Berlin Before the Wall CL T

Liang, born in Germany and fluent in the language, returned to Berlin in 1953-54 on a Yale fellowship to research a thesis on working-class life in that city. Intensely curious and highly observant, he daily jotted down his impressions of conditions during the period when Berlin was beginning to recover from the devastation of WW II. He supplemented his writings with revealing pencil sketches. The journal is largely a record of conversations about the war, personal economic struggles and people's hopes for the future. Liang also made several risky sorties into the Communist sector. Appalled by the harsh situations he encountered, he was at the same time touched by the generosity and courage displayed by the poverty-stricken citizens of East and West Berlin alike. His diary and drawings offer a perceptive and compassionate view of conditions in the divided city at the height of the Cold War. The author is chairman of Vassar's history department. (Jan.)