Kennedy visit and "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech in 1963
One year after the Cuban Missile Crisis president John F. Kennedy visited West Berlin at June 26th 1963.
Kennedy had to accept the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 without being able to do anything about it. At that time people in the US had accused him of not responding forcefully to the construction of the wall. His visit at the 15th anniversary of the Berlin airlift and his speech were supposed to show his support towards West Berlin and his determined fight against communism.
Kennedy didn't have the intention to substantially act against the confinement of West Berlin. Despite its oppressing nature the construction of the Berlin Wall represented a peaceful outcome out of the Berlin Crisis. The main goals of the Western Bloc were still achieved. The Western Powers were able to have representation within their sectors, they had access to West Berlin and the safety and the rights of the West Berlin citizens were being ensured.
Western German chancellor Konrad Adenauer and president John F. Kennedy during a parade
Bundesarchiv, B 145 Bild-F015843-0010 / Schmitt, Walter / CC-BY-SA 3.0, Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F015843-0010, Berlin, Staatsbesuch Präsident der USA, Kennedy, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE
Kennedys public demonstration of support wasn't only directed towards West Berlin or West Germany. Berlin had become a city of global interest. It was at this place where Western and Eastern Bloc were closer to each other than anywhere else. It was a point of confrontation that already lead to critical moments in the past. Nobody knew what would happen to West Berlin in the years to come. The Soviet Union had demonstrated its willingness for drastic actions, they even fired on their own citizens during the protests of June 17th 1953. The safety of West Berlin still wasn't entirely secured. And an open conflict at this place would quickly spread around the globe.
When Kennedy started his speech he spoke in front of a huge crowd of 450,000 people. The speech has been prepared for weeks but he surprised everyone of his staff by improvising and being more provocative than expected.
Kennedy speaking in front of the city hall Schöneberg
Robert Knudsen, White House, JFK speech lch bin ein berliner 1, marked as public domain, more details on Wikimedia Commons
Those were the most important moments of the speech:
"Two thousand years ago, the proudest boast was civis romanus sum ["I am a Roman citizen"]. Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is "Ich bin ein Berliner!"... All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words "Ich bin ein Berliner!""
Kennedy had already been used this part in a different speech in the past referring to US citizens. But this time the effect was way greater. Kennedy was making a point about how being a Berlin citizen was an honorable thing. Yet what the crowd and most Germans at their TV and Radio understood was this one sentence "Ich bin ein Berliner" and they understood it in a more literal way and a bit detached from the context of the rest of his speech. In their eyes Kennedy was telling them that he was one of them, he would stand beside them no matter what.
After the dangerous moments of the Berlin crisis and the Cuban Missile Crisis the German people finally felt a bit safer again. Kennedys "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech would become one of the most important speeches in the history of Germany.
Kommentare
Kommentar veröffentlichen