Ich bin ein Berliner

"Ich bin ein Berliner" ("I am a Berliner") is a famous phrase from a June 26, 1963 speech by U.S. President John F. Kennedy in West Berlin. Kennedy was underlining the support of the United States for democratic West Germany shortly after communist East Germany had erected the Berlin Wall as a deadly barrier to its citizens escaping to the West.

Background

See main article: History of Berlin

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Germany's capital, Berlin, was deep within the area controlled after World War II by the Soviet army. Initially governed jointly in four sectors controlled respectively by the United States, United Kingdom, France, and USSR, tensions of the Cold War escalated until the Soviet forces implemented the Berlin Blockade, which the Western allies relieved with the dramatic airlift.

Related Topics:
Berlin - World War II - Soviet - United States - United Kingdom - France - USSR - Cold War - Berlin Blockade - Airlift

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Afterward, the sectors controlled by the NATO Allies became an effective exclave of West Germany, completely surrounded by East Germany. From 1952, the border between East and West was closed everywhere but Berlin. Hundreds of thousands of East Germans defected to the West via West Berlin, a labour drain which threatened East Germany with economic collapse.

Related Topics:
NATO - Exclave - West Germany - 1952 - Defected

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In 1961 the East German government under Walter Ulbricht erected a barbed wire barrier around the Soviet sector of Berlin. Though it was officially called the antifaschistischer Schutzwall (anti-fascist protective barrier), its primary purpose was to keep East German citizens from crossing to the West. Over a period of months the wall was rebuilt using concrete, and buildings were demolished to create a "death zone" in view of East German guards armed with machine guns. In 1962 the first attempted escape leading to a fatal shooting took the life of Peter Fechter.

Related Topics:
1961 - Walter Ulbricht - Fascist - Machine gun - 1962 - Peter Fechter

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The West, including the United States, was accused of failing to respond forcefully to the erection of the wall. On July 25, 1961, President Kennedy, with the April Bay of Pigs fiasco yet fresh, broadcast a Presidential address. Kennedy insisted that America would defend West Berlin, asserting its Four-Power rights, even while making it clear that challenging the Soviet presence in Germany was not possible.

Related Topics:
July 25 - 1961 - Bay of Pigs fiasco - Four-Power rights

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