Kennedy exhibition recalls city's love affair with president

President John F Kennedy's words "Ich bin ein Berliner" have rung out from Schöneberg town hall again, 40 years after he first delivered his famous speech to an ecstatic crowd.

Berliners' love affair with America has long since ended, and George Bush got a chilly reception when he visited the city earlier this year, with anti-war protesters waving banners saying: "You are no Berliner."

But the speech, relayed by loudspeakers during yesterday's opening of a Kennedy exhibition, was a reminder of when the president visited the city on June 26 1963. While the older generation in Germany still nurses warm feelings for the handsome young president who brought the promise of security and hope for the future, the younger generation sees America as an aggressive and arrogant global bully.

When Kennedy arrived for his stopover in Berlin during a European goodwill tour, the Berlin wall was freshly built, Russian and US tanks had faced off at Checkpoint Charlie and the Cuban missile crisis was fresh in everyone's mind.

The streets were lined with people as the president's motorcade wound through the city. Kennedy made two stops to see the Berlin wall and aides say he was shaken as he stood face to the face with Soviet forces at Checkpoint Charlie. Once back in the car he quickly rewrote his speech.

More than 1 million packed into the square at Schöneberg. Heide Marie Erseleus was a 15-year-old schoolgirl and probably the last Berliner to see Kennedy alive: she won tickets to America in a competition organised by a Berlin newspaper after Kennedy's visit and spent 15 minutes with him in the White House a few days before he was assassinated.

"Berlin has never seen such a crowd of people as on that day and it will never be repeated," Ms Erseleus said. "The wall had just been built. People were scared. But Kennedy brought us hope for the future. It was a very emotional day."

Caught up in the atmosphere, Kennedy delivered an impassioned speech: "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'." The crowd roared with approval.

Ms Erseleus says that Kennedy regarded the Berlin trip as the high point of his European tour and remained deeply interested in its fate to the end, quizzing her about life in the city during their meeting in the White House.

"Kennedy did a lot for Berlin and we have to be grateful," Ms Erseleus said, "but all this history is being too quickly forgotten by the young."

The exhibition runs until October 13 and includes more than 450 pieces from German and US museums.