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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."
John
F. Kennedy
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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'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! 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 eighteen
years. I know of no town, no city, that has been besieged for
eighteen 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 eighteen 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 goodwill 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."
Click here to hear the speech. |
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