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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 30, 1985)
Post Oak Mall sponsoring trick or treat Halloween night — Page 5 “T <■. . Sherrill hopes A&.M impresses bowl scouts against SMU — Page 6 T'Ur'ii."’D ■ « 1» The Battalion Vol. 81 No. 33 USPS 075360 10 pages College Station, Texas Wednesday, October 30, 1985 ' Madness cominq! I0K3 D'J ^drop. 3eMain 721 you dool e’re opr till 8 pju the wees high qui are. )intments waiting. ool youi waiting e to Caie ‘lus< ALCEKl Juan spares Texas coast, hits Louisiana Associated Press HOUSTON — Erratic Hurricane Juan backtracked and drifted into Htheastern Louisiana early Tues- H, sparing the Texas coast its heavy rains and high winds. ■The worst for us is over,” said 11 Patterson, spokesman for the National Weather Service office in Port Arthur. After stalling off the western Louisiana coast Monday, the storm turned and crossed Louisiana’s deso late marshlands, then moved toward more populated areas. oree people were dead and at Ht nine were missing, including five men aboard a 100-foot crew boat. |y midday Tuesday, the storm’s center was wobbling northward and was well inland northwest of New ^Kans. Juan’s maximum sustained winds weakened to 75 mph, mostly in squalls over open water, the feather service said. : Hurricane warnings remained in effect from Port Arthur to Mobile, Ala., and gale warnings were posted from Port Arthur to Brownsville and from Mobile east to Appalachicola, Fla. est Parkway m Photo by GREG BAILEY Beat The Hell Outta’ Bottle Caps Peter Collins (left), Jeff Mentzer (center) and Ben jamin Smith flatten bottle caps Sunday to make spurs, which the cadets attach to their shoes.-Corps of Cadets freshman are required to wear the spurs during the week prior to the Texas A&M —South ern Methodist University football game. Soviets accept limited testing of “Star Wars” Associated Press WASHINGTON — The Soviet Union has offered to halt construc tion of a suspicious Siberian radar and to accept small-scale tests of the controversial U.S. “Star Wars” pro gram, Reagan administration offi cials said Tuesday. But the offer to halt work at the Krasnoyarsk site, which President Reagan branded as illegal in a report to Congress, is drawing a skeptical U.S. response because it would de pend on the United States not going ahead with the modernization of early-warning radar in Greenland and Britain. “They have made us an offer we can refuse,” an official said, stressing the importance of upgrading the Thule and Fylingdales radars in alerting the United States to a nu clear attack. The Soviet gesture on Star Wars, however, is considered a positive move in dealing with the main im pediment to progress on a new nu clear arms control treaty. Reagan’s $26 billion program to develop a high-technology anti-missile shield has slowed arms negotiations in Ge neva, Switzerland. Both proposals, through diplo matic channels in Geneva, appear to be part of a concerted public rela tions campaign by the Soviets in ad vance of Reagan’s Nov. 19-20 sum mit meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev. The Soviets are resisting cuts in offensive nuclear weapons unless curbs are also applied to the Strate gic Defense Initiative. The president concluded this month that research, testing and de velopment of anti-missile technology does not violate the 1972 Anti-Ballis tic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union. Soviet negotiators in Geneva ac knowledged that tests of “small-scale mockups” could not be challenged when tney essentially are extensions of laboratory research. However, Gorbachev informed Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., in Moscow in September that fundamental space research cannot be verified — or thereby challenged by the Soviet Union. Terror relived Auschwiiz survivor recounts experiences, Nazi atrocities By ED CASSAVOY Staff Writer A survivor of Auschwitz described for a hushed audience in Rudder Rater Tuesday night a journey that began at the age of 12, and has remained as vivid today as the num ber 7739 tattoed on his left arm. ®The trip from Auschwitz to Houston is one you will never un derstand,” said Marc Berkowitz, a survivor of the Holocaust, who said his purpose was not to tell a story but to share one little boy’s life. Berkowitz, now a retired New York furniture salesman, was born ini Czechoslovakia in 1932, the vouugest of seven children — three Doys and four girls — who had a brutal introduction to the realities of World War II. 1 nLf "Right after the Passover, I was V-U*".looking out the window and saw Sol diers running,” Berkowitz said. “They were around all the houses and 1 tried to tell my father what was bpening. Ht only took five minutes when I two soldiers pushed their way in and said that we had five minutes to pack.... I tried to ask my father how Icould help when one of the soldiers said, ‘Where you’re going, you don’t have to worry, you may not come , 33% ^ | back. ” )-!2 & $ ^Carrying odds and ends tossed in a tablecloth, Berkowitz said his fam ily was loaded into a cattle train and deported in 1941 to Kolomai. Hmoiirntf? EiPICHOW"* i-101 $ Later that year, the family now liv ing in Chotkow, Berkowitz said the Gestapo took 300 men, including his father, and executed them. “I found (my father) because I recognized his leather jacket,” Ber kowitz said. “The leather jacket looked like a grater after the bullets had gone through — all uneven. . . . “I said to myself that I would make this a better world, but also asked my father why he hadn’t made the world better either.” Berkowitz said that it was the true beginning of his journey. “I am a victim who will be a victim for the rest of my life,” he said. “What has been learned in the U.S. recently is that once a hostage, al ways a hostage, once terrorized, al ways terrorized.“ Berkowitz and his mother went to work at a Gestapo agent’s house on the edge of the Chotkow Jewish ghetto until his family fled the city in 1942 when they discovered the Ger mans’plan to “liquidate” the ghetto. Constantly on the move, Berko witz said his mother, sisters and brothers were skin and bone after nine months of living off of what ever they could find. “I would take scraps thrown out to the pigs,” Berkowitz said. “The pigs would not scream and that’s beauti ful. They said nothing.” In 1944, Berkowitz’s family was turned over to the Gestapo and then sent to the next stop of the ordeal — Auschwitz. Marc Berkowitz Looking out of the cattle car, Ber kowitz said he told his mother that the concentration camp did not look like it belonged on the planet. Berkowitz said they were herded out of the cars like cattle, with glar ing lights, screams and gunfire swir ling all around them. Berkowitz said he ran through the lines of people looking for his grandmother. “The thing that my mother said to me was, ‘this is not a place for you to run around, you might hurt your self,” he said. “I said to my mother, ‘this is not exactly a kosher place.’ ” Berkowitz said his mother started to scream at that point, asking the Germans not to kill her twins —Marc and his sister Francesca. He said the Jewish word for “twins” was very similar in German and the word got an immediate response. “Two men came up at that point,” Berkowitz said, “and said that we were very lucky. That’s when Josef Mengele (a doctor conducting medi cal experiments at Auschwitz) ar rived. “He spoke to my mother — he made Shakespeare sound like an amateur — and asked if we (the twins) were from the same father . . . he told us that no one would harm us now because we were his.” Berkowitz and his sister were sub jected to a variety of medical experi ments administered by the “Angel of Death,” ranging from freezing baths, chemicals smeared on their skin, and hundreds of injections. “Whatever he (Mengele) did, he smiled to us,” Berkowitz said. “That smile was very important. We were his guinea pigs, I call it his zoo.” Berkowitz said that as his mother was being led to the gas chambers she asked him to promise to do three things for her: That if he survived he would always love God and hu manity, be faithful to his people, and not to be a bitter hateful person. Berkowitz was liberated by the Russians in January 1945, and he says from then on he has tried to speak out of love not hate, and to tell the next generation that the world is in its hands. “With thoughts of love, we have nothing to fear,” he said. Preregistration at A&M begins Monday, Nov. 11 By SCOTT SUTHERLAND Staff Writer Texas A&M preregistration will begin Monday, Nov. 11, and students should check with their departments early to find out when advisers will be available, A&M’s associate registrar said Monday. Don Carter said students must preregister on their designated days from 8 a.m. to noon or from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Preregistration will begin with the graduate stu dents. Spring semester class schedules will be available Tuesday in Heaton Hall and in the registra tion center in the Pavilion. Carter said advisers will be available to students Monday through Thursday. But Carter warns that advisers may not be available for all four of those days. “Every department is going to have its own schedule,” Carter said. “So students can do them selves a favor by checking with them early.” ' The registrar’s office also said advisers will not be available after Nov. 11. The registration center in the Pavilion will be equipped with the same computer system that was used for late registration in Au gust, Carter said, so students can pay their fees right away or defer payments. With the deferred payment plan students can pay fees in two or four installment payments rather than paying in one lump sum. There will be a minor change in registration procedures this year, Carter said. Students can now sign up for a physical educa tion section at the time of regis tration. In the past students had to register for a P.E. time and then meet in G. Rollie White Col iseum the first day of class to choose sections such as scuba, tennis or golf. The schedule for preregistra tion is as follows: • Nov. 11 — graduate stu dents. • Nov. 12 — seniors with last names beginning A-G. • Nov. 13 — seniors with last names beginning H-O. • Nov. 14 — seniors with last names beginning P-Z. • Nov. 15 —juniors with last names beginning A-D. • Nov. 18 —juniors with last names beginning E-K. • Nov. 19 —juniors with last names beginning L-R. See Preregistration, page 5 Aggies in Spain’ see relaxed, laid-back lifestyle By JUNE PANG Staff Writer j.JO Si l J1 | 1 Editor's story in a Spain. note: This is the first three-part series about J J2 4 111 I When a fetal «**: dents and group faculty of Texas A&M stu- acuity members spent six wejeks in Spain this summer, they ' learned that exploring a different culture can be interesting. ! The group spent two weeks trav- 000^ e fipg around the country and four ELAVJ weeks taking classes at the University m of Santiago, earning six credit hours wthile studying the Spanish culture. p\. Bart Lewis, associate profes sor of modern languages, says the ■ji vi Spanish follow a different schedule . ^ x than Americans. Lewis, along with " ^ Dr Antonio Martinez, accompanied 39 students to Spain as part of A&M’s “Aggies in Spain” program. ■They (Spaniards) get off work at 7 p.m. or so,” he said. “From 7 to 9, they go out strolling with friends “I really do think Spanish people are happier. Peo ple there laugh more, smile more and seemingly pause more. Dr. Bart Lewis. 12 *' hase DAY! leses^l and family. Then they eat supper at 10. “They go out again after supper to the cafe talking with people. They sit in the cafe until 2 o’clock.” Lewis says this pace of life is what he likes most about the Spain. While the Spaniards work about the same number of hours as Ameri cans, there are differences in the amount of pressure they are under and the way they spend their free time, Lewis says. “They’re taking it much easier than here,” Lewis says. “The pres sure of promotion is not as serious as here and people don’t have the rest lessness as here. “We’ve been told that in order to succeed, you’ve got to move, you’ve got to change jobs. You’ve got to be available.” But in Spanish culture, he says “. . . being satisfied with oneself and a happiness with others is of prime im portance to their lives.” Lewis says he thinks Spanish peo ple are more social and they know their friends longer since they don’t move as much. “I really do think Spanish people are happier,” he says. “People there laugh more, smile more and seem ingly pause more. “Europeans generally are like that. America is a young country. We’re in the process of making his tory and our future is unlimited. They (Spaniards) just enjoy the pre sent.” The students also noted the close relationships between people and re laxed atmosphere. Minette Riordan, ajunior Spanish major says,“Spaniards are more open, more affectionate and warmer. The life there is very re laxed and laid-back.” William Grimes, a senior history major, says Spaniards aren’t afraid of showing emotions. “They build bonds with people that way,” he says. “If they are mad, they show it. A minute later they calm down.” If there is something we can learn from the Spanish, he says, “we prob ably can learn the sense of commu nity, the closeness of the people, the openness, the frankness. Grimes said the laid-back attitude of the Spanish was reflected in their universities. “The biggest difference is that the class often starts late,” he says. “If the class starts at 9, you expect the “Spaniards are more open, more affectionate and warmer. The life there is very relaxed and laid-back. ” Minette Riordan, a junior Spanish major. teacher to be there at 9:10 and the class actually starts at 9:15.” At first, Grimes says, he tried to be on time, but found he was the only person to get to the class on time. “They (Spaniards) were never in a hurry for anything,” he says. “It’s funny. On the streets, you see cars go fast, and you hear the beep of cars. They seem to be hurrying but no one cares if you are late.” Sound contradictory? Grimes says that is just the way he feels. Lewis agrees with Grimes but offers an ex planation to this phenomenon. “Spanish people in general are not very punctual. . . . Gars go fast there because their cars are smaller and there is no speed limit,” Lewis says. Although Spaniards are compara tively more relaxed than Americans, Spain has been undergoing a change in industrialization that has brought a faster pace in daily life and a higher crime rate, Lewis says. “It is a more industrialized coun try now,” he says, “so the pace of life is also changing. “Spain never used to have the problem of crime. But now petty theft is more of a problem. Also, the democracy they have now is having less restrictions on people, so people are abusing their freedom in some ways. “I really think the slow pace and industrialization is not compatible?’