kennedy berlin visit

"There are some who say that Communism is the wave of the future. Let them come to Berlin." --President John F. Kennedy, Berlin, Germany, June 26, 1963

You can hear a selection from John F. Kennedy's speech: AU Format (297K) WAV Format, Windows (297K) AIFF Format, MacIntosh (297K)

The speech was peppered with German and one sentence in Latin, written phonetically on one of the speech cards here. National Archives, John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, Massachusetts

The Real Meaning of Ich Bin ein Berliner

In West Berlin in 1963, President Kennedy delivered his most eloquent speech on the world stage. The director of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum tells the evocative story behind JFK’s words.

Other than ask not , they were the most-famous words he ever spoke. They drew the world’s attention to what he considered the hottest spot in the Cold War. Added at the last moment and scribbled in his own hand, they were not, like the oratory in most of his other addresses, chosen by talented speechwriters. And for a man notoriously tongue-tied when it came to foreign languages, the four words weren't even in English.

Ich bin ein Berliner.

These words, delivered on June 26, 1963, against the geopolitical backdrop of the Berlin Wall, endure because of the pairing of the man and the moment. John F. Kennedy’s defiant defense of democracy and self-government stand out as a high point of his presidency.

To appreciate their impact, one must understand the history. After World WarII, the capital of Hitler’s Third Reich was divided, like Germany itself, between the communist East and the democratic West. The Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev described West Berlin, surrounded on all sides by East Germany, as “a bone in my throat” and vowed to “eradicate this splinter from the heart of Europe.” Kennedy feared that any future European conflict, with the potential for nuclear war, would be sparked by Berlin.

At their summit meeting in Vienna in the spring of 1961, Khrushchev warned Kennedy that he would sign a treaty with East Germany restricting Western access to West Berlin. In response, Kennedy announced a major military buildup. In a television address to the nation on July 25, 1961, he described the embattled city as “the great testing place of Western courage and will” and declared that any attack on West Berlin would be viewed as an attack on the United States.

The speech had its desired effect. Khrushchev backed down from signing the treaty, even as thousands of East Germans continued crossing into West Berlin in search of freedom. In the early morning of August 13, 1961, the East German government, with Soviet support, sought to put this problem to rest, by building a wall of barbed wire across the heart of Berlin.

Tensions had abated slightly by the time Kennedy arrived for a state visit almost two years later. But the wall, an aesthetic and moral monstrosity now made mainly of concrete, remained. Deeply moved by the crowds that had welcomed him in Bonn and Frankfurt, JFK was overwhelmed by the throngs of West Berliners, who put a human face on an issue he had previously seen only in strategic terms. When he viewed the wall itself, and the barrenness of East Berlin on the other side, his expression turned grim.

Kennedy’s speechwriters had worked hard preparing a text for his speech, to be delivered in front of city hall. They sought to express solidarity with West Berlin’s plight without offending the Soviets, but striking that balance proved impossible. JFK was disappointed in the draft he was given. The American commandant in Berlin called the text “terrible,” and the president agreed.

So he fashioned a new speech on his own. Previously, Kennedy had said that in Roman times, no claim was grander than “I am a citizen of Rome.” For his Berlin speech, he had considered using the German equivalent, “I am a Berliner.”

Moments before taking the stage, during a respite in West Berlin Mayor Willy Brandt’s office, JFK jotted down a few words in Latin and—with a translator’s help—the German version, written phonetically: Ish bin ein Bearleener .

Afterward it would be suggested that Kennedy had got the translation wrong—that by using the article ein before the word Berliner , he had mistakenly called himself a jelly doughnut. In fact, Kennedy was correct. To state Ich bin Berliner would have suggested being born in Berlin, whereas adding the word ein implied being a Berliner in spirit. His audience understood that he meant to show his solidarity.

Emboldened by the moment and buoyed by the adoring crowd, he delivered one of the most inspiring speeches of his presidency. “Two thousand years ago, the proudest boast was ‘Civis Romanus sum,’ ” he proclaimed. “Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is ‘ Ich bin ein Berliner !’ ”

With a masterly cadence, he presented a series of devastating critiques of life under communism:

There are many people in the world who really don’t understand, or say they don’t, what is the great issue between the free world and the communist world. Let them come to Berlin … There are some who say that communism is the wave of the future. Let them come to Berlin … And there are even a few who say that it’s true that communism is an evil system, but it permits us to make economic progress. Lasst sie nach Berlin kommen — let them come to Berlin!

Kennedy cast a spotlight on West Berlin as an outpost of freedom and on the Berlin Wall as the communist world’s mark of evil. “Freedom has many difficulties, and democracy is not perfect,” he stated, “but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in.” He confidently predicted that, in time, the wall would fall, Germany would reunite, and democracy would spread throughout Eastern Europe.

The words rang true not only for the hundreds of thousands of people who were there but also for the millions around the world who saw the speech captured on film. Viewing the video today, one still sees a young statesman—in the prime of his life and his presidency—expressing an essential truth that runs throughout human history: the desire for liberty and self-government.

At the climax of his speech, the American leader identified himself with the inhabitants of the besieged city:

Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free. When all are free, then we can look forward to that day when this city will be joined as one and this country and this great continent of Europe in a peaceful and hopeful globe.

His conclusion linked him eternally to his listeners and to their cause: “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 .”

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Museum The Kennedys

A piece of America in the Scheunenviertel area

The museum The Kennedys tells visitors about the life and history of America's famous family including the circumstances of JFK's "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech.

Meanwhile closed!

John F. Kennedy has been a legend in the German capital since he spoke the words "Ich bin ein Berliner" in a speech in 1963. The Kennedys takes a very personal look at America's 35th President. The main display is of photographs, but you will also find documents and personal items such as his suit and briefcase. This exhibition also covers other members of the family: his wife and First Lady Jackie and his brother, Robert, who was also assassinated. Museum The Kennedys explores political success and the President's private life, following the American Dream through to the presidential election and his assassination.

Discover the Kennedys in the former Jewish Girls' School building

The organisation behind The Kennedys is CAMERA WORK, a group which in 2004 puts on their first exhibition about the Kennedys to positive acclaim. CAMERA WORK goes on to open a permanent display about the family in Pariser Platz, and in 2012 the museum moves into part of the former Jewish Girls' School . Explore the long, white and light-flooded corridors of the school, and experience the displays in the former classrooms where the walls are decorated with photographs. The main theme is John F. Kennedy's visit to Germany, but the museum also covers the myth of the American Dream and his presidential election campaign. Alongside the photographs sit some political and more mundane objects: historic books and original documents are displayed in glass cabinets. Some more personal objects include JFK's trademark handmade designer suits and bags. Film footage is projected onto the wall on an endless loop. The museum's collection also covers other members of the Kennedy family; JFK's wife Jackie, his younger brother, Robert, and the rest of the First Family. Find out about their life in the spotlight.

Museum highlights

• John F. Kennedy's black Hermès briefcase
• JFK's documents, including his Harvard thesis titled "Why England Slept"
• 1960s film footage which is projected onto the walls
• Private and professional photographs of the Kennedy family
• Campaigning posters from the Presidential election

Berlin's Mitte art gallery

Alongside the museum The Kennedys, CAMERA WORK runs another gallery in the school building. The CWC Gallery has a regularly changing programme of exhibitions of contemporary art featuring sculpture, photography and paintings in a minimalist and elegant space. Temporary exhibitions showcase the best of contemporary art, for example, the close-up star portraits by Martin Schoeller or Marc Sijan's sculptures. The Collectors Room also looks at the very cutting edge of the contemporary art world. It has a glass facade and contains several exhibition rooms, a café and shop. Take a look at quality work from various different artistic collections. In the "Chamber of Wonders" look at a collection of art, scientific instruments and bizarre or exciting items from the Renaissance and Baroque periods such as a coconut cup belonging to Alexander von Humboldt and a taxidermy Nile crocodile.

Our tips for your visit to museum The Kennedys

Take the S-Bahn line S1, S2 or S25 or Oranienburger Strasse, and from there it's just seconds to the Kennedys exhibition. Alternatively, take the U6 underground line to Oranienburger Tor. If you have a Berlin WelcomeCard, you will get 30% off the admission price. For groups, guided tours can be arranged and a reduced price applies for groups over 10 people. Workshops are also run for school groups, details of which can be found on the museum website.

Opening hours

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Auguststraße 11-13 10117   Berlin

Tel.: +49 (0)30 - 20 65 35 70

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The JFK Library Archives: An Inside Look

Digitized photographs from president john f. kennedy’s trip to germany.

( A version of this post was published on our previous blog on 12/17/2016 .)

By Laura Kintz, Archivist for Photographic and Textual Digitization

For those interested in President Kennedy’s trip to Germany in June of 1963, we are pleased to say that all White House Photographs documenting that visit are available online .

These photographs, covering June 23 to June 26, 1963, document President Kennedy’s only official trip to what was then a divided Germany. He spent four days in West Germany, also known as the Federal Republic of Germany, inaugurating a 10-day trip to Europe that also included visits to Ireland, England, and Italy. During those four days, the President visited several cities and towns, including Bonn, Cologne, Hanau, Frankfurt, and West Berlin. He delivered remarks, met with government officials, signed cities’ “Golden Books” for distinguished guests, visited with U.S. Embassy employees and members of the U.S. military, and greeted German well-wishers. Occurring during a contentious time in Germany’s history, President Kennedy’s visit represented the United States’ commitment to supporting West Germany and its leaders, including Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and President Heinrich Lübke.

Among President Kennedy’s numerous speeches in Germany was one given at the signing of the charter for the German Development Service, an organization equivalent to the Peace Corps. The President’s sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver and Secretary-General of the International Peace Corps, Richard Goodwin, were also present at the ceremony.

President Kennedy also took the time to visit American troops stationed at Fliegerhorst Kaserne, a military base in the town of Hanau. He viewed military displays and had lunch in the mess hall, where military cooks presented him with a cake in the shape of PT-109, the boat that the President commanded during World War II.

Of significance during President Kennedy’s trip to Germany were his remarks delivered at Rudolph Wilde Platz outside West Berlin’s city hall, Rathaus Schöneberg, on June 26. In this speech, the President famously declared, “Ich bin ein Berliner,” or “I am a Berliner.” One photograph from this event was previously cataloged, but newly-available photos provide different vantage points of the large crowds who gathered for the occasion.

West Berlin was not the only site where crowds converged to see President Kennedy. The entire trip was characterized by throngs of people who took to the streets and plazas of West Germany to see the President, either as his motorcade passed by or as he delivered remarks. These photographs provide evidence of the sheer volume of people who gathered for the President’s visit.

One notable result of cataloging these photographs was that metadata catalogers were able to identify numerous people who had previously been unidentified in the White House Photographs collection. Using both textual and audiovisual resources within the Kennedy Library’s collections, as well as contemporary newspaper accounts, Ancestry.com, and other resources, we were able to add 19 names to the Kennedy Library’s database of personal name browsing terms. Among them are: Director of Radio in the American Sector (RIAS) in Berlin, Robert Lochner, who served as President Kennedy’s translator for much of the trip; several members of the United States Armed Forces who were stationed in Germany, including Commander in Chief of the U.S. Army in Europe, General Paul L. Freeman, Jr., Commander in Chief of U.S. Air Forces in Europe, General Truman H. Landon and U.S. Army in Europe Project Officer, Colonel Frank Meszar; and Rector of Free University in Berlin, Ernst Heinitz, who conferred an honorary citizenship award upon the President on his last day in Germany.

President Kennedy’s trip to Germany represented a significant diplomatic venture of his presidency. The photographs from the trip, long available for viewing onsite at the Kennedy Library, may now be found by online users all over the world. In addition to the inclusion of browsing terms for individual people, other terms have been added to the photographs to aid in searching for specific subjects, places, and organizations. The images offer insight into President Kennedy’s travels to a much broader audience as a result.

Browse all photos from President Kennedy’s trip to Germany:

Germany, Bonn: Arrival, Konrad Adenauer, Chancellor of West Germany pictured

Germany, Cologne: Kölner Rathaus (City Hall)

Germany, Cologne: Motorcade, Cathedral

Germany, Bonn: City Hall, ceremonies and remarks

Germany, Bonn: Address at the American Community Theater before the American Embassy staff

Germany, Bonn: Villa Hammerschmidt, Peace Corps Ceremony

Germany, Bonn: President Kennedy gives a press conference

Germany, Bonn: President Kennedy with Heinrich Lübke

Germany, Bad Godesburg, U.S. Ambassador’s Residence: President Kennedy signs Golden Book

Germany, Hanau: Arrival at Fliegerhorst Kaserne, address, and inspection of troops and equipment

Germany, Hanau: President Kennedy has lunch with U.S. enlisted troops and their officers at Fliegerhorst Kaserne

Germany, Hanau: Departure from Fliegerhorst Kaserne

Germany, Frankfurt: Frankfurt Rathaus

Germany, Frankfurt: President Kennedy gives address in Roemerberg Square

Germany, Frankfurt: President Kennedy at Paulskirche

Germany, West Berlin: President Kennedy arrives at Tegel Airport

Germany, West Berlin, President Kennedy views the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate

Germany, West Berlin: President Kennedy at Checkpoint Charlie

Germany, West Berlin: President Kennedy addresses crowd at Rathaus Schöneberg

Germany, West Berlin: President Kennedy in motorcade with Willy Brandt, Mayor of West Berlin and Konrad Adenauer, Chancellor of West Germany

Germany, West Berlin: President Kennedy addresses Free University

1963, John F. Kennedy – fliegerhorst kaserne germany Kenenth Miler 1911a1 45

I remember shaking his hand as a young Cub Scout in 1963 during his visit. This older woman next to me said” I’ll never wash my hand again”!

My father was in the Army stationed in Germany during President Kennedy’s visit. I have a photo of the President reviewing a Nike Hercules missile on June 25, 1963. My dad is the unit commander saluting the motorcade at the end of the row of soldiers. I will happily share this photo with you. I will attempt to attach it here, if that does not work, I will email it to you if you send me an email so I have an address.

I was a dependent of an Air Force Colonel stationed at Lindsey Air Station Headquarters U S Air Forces Europe (Wiesbaden). We went to the landing of JFK at the General Von Steuben Hotel and were crushed by the crowd of thousands. The streets were packed as far as the eye could see. Although you could see the helicopter land and President Kennedy get out, it was impossible to get very close. A few days later when JFK was departing Wiesbaden AFB, military personnel and dependents were allowed on the base to greet and send of President Kennedy. I was fortunate enough to be one of them. Although it was crowded, JFK spent some time walking along the fence line greeting the crowd. I had the great experience of being able to shake JFK’s hand as he moved long the fence. It was so meaningful and beyond belief. It was a great day and one which I will never forget.

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Museum the Kennedys

US president John F Kennedy has held a special place in German hearts since his defiant ‘Ich bin ein Berliner!’ ('I am a Berliner') solidarity speech in 1963. This private exhibit addresses the president's continued mystique as well as such topics as the Berlin visit and his assassination in Dallas through photographs, documents, video footage and memorabilia.

Among the standout relics are JFK's reading glasses and crocodile-leather briefcase, Jackie's Persian-lamb pillbox hat and a hilarious Superman comic book starring the president. Temporary presentations, including an inaugural photo exhibit of former President Obama, supplement the permanent galleries.

Auguststrasse 11-13

Get In Touch

030-2065 3570

https://www.thekennedys.de

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History resources, stories and news. Author: Dan Moorhouse

Kennedy visit to Berlin

Kennedy’s visit to Berlin, 1963. The ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ speech

Source 1: John F Kennedy, Berlin, 1963

There are many people in the world who really don’t understand, or say they don’t, what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world – let them come to Berlin.

Source 2: John F Kennedy, Berlin, 1963

Two thousand years ago the proudest boast was “civis Romanus sum”. Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is “Ich bin ein Berliner”.

Source 3: John F Kennedy, Berlin, 1963

I want to say, on behalf of my countrymen, who live many miles away on the other side of the Atlantic, who are far distant from you, that they take the greatest pride that they have been able to share with you, even from a distance, the story of the last 18 years.

I know of no town, no city, that has been besieged for 18 years that still lives with the vitality and the force, and the hope and the determination of the city of West Berlin.

Source 4: John F Kennedy, Berlin, 1963

Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free.

When all are free, then we can look forward to that day when this city will be joined as one and this country and this great continent of Europe in a peaceful and hopeful globe.

When that day finally comes, as it will, the people of West Berlin can take sober satisfaction in the fact that they were in the front lines for almost two decades.

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”.

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Remarks of President John F. Kennedy at the Rudolph Wilde Platz, Berlin, June 26, 1963

President John F. Kennedy West Berlin June 26, 1963

[ This version is published in the Public Papers of the Presidents: John F. Kennedy, 1963. Both the text and the audio versions omit the words of the German translator. The audio file was edited by the White House Signal Agency (WHSA) shortly after the speech was recorded. The WHSA was charged with recording only the words of the President. The Kennedy Library has an audiotape of a network broadcast of the full speech, with the translator's words, and a journalist's commentary. Because of copyright restrictions, it is only available for listening at the Library .]

I am proud to come to this city as the guest of your distinguished Mayor, who has symbolized throughout the world the fighting spirit of West Berlin. And I am proud to visit the Federal Republic with your distinguished Chancellor who for so many years has committed Germany to democracy and freedom and progress, and to come here in the company of my fellow American, General Clay, who has been in this city during its great moments of crisis and will come again if ever needed.

Two thousand years ago the proudest boast was "civis Romanus sum." Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is "Ich bin ein Berliner."

I appreciate my interpreter translating my German!

There are many people in the world who really don't understand, or say they don't, what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world. Let them come to Berlin. There are some who say that communism is the wave of the future. Let them come to Berlin. And there are some who say in Europe and elsewhere we can work with the Communists. Let them come to Berlin. And there are even a few who say that it is true that communism is an evil system, but it permits us to make economic progress. Lass' sie nach Berlin kommen. Let them come to Berlin.

Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in, to prevent them from leaving us. I want to say, on behalf of my countrymen, who live many miles away on the other side of the Atlantic, who are far distant from you, that they take the greatest pride that they have been able to share with you, even from a distance, the story of the last 18 years. I know of no town, no city, that has been besieged for 18 years that still lives with the vitality and the force, and the hope and the determination of the city of West Berlin. While the wall is the most obvious and vivid demonstration of the failures of the Communist system, for all the world to see, we take no satisfaction in it, for it is, as your Mayor has said, an offense not only against history but an offense against humanity, separating families, dividing husbands and wives and brothers and sisters, and dividing a people who wish to be joined together.

What is true of this city is true of Germany--real, lasting peace in Europe can never be assured as long as one German out of four is denied the elementary right of free men, and that is to make a free choice. In 18 years of peace and good faith, this generation of Germans has earned the right to be free, including the right to unite their families and their nation in lasting peace, with good will to all people. You live in a defended island of freedom, but your life is part of the main. So let me ask you as I close, to lift your eyes beyond the dangers of today, to the hopes of tomorrow, beyond the freedom merely of this city of Berlin, or your country of Germany, to the advance of freedom everywhere, beyond the wall to the day of peace with justice, beyond yourselves and ourselves to all mankind.

Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free. When all are free, then we can look forward to that day when this city will be joined as one and this country and this great Continent of Europe in a peaceful and hopeful globe. When that day finally comes, as it will, the people of West Berlin can take sober satisfaction in the fact that they were in the front lines for almost two decades.

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."

Sir Simon Rattle shakes the Kennedy Center with his rock-solid BRSO

In his inaugural tour with Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the beloved maestro led a program of Wagner, Zemlinsky and Beethoven.

It’s been eight years since the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra made its last visit to Washington , under the baton of Mariss Jansons. But they must have made quite an impression; I’ve never heard so much German in the lobby of the Kennedy Center.

On a Tuesday night at the Concert Hall, most seats were taken — chorister rows included — to welcome the esteemed BRSO back under its new conductor, Sir Simon Rattle, making his first visit to the District in two decades. Rattle, 69, is in his inaugural season with the BRSO, following storied tenures leading the London Symphony Orchestra as well as the Berlin Philharmonic.

A chat with the conductor last month revealed a long affinity for the BRSO, and Tuesday night’s three-piece program, presented by Washington Performing Arts, found that ardor coursing like electricity through the orchestra, a rock-solid assembly of 86 keyed-in musicians showing no signs of wear from the road.

From the exquisitely lit “Prelude und Liebestod” from Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde” that opened the concert, Rattle demonstrated such easy dynamic control over the orchestra that you might suspect he had them hooked up to a dimmer. Once the strings burst open, Rattle and the BRSO launched into elastic explorations of Wagner’s themes — crisply etched oboes, elegantly strewn lines of bassoon, flutes that seemed to tow the orchestra behind them. A low fog of bass grew almost imperceptibly quiet and still as we drifted dreamlike into the “Liebestod” — Isolde slipping from mortality’s grip through draping harps, pining woodwinds and strings that heave like caught breaths. Pure wow.

The Style section

Baritone Lester Lynch joined the orchestra for the program’s centerpiece, Austrian composer Alexander Zemlinsky’s 1929 “Symphonische Gesänge, Op. 20,” a suite of seven settings of verse by Harlem Renaissance poets in translation, including Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Jean Toomer and Frank Smith Horne. (Zemlinsky sourced them from a German anthology titled “Afrika Singt.”)

Lynch’s instrument is looming and formidable but remained set like a jewel into the orchestra’s enveloping sound. Each of the songs in the suite has a remarkably different character — both in sound and spirit — and Lynch’s sonorous, regal tone enjoyed a snug fit in each. He slowly peeled open “Lied aus Dixieland” (based on a poem by Hughes), its rhythmically rocking theme building to a simmer before breaking into a mechanistic march over little smears of woodwind. (Oboist Stefan Schilli was in top form all night.)

Zemlinsky-ian ostinatos undergirded the searching bassoons and dutiful wood block of Toomer’s “Lied der Baumwollpacker,” pushed forth by blurts of tuba and vanishing into the shimmer of a struck metal plate. Lynch showcased his velvety upper register in Cullen’s “Totes braunes Mädel,” his voice casting long shadows over insinuating bassoons.

Lynch kept sprightly pace over the mischievous slapstick of Hughes’s “Übler Bursche,” and brought muscular lyricism to the same poet’s “Erkenntnis.” The short, sharp shock of Hughes’s penultimate “Afrikanischer Tanz” introduced a tumultuous setting of Horne’s “Arabeske,” with Zemlinsky’s obtuse melodies flirting with swinging rhythms. Lynch towered over its big finish, which seizes up like a quitting engine.

The concert’s second half was a pass through the familiar pastures of Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 6 in F Major, op. 68” (a.k.a. the “Pastorale”), granted uncanny freshness by Rattle, who seldom let the smile slip from his face. He brought appropriately gusty tempos to the first movement’s “Awakening of Cheerful Feelings upon Arrival in the Country,” moderating a vivacious exchange between the violins and violas. He kept the softly flowing andante bright and brisk, with playful birdsong — nightingales, quails and cuckoos, to be specific — leaping from the flutes and woodwinds.

Rattle ushered the silvery currents of the scherzo into frothing rapids by its finish, and he seemed to reach into the din of the fourth movement thunderstorm to pull out vibrant details with a wizardly waggle of fingers. The fifth and final movement left us sharing the shepherd’s “Happy and Thankful Feelings After the Storm,” Rattle translating the relief into a calm, cleansing finish.

Answering demands for an encore, Rattle reappeared to roaring applause for a rambunctious farewell in the form of Dvorak’s “Slavonic Dance No. 7” (the wild “Kolo” from the second set of 1886, Op. 72). As last impressions go, it was enough that I’m already eager to hear the BRSO again. Here’s hoping we don’t need to wait eight more years.

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Sol 4155: Left Navigation Camera, Polar Projection

Curiosity took the images on April 14, 2024, Sol 4155 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission at drive 2386, site…

Sol 4155: Left Navigation Camera, Cylindrical Projection

Sol 4164: Right Navigation Camera, Cylindrical Projection

Curiosity took the images on April 24, 2024, Sol 4164 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission at drive 2950, site…

Sol 4162: Right Navigation Camera, Cylindrical Projection

Curiosity took the images on April 22, 2024, Sol 4162 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission at drive 2836, site…

Sol 4159: Right Navigation Camera, Cylindrical Projection

Curiosity took the images on April 19, 2024, Sol 4159 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission at drive 2692, site…

Sol 4158: Right Navigation Camera, Cylindrical Projection

Curiosity took the images on April 17, 2024, Sol 4158 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission at drive 2596, site…

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The transatlantic relationship.

The US President, John F Kennedy, made a ground-breaking speech in Berlin offering American solidarity to the citizens of West Germany. A crowd of 120,000 Berliners gathered in front of the Schöneberg Rathaus (City Hall) to hear President Kennedy speak. They began gathering in the square long before he was due to arrive, and when he finally appeared on the podium they gave him an ovation of several minutes.

In an impassioned speech, the president told them West Berlin was a symbol of freedom in a world threatened by the Cold War. His speech was punctuated throughout by rapturous cheers of approval. He ended on the theme he had begun with:

"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's "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech was seen as a turning point in the Cold War. It was a major morale booster for West Germans, alarmed by the recently-built Berlin Wall. It also gave a strongly defiant message to the Soviet Union and effectively put down Moscow's hopes of driving the Allies out of West Berlin. Two months later, President Kennedy negotiated the first nuclear test ban treaty with the Soviet Union, in what was seen as a first step towards ending the Cold War.

delivered 26 June 1963, West Berlin The full text of Kennedy's "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech

I am proud to come to this city as the guest of your distinguished Mayor, who has symbolized throughout the world the fighting spirit of West Berlin. And I am proud -- And I am proud to visit the Federal Republic with your distinguished Chancellor who for so many years has committed Germany to democracy and freedom and progress, and to come here in the company of my fellow American, General Clay, who who has been in this city during its great moments of crisis and will come again if ever needed.

Two thousand years ago -- Two thousand years ago, the proudest boast was "civis Romanus sum." Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is "Ich bin ein Berliner."

(I appreciate my interpreter translating my German.)

There are many people in the world who really don't understand, or say they don't, what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world.

Let them come to Berlin.

There are some who say -- There are some who say that communism is the wave of the future.

And there are some who say, in Europe and elsewhere, we can work with the Communists.

And there are even a few who say that it is true that communism is an evil system, but it permits us to make economic progress.

Lass' sie nach Berlin kommen.

Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect. But we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in -- to prevent them from leaving us. I want to say on behalf of my countrymen who live many miles away on the other side of the Atlantic, who are far distant from you, that they take the greatest pride, that they have been able to share with you, even from a distance, the story of the last 18 years. I know of no town, no city, that has been besieged for 18 years that still lives with the vitality and the force, and the hope, and the determination of the city of West Berlin.

While the wall is the most obvious and vivid demonstration of the failures of the Communist system -- for all the world to see -- we take no satisfaction in it; for it is, as your Mayor has said, an offense not only against history but an offense against humanity, separating families, dividing husbands and wives and brothers and sisters, and dividing a people who wish to be joined together.

What is -- What is true of this city is true of Germany: Real, lasting peace in Europe can never be assured as long as one German out of four is denied the elementary right of free men, and that is to make a free choice. In 18 years of peace and good faith, this generation of Germans has earned the right to be free, including the right to unite their families and their nation in lasting peace, with good will to all people.

You live in a defended island of freedom, but your life is part of the main. So let me ask you, as I close, to lift your eyes beyond the dangers of today, to the hopes of tomorrow, beyond the freedom merely of this city of Berlin, or your country of Germany, to the advance of freedom everywhere, beyond the wall to the day of peace with justice, beyond yourselves and ourselves to all mankind.

Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free. When all are free, then we look -- can look forward to that day when this city will be joined as one and this country and this great Continent of Europe in a peaceful and hopeful globe. When that day finally comes, as it will, the people of West Berlin can take sober satisfaction in the fact that they were in the front lines for almost two decades.

All -- 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."

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