"Ich Bin Ein Berliner" Speech

John Fitzgerald Kennedy: "Ich BinEin Berliner" Speech delivered
June 26, 1963
市 長 閣 下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
西ドイツ連邦共和国

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the Fe d er al 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ク レ イ 将 軍

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 (NOTE1)." Today, inthe world of freedom, the proudest boast is "Ich bin ein Berliner (NOTE2)."
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 isan evil system, but it permits us to make economic progress. Lass' sie nach Berlin kommen.
Let them come to Berlin.
Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put awall up to keep our people in, to prevent them from leaving us. I want to say, on behalf ofmy 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 withyou, even from a distance, the story of the last 18 years. I know of no town, no city, that has
包囲するbeen besieged for 18 years that still lives with the vitality and the force, and the hope andthe 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 nosatisfaction in it, for it is, as your Mayor has said, an offense not only against history but anoffense against humanity, separating families, dividing husbands and wives and brothersI"Ich Bin Ein Berliner" Speechand 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 beassured as long as one German out of four is denied the elementary right of free men, andthat is to make a free choice. In 18 years of peace and good faith, this generation ofGermans has earned the right to be free, including the right to unite their families and theirnation in lasting peace, with good will to all people. You live in a defended island of freedom,
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but your life is part of the main. So let me ask you as I close , to lift your eyes beyond thedangers 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 theday of peace with justice, beyond yourselves and ourselves to all mankind.
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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
分別のある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."(NOTE1): This Latin phrase means “I am a Roman citizen”.
(NOTE2): This German phrase means “I am a citizen of Berlin”.

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