Eastern Germany

I suppose that soon enough, our pups right here in Maryland will have a chance to dip their little snouts in a fresh mound of snow. But not yet. Here a little German dog gets a chance though. This pup was playing in the snow the other day in Oberhof, eastern Germany.  

Russian sailors yesterday pushed their torpedo boats off their base in the Polish port of Swinoujscie and said good-bye to Poland.The sailors were the last former Soviet combat troops to leave Poland after 47 years of Soviet military presence on Polish territory. "Polish sovereignty has finally been confirmed," Polish President Lech Walesa said.Since the collapse of Communist rule in eastern Europe, the last former Soviet combat units also have left Hungary and Czechoslaviaka.About 6,000 non-combat troops in communications and transportation units will stay in Poland until the end of 1993 to help evacuate Russian troops from eastern Germany.

BERLIN -- Chancellor Helmut Kohl's dramatic drop in popularity has turned today's formerly sleepy state election in the Rhineland into one of the year's most hotly contested and controversial races.Although the election is for control of a state government, it has centered on Mr. Kohl, who has become such a liability to his party that he has even hinted at his retirement in an effort to deflect voter anger.Celebrated only a few months ago as the "unity chancellor," Mr. Kohl now draws few crowds.

BERLIN -- While many businesses in the east grind to a halt under the pressure of market conditions, some entrepreneurs like Bernd Schultze are adapting."

One year after crowds swept through the streets of Eastern Europe toppling communist dictators with demands for more freedom, the region's women have found democracy a less than liberating experience."

POTSDAM, Germany -- Boris Lossik shrugged his shoulders and looked into the distance."Gorbachev, Gorbachev. It doesn't matter if it's Gorbachev or [Soviet Defense Minister Dmitri] Yazov. For the little man, it's all the same," the 34-year-old sergeant said.Sergeant Lossik is one of the 270,000 Soviet troops still stationed in eastern Germany. Like the sergeant, many ordinary soldiers seemed blase about the fall of Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev.But none said they knew about the coup beforehand, and they said they hadn't been put on a heightened state of alert.

BERLIN -- Germans in this once-divided city mourned yesterday the fall of Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the man who freed East Germany and healed this country's postwar division.Many here also confessed relief that German unity had been at least sealed before the maverick Soviet leader's overthrow.Under a driving rain, about 5,000 people marched the mile from Wittenberg Square in downtown western Berlin to the historic Brandenburg Gate to show their support for Mr. Gorbachev."German unity, without Gorbachev, without perestroika, would not have been possible," said Berlin Mayor Eberhard Diepgen.

Europe lost much of its virgin forest early, from sheer development. Britain's New Forest was an early effort at conservation, promulgated by William the Conqueror in 1079. The legends of Robin Hood reflect resistance by common people to the class implications of forest preservation laws. Part of the ferment of the American Revolution was resistance in New England to the king's monopoly on tree trunks suitable for ship masts. The need for such tree trunks helped stiffen London against American independence, and fueled the exploration that led to much of the conquests by the British Empire.

Berlin -- As the first full year of German unification began in 1991, Volkswagen boss Carl Hahn said he wanted his company to dominate the booming eastern car market as it had the rest of Europe.But, in a move that surprised most analysts, giant VW was passed by Adam Opel AG, General Motors Corp.'s German subsidiary, which had a reputation as a frumpy, workmanlike runner-up.Through clever marketing and imaginative sales techniques, Opel snatched 18 percent of the car-hungry eastern German market, while VW was left with 13 percent -- almost 7 percentage points less than its market share in western Germany.

For years he has been "King Kohl" to journalists who have marveled at German Chancellor Helmut Kohl's political acumen, staying power and just plain luck. But Mr. Kohl will hardly be a "merry old soul" when he flies to New York today, leaving behind a nation plagued by massive strikes, vicious feuding in the governing coalition, anger at foreign immigrants and disappointment over the costs and dislocations of reunification.It wasn't supposed to be this way. In coasting to victory as the "chancellor of unification" 18 months ago, Mr. Kohl promised no new taxes (sound familiar?