Kennedy, un mur et un mythe en béton
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' sic 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!"
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