Ich bin ein Berliner

Ich bin ein Berliner (I am a Berliner) speech

Speech from the Rathaus Schöneberg by John F. Kennedy, June 26, 1963. 9 minutes and a second long. The phrase "Ich bin ein Berliner" first appears at 1:45, then again at 8:43.

Ich bin ein Berliner ("I am a Berliner") speech (audio)

Audio-only version (Duration 9:22)

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Coordinates: 52°29′06″N 13°20′40″E / 52.484932°N 13.344395°E / 52.484932; 13.344395

Kennedy delivering his speech

Ich bin ein Berliner (English: I am a Berliner) was a speech by John F. Kennedy. He made the speech on June 26, 1963 in West Berlin.^[1] This is thought to be one of Kennedy's most famous speeches. He made the speech to gain support for the Cold War and to mark the anniversary of the Berlin Wall's construction. Kennedy said:

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 wrote on his paper "ish bin ein Bearleener" to help him say it better.

Background[change | change source]

Germany's capital, Berlin, was deep inside the area controlled by the Soviet Union after World War II. A first governed in four sectors controlled by the four Allied powers (United States, United Kingdom, France and the Soviet Union), tensions of the Cold War rose. This continued until the Soviet forces created the Berlin Blockade of the city's western sectors. The Western allies went around this with the dramatic airlift. Afterwards, the sectors controlled by the NATO Allies became an effective exclave (territory surrounded by territory of a different state or entity) of West Germany. Which was completely surrounded by East Germany. Starting in 1952, the border between East and West was closed everywhere but in Berlin. Hundreds of thousands of East Germans defected (gives up allegiance to a state) to the West via West Berlin. This was a labor drain that threatened East Germany with economic collapse.^[2]