transcription/"One Day in Berlin" - Visit of John F. Kennedy, president of the United States in Berlin, 1963.webm.en.srt

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Two thousand years ago, two thousand years ago the proudest boast was "civis Romanus sum."

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Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is "Ich bin ein Berliner."

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It was a great day in the history of Berlin

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June, 26 1963

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I am proud

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to come to this city

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as the guest of your distinguished Mayor,

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who has symbolized throughout the world the fighting spirit of West Berlin.

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And I am proud

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And I am proud to visit the Federal Republic

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with your distinguished Chancellor who for so many years

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has committed Germany to democracy and freedom and progress,

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and to come here in the company of my fellow American, General Clay, who

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who has been in this city during its great moments of crisis and will come again if ever needed.

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Two thousand years ago, two thousand years ago the proudest boast was "civis Romanus sum."

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Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is "Ich bin ein Berliner."

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I …, I …, I appreciate, I appreciate my interpreter translating my German!

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There are many people in the world who really don't understand, or say they don't,

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what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world.

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Let them come to Berlin!

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There are some who say …, there are some who say that communism is the wave of the future.

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Let them come to Berlin!

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And there are some who say in Europe and elsewhere we can work

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with the Communists. Let them come to Berlin!

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And there are even a few who say that it's true that communism is an evil system,

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but it permits us to make economic progress.

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Lass' sie nach Berlin kommen! Let them come to Berlin!

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Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had

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to put a wall up to keep our people in, to prevent them from leaving us.

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I want to say, on behalf of my countrymen, who live many miles away

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on the other side of the Atlantic, who are far distant from you, that they take the greatest pride

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that they have been able to share with you, even from a distance, the story of the last 18 years.

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I know of no town, no city, that has been besieged for 18 years that still lives

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with the vitality and the force, and the hope and the determination of the city of West Berlin.

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While the wall is the most obvious and vivid demonstration of the failures of the Communist system,

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for all the world to see, we take no satisfaction in it, for it is, as your Mayor has said,

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an offense not only against history but an offense against humanity, separating families,

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dividing husbands and wives and brothers and sisters, and dividing a people who wish to be joined together.

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What is true of this city is true of Germany—real, lasting peace in Europe can never be assured

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as long as one German out of four is denied the elementary right of free men,

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and that is to make a free choice. In 18 years of peace and good faith, this generation

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of Germans has earned the right to be free, including the right to unite their families

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and their nation in lasting peace, with good will to all people.

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You live in a defended island of freedom, but your life is part of the main.

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So let me ask you, as I close, to lift your eyes beyond the dangers of today,

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to the hopes of tomorrow, beyond the freedom merely of this city of Berlin,

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or your country of Germany, to the advance of freedom everywhere,

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beyond the wall to the day of peace with justice,

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beyond yourselves and ourselves to all mankind.

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Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free.

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When all are free, then we can look forward to that day when this city will be

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joined as one and this country and this great Continent of Europe in a peaceful

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and hopeful globe. When that day finally comes, as it will, the people of West Berlin

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can take sober satisfaction in the fact that they were in the front lines for almost two decades.

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All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man,

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I take pride in the words "Ich bin ein Berliner!"