 6, 1948:

Yes, the raid! ... Communist gangs had come in and I did not know what they were up to there. It took ages. We regrouped in our factions to decide what, if anything, to do in the meantime. Outside, [communistsŐ] trucks were arriving and [people chanted]: "Away with the Town Council" and so on. ...

They were communists -- I think it was probably the communist Town Councilors who organized it. I assume so anyway. If I remember rightly it was not the Russians. They may have been in the background. I think that is possible, even likely, but the fact that they appeared in public nobody else but communists and as I said that were convoys of trucks filled with people who started to call out "Splinter the Magistrat." ...

It was really dangerous. ... Particularly since we knew that behind these clashes there were armed forces. We could see that! But in fact we did not experience it as a danger, we only felt that [way] when the Russian commandos arrived in September. It was then we noticed things do not look [good] -- they are even becoming violent.

We met up and went from one faction to another -- but not to the communists. "What are we supposed to be doing here? They want to interrupt the work of the elected members of parliament." Anyway, so it went on for at least two hours -- I can't remember exactly. And then of course [we decided]: "We have to leave. We cannot work here."

Some people were even beaten up -- so we had to get out. ... We quickly came to a unanimous decision: we must have a [Council] meeting right away. For the sake of the people of Berlin and to show them that the members of parliament that they have voted for will not stop working and let the communists take the helm. No, your elected representatives will carry on with their task. And for this reason, I think that same afternoon, we sent a courier round to find a meeting place.

[We found] the Student Hall of Residence [in West Berlin]. ... And immediately we called a meeting which was only intended to say, "This is the elected Parliament and we will not abandon our positions, but we will carry on."

On the Berlin blockade and subsequent airlift:

First of all it was a terrible shock. How could it be otherwise? And everywhere [people] asked the question: "Oh my God, what will happen to us?"

And the airlift did not operate on the first day of the blockade. There were negotiations at first, then one was told that the Allies were deliberating. [But] ... one somehow had confidence. You know, perhaps it is in human nature, even when facing a catastrophe, to avoid thinking: "I might be dead tomorrow," [and instead to remember] that one is alive. Regardless how. Perhaps this is something very primitive. And it really was. Had we not been able to obtain food, we would have been dead the following day. This is certain. ...

The airlift began and was welcomed with quite incredible enthusiasm. And we believed it would be successful. This is so incredible ... there was perhaps this thought in peoples' minds: "Why shouldn't it work? They dropped so many bombs on Berlin -- they should now be able to drop potatoes!" This was maybe quite a primitive reaction, but in a positive sense.

On how she felt when the blockade was lifted:

Sheer joy -- nothing else. Nothing else. Joy, and [the feeling that], "We have done it! And it works!" ... That was so very important. The West has won! I say this quite deliberately in such a crass way because you wanted to know how I felt emotionally. The West -- well, we have succeeded. And the West has won and the others have not! You see -- a relatively unsophisticated political reaction -- often so apt.

A very amusing [thing] was [when] for the first time trains were running again and cars could use the East-West Autobahn, for a long, long time Berlin drivers traveling along the Autobahn would sound their horn when meeting a West German car. For years and years they sounded their horn when they met a West German car. The Berliners sounded their horn!"