"I am a Berliner”: I'm from Berlin. This sentence was uttered 57 years ago by John Fitzgerald Kennedy: it was June 26, 1963, and the president of the United States was on an official visit to West Berlin, effectively a West German enclave in the middle of Soviet-controlled territory. This four-word sequence soon turned into one of JFK's most famous and iconic statements, which just five months later would be shot to the head on the streets of Dallas, Texas.
When Kennedy arrived on German soil, the Berlin wall existed for a short time: the East German authorities had had it built as a surprise less than two years earlier to interrupt the movement towards the western block (even if the official reason was to prevent the entry of spies and agents from the West). At the time, the US had been accused of not having responded strongly enough to the raising of the barrier, so on July 25, 1961 JFK was forced to clarify that the US would always defend West Berlin, but also that it was not possible challenge the Soviet presence in Germany.
The 1963 visit and speech aimed precisely at reaffirm American commitment to West Berlin, where a large part of the population lived in fear of an imminent invasion. The words of the American President sounded like an act of defiance towards the USSR, but in reality they sanctioned the inevitable acknowledgment of the status quo: For the first time, the United States officially recognized that East Berlin was part of the Soviet bloc along with the rest of East Germany.
That day 57 years ago, looking out from the balcony of the Schöneberg Town Hall, in Rudolph-Wilde-Platz, Kennedy said:
“Two thousand years ago, the greatest pride was being able to say civis romanus sum. Today, in the free world, the greatest pride is to say I am a Berliner. All free men, wherever they live, are citizens of Berlin, and therefore, as a free man, I am proud of the words I am a Berliner".
JFK is said to have come up with the idea of saying that phrase last moment. As he climbed the stairs of the town hall, he asked his interpreter to translate "I am a Berliner" into German for him. And he wrote down the pronunciation on a piece of paper. Words that remained and remain in history.
