Back in March President Biden condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and spoke not only to the citizens of the United States but those of Russia and Ukraine as well. This was when he said that Putin 'cannot remain in power,' an apparent off-the-cuff remark that was mostly walked back from Admin officials after the fact. At the time Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post compared it to two famous Presidential speeches in Germany. What she's referencing were the 'Ich bin ein Berliner' speech by JFK in 1963 and the 'Tear down this wall' speech by Reagan in 1987.
I don't bring this up to laugh at Rubin, even if I do want to mock the over-the-top praise, but to talk about JFK in 1963 as it reminded me of something I heard long ago. Here's the context. As discussed in the NATO post, following WWII Germany was divided into areas governed by the victorious Allies. The portions occupied by the United States, Great Britain and France would become 'West Germany,' technically the Federal Republic of Germany. The portion of Germany occupied by the USSR would become 'East Germany,' technically the German Democratic Republic, a socialist state ruled by Moscow. Not only was the country at large divided but Berlin itself was split in a similar fashion. Since the city resides in what was Soviet controlled East Germany, the western aligned sector were essentially on an island at the forefront of the developing Cold War. Soon afterward was the Berlin Airlift (1948-49), as well as the formation of NATO (1949) and the Warsaw Pact (1955).
In 1961 the Berlin Wall was constructed, where a concrete wall was hastily built surrounding the western part of Berlin and separating it from the rest of the city. Guards were posted all along it and checkpoints were set up to control traffic in and out. A stated primary reason for this barrier was to keep out 'fascists' (sound familiar?) that wanted to stop the development of socialism in the east. The real reason was to stop emigrants from leaving East Germany by traveling (fleeing) through free West Berlin to elsewhere in the west. In the end the Berlin Wall came to be a manifestation of the Iron Curtain in particular and Soviet-style Communism more generally. It was easy to see what those things represented when there was a literal, physical thing dividing the first and second worlds under threat of death.
Less than two years after the wall went up, President John F. Kennedy went to Berlin. Standing outside what was West Berlin city hall, Kennedy gave not only what was considered one of his best speeches but one of the most important of the entire Cold War era. Speaking to the Soviets, he demanded that people be free to come to West Berlin. Speaking to the large assembled, raucous crowd of free Germans, he twice delivered the phrase the speech would be known for:
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!'
Quite simply he meant to say 'I am a Berliner.' He and anyone else who is free is a Berliner. We are all with you. That's how it was understood by the West Germans, who loved it and took it as the morale boost it was intended to be in the face of the recently built wall. There's a reason this speech was vital and so fondly remembered. I don't intend to take any of that away. But that's not what he actually said.
Way back in middle and high school, I took German. Today I know very little of what I was taught in that class but I do remember one thing, it was an anecdote about this speech and the challenges of language. If you actually translate the phrase 'Ich bin ein Berliner' it means 'I am a jelly donut.' A Berliner is a filled donut German specialty. What JFK should've said was, apparently, 'Ich bin Berliner' without the ein.
Now Wikipedia, and I'm sure other places, say that this is a misconception that grew in popularity in the 1980s. I don't believe for a second the West Berliners were offended or confused about what was said. Considering the circumstances I can't imagine there was laughter or chuckling at the line. But that doesn't mean it's not funny in retrospect.
Anyway, languages can be hard. Little historical stories can be amusing. Hopefully you enjoyed this one.
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