THE KENNEDYS MUSEUM BERLIN
Ich bin ein Berliner
The
Kennedy Conspiracy is solved! The controversy resolved. The question
settled. President John F. Kennedy
in 1963 did not declare
himself to
be a doughnut! In the Kennedy legend and lexicon, probably the most famous
words spoken by the iconic president in his 1000 days – after
the “Ask not what your country can do for you…” inaugural
address, were the four word phase he chimed on a visit to the Cold War
divided city of Berlin in a speech to cheering crowds at Schöneberg
City Hall – “Ich bin ein Berliner!”
In
the past few years, a rumor has raged and passed through American
culture in revisionist fervor,
based on a wag's column in a
New York newspaper
that the words America’s 35th President John Fitzgerald Kennedy
spoke were a grammatical error that was saying - that instead of claiming
solidarity with the people of West Berlin, he was saying he was a pastry
called a “Berliner”. A visit to the Kennedys Museum in Berlin’s
Pariser Platz, within sight of Berlin’s famed Brandenburg gate,
will disabuse one of the notion. The officials at the museum which displays
over 300 items of intimate Kennedy memorabilia, related to his Berlin
visit and the throughout the days of “Camelot” will clarify
that the 
grammar
of John Kennedy’s German was not only correct,
but a hand written note card shows that he focused on his pronunciation
as well. Although there is a kind of pastry cake
made in Berlin, pfannkuchen, literally "pancake" filled
with sweet marmalade etc., referred to outside the region as a “Berliner”,
but within Berlin it was not known as such, so the locals would not understand
it that way, though outside of Berlin it might be construed into the
cultural joke.
The
Kennedys Museum itself in Berlin is an elegant and moving look back
into the life of America’s arguably most revered modern president
and possibly most tragic family. Consisting of photographs and artifacts
of the Kennedy legacy, including rare early romantic photos of John and
Jackie Kennedy before the White House years and John Jr. and Caroline
romping in the oval office, items and letters of the president, photos
of the first family’s trip to Berlin only two years after the wall
had been erected, during which President Kennedy was deeply moved by
the resilient citizens who had endured the Berlin airlift (see German
Technik Museum Berlin) and division
of the city, country and families.
Visiting Kennedys Museum Berlin
The museum is located at Auguststraße 11-13. not far from the Oranianburger Tor (moved from it's former Unter Den Linden location). you can take the S-Bahn line S1, S2 or S25 or Oranienburger Strasse
Find best hotel and vacation deals in Berlin on TripAdvisor
Web
Info
Kennedys Museum
These articles are copyrighted and the sole property of Bargain Travel Europe and WLPV, LLC. and may not be copied or reprinted without permission.
See Also:
OSTEL - BERLIN’S DDR DESIGN HOSTEL
BERLIN ACTIVE TOURING - SIGHTJOGGING
BERLIN NIGHTLIFE ALL NIGHT PUB CRAWLING
STASI MUSEUM SPY HEADQUARTERS - BERLIN
