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Article: PRUSSIAN GRANDEUR AND HIGH-TECH GLOSS: Berlin Redux.(restorations and recollections in East Grmany as the 10th anniversary of the destuction of the Berlin Wall is celebrated)
- Article from:
- The New Leader
- Article date:
- November 1, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 American Labor Conference on International Affairs. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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MY PATERNAL grandfather, Jakob Glass, a wealthy investment banker in prewar Poland, loved to travel but disdained carrying any luggage whatsoever. He embarked on his annual grand tours of Europe without so much as a pocket comb, having deposited in advance splendid wardrobes and a full set of matching accessories at each of the various luxurious hostelries where he would be stopping.
In Berlin--then, as now, an eight-hour train trip from Warsaw--grandfather put up at the Adlon, near the Brandenburg Gate, on Unter den Linden. Well before his arrival, a hotel butler would lay out his personal cache in cherry wood cabinets that rested on marble floors festooned with ...