Talks by Kohl and Bradley Highlight Opening of Berlin’s Birthday Festivities

West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, speaking on the 750th anniversary of Berlin, said Thursday that “the arbitrary division of Berlin, Germany, and Europe will not stand the test of history.”

“We will never come to terms with the wall and barbed wire,” Kohl said. “Unity and justice and freedom for our German fatherland and its old capital--for this we shall work with all our power.”

Mayor Tom Bradley of Los Angeles was the guest of honor.

‘Beacon of Hope’

Speaking for the people of his city, he said: “Wir sind in Berlin zu Hause”-- We are at home in Berlin. “And we want you to be at home in Los Angeles. Mi casa es su casa.”-- My house is your house.

Bradley said that Berlin has had “a long and rich history, 750 years of triumph and tragedy,” and that today the city “stands as a beacon of hope and freedom.”

Of the wall that has divided the city since 1961, the mayor said, “It is our hope that in the spirit of glasnost (Russian for openness), the wall will come tumbling down so that Berliners can live together, united, in peace and harmony.”

Bradley said that “we must support arms control to bring about stabilizing reductions in nuclear weapons and conventional forces so that peace in Europe, which has been sustained for the past 40 years, will be maintained.”

‘A Democratic Island’

He concluded by saying, “We come here today to celebrate the energy and vitality of this great city, a city that rebuilt itself out of ashes and survives as a democratic island. Happy anniversary!”

Chancellor Kohl, after predicting that someday Berlin and Germany will be reunified, spoke more realistically of the present. He said his government must use “every opportunity” to cultivate political, cultural and trade relations with East Germany.

He paid tribute to the Western Allied powers of World War II--the United States, Britain and France--that are still legally in control of West Berlin and still have troops here.

Former Chancellor Willy Brandt, who was mayor of West Berlin from 1957 to 1966, also spoke, and, like Kohl, he referred to reunification.

Linked by Programs

“The future,” Brandt said, “can and must be a story of how Berlin’s arbitrary division is overcome, and not reinforced.”

Los Angeles and Berlin have been linked for 20 years under an international sister cities program and have been involved in many cultural and economic exchange programs.

Bradley came to Berlin as the head of a delegation of about 80 members of the sister city committee. Accompanying him was the full Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. The orchestra, under the direction of Andre Previn, himself a native Berliner, will give concerts tonight and Saturday night, starting a 25-day, 18-concert tour of Europe.

On Saturday the work of 15 Los Angeles artists will be shown in an exhibit entitled “Los Angeles Today: Contemporary Visions.”

West Berlin and East Berlin are vying for attention in connection with the anniversary. Berlin’s origins, as with most cities, cannot be traced to a specific date, but the first documentary mention of Berlin refers to the year 1237, so this has given the authorities on both sides of the wall a pretext for celebrating.

Reagan Visit Set

West Berlin will put on a bewildering array of attractions in the six months ahead, including artistic and cultural performances, fairs, markets, festivals and fireworks. Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II will come for a birthday parade in May, the day before Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev visits East Berlin.

Two weeks later, President Reagan, after attending an economic summit conference in Venice, will spend a day in West Berlin.

East Berlin has refurbished its municipal facade, which includes most of the monuments, theaters, museums, churches and public buildings of the old imperial capital.

“We have the history,” an East Berlin official said.

East Berlin is emphasizing its architecture as a way of suggesting that it is a proper national capital while West Berlin is only a glitzy sort of annex.

East Berlin is also putting on special events, about 1,000 of them, but its 376-page guide makes no mention of West Berlin. West Berliners, on the other hand, suggest that visitors cross the wall for a look at East Berlin.

Gift for Zoo

Taken together, the two halves of Berlin count about 3 million people--roughly the equal of Los Angeles’ population. The two cities have a good deal in common besides: open space and a free-wheeling style, if only in the western half of Berlin.

Mayor Bradley visited the famous Berlin Zoo on Thursday afternoon and handed over two rare fishers, a North American form of sable. Then he drove to headquarters of the Berlin Brigade of the U.S. Army to say hello to men from the Los Angeles area.

Bradley met later with Heinz Galinsky, the head of Berlin’s Jewish community, to talk about an exchange program arranged at the Los Angeles end by Rabbi Alfred Wolf of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple.