LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
BRITISH INFORMATION IN BERLIN
Sta,—In your issue of November 21st you publish a letter from a German schoolboy, named Werner Fielits, under the heading, Tell Germany. In this letter the writer says: "Just in the British sector of Berlin it is very seldom that we hear about Great Britain." This remark and, indeed, the whole of the letter give a wrong impression of the work of the C.C.G. in Berlin. I should be grateful if you would allow me the opportunity of correcting this. In each of the four districts which comprise the British sector of Berlin there is an Information Room, well stocked with British newspapers, pamphlets and periodicals, and open to the public. There is, as well, a central Information Room, Die Briicke, which has a library, a reading room and a cinema. At this building exhibitions of various aspects of British life are shown, and schoolchildren regularly visit these exhibitions. The current one features "The British Parliament." In addition, there are at least twelve discussion groups for young Germans of school age and older, at which officers of the Control Commission are invited to speak. Many of the topics chosen concern life in Great Britain. Furthermore, visiting lecturers from England have often spoken in the schools of the British sector on subjects such as "Youth Work in England," "British Women in Industry," "The English Constitution," "English School Life," "The Silent Revolution," "Britain During the War." Since March some seventy-three such lectures have been given.
There is, as well, in the British sector of Berlin a Youth House run by the Friends Relief Society, under the general supervision of the Educa- tion Branch of Military Government. Over two hundred young Germans are members of this house, in which three young Englishmen live as wardens. In September, 1947, Education Branch used this house for a course in English, which some seventy adult-education teachers attended. The theme was The British Way of Life," and four lecturers from England ran the course. Obviously our young correspondent has escaped all these efforts, but his letter gives me the opportunity of describing in outline some of our activities in Berlin. Your readers will of course realise that it is quite impossible for the small number of British officers here and in the British zone to come into perscinal contact with the millions of Germans under our care.—Yours faithfully,
R. DUDER,
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