Kennedy Museum to Open in Berlin
Exhibit Features Photographers, Books, Films
A new museum dedicated to JFK and the rest of the Kennedys will open in Berlin in November. The museum highlights Kennedy's "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech.
The headline on the Web site for the new museum in Berlin screams "Jack is Back." Jack being John F. Kennedy. That's right: Berlin is opening a museum called the Kennedys Museum honoring the late U.S. president and his family.
The museum, which opens on Nov. 11, is located on Pariser Platz near the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate. It will hold books, films, historical documents and more than 1,000 photographs that pertain to the life and political career of JFK. The museum will highlight Kennedy's trip to Berlin in 1963 when he made the famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech.
Some say that the phrase "Ich bin ein Berliner," which Kennedy used to show he was one with the Berlin people, actually means "I am a jelly doughnut." Others, however, contend that it meant exactly what Kennedy intended it to mean: "I am a Berliner." Either way, the people of Berlin in 1963 were moved by Kennedy's speech, often regarded as one of his best. A plaque commemorating Kennedy's speech can be found next to the front entrance of Rathaus Schöneberg, which is where the original speech took place.
"The exhibition ... is intended to make young and old people familiar with the Kennedys' life, their belief in democracy and human rights, peace by prosperity and progress, their will to improve the way of life of all and the paramount position of a still influential family in American history and their way to that, and is intended to prompt them to think," says a release from the museum.
The idea for the museum stemmed from a collection of the Camera Work Gallery. A presentation at the gallery in 2004 underlined the interest in the family by Berliners. It also prompted a similar presentation in Rome in 2005. Following these extremely successful presentations, Camera Work Gallery got together with a scientist in the history department at the John F. Kennedy Institute at the Free University in Berlin. Together, they developed a comprehensive museum exhibit.
In addition to the photographs and documents, the exhibit includes some of JFK's personal property including a black Hermes suitcase, a leathern trunk and his personal stamp.
"The establishment of The Kennedys museum at the Pariser Platz near the Brandenburg Gate caused the German history of the Kennedys to return to the place which is a historical and political fixed point of special global importance for a lot of people," museum officials said in a press release.
The museum will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. Admission is € 7 (about $9US). Visit www.thekennedys.de for more information.
