JFK’s ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ cheered by 450,000

June 26 1963 — John F Kennedy gives his “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech, underlining US support for democratic West Germany, on the steps of the Rathaus Schöneberg, West Berlin’s city hall, where an estimated 450,000 people had gathered in Rudolph-Wilde-Platz. Cold War tensions between the Eastern Bloc and the West after World War 2 escalated until Soviet forces implemented the Berlin Blockade (June 24 1948 - May 12 1949) of the city’s western sectors. East Germany was established in 1949, completely surrounding West Berlin and making it an exclave of West Germany. On August 13 1961, the East German government started building a barbed wire wall across the heart of Berlin. When JFK viewed the now-concrete wall and the barrenness of East Berlin on the other side, his expression turned grim. He ends his speech with: “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’.” On the night of his assassination (November 22), thousands of Berliners spontaneously gather at the square, which is officially renamed John-F.-Kennedy-Platz three days later.