Auteur : John Fitzgerald Kennedy (29 mai 1917 - 22 novembre 1963)

Date : 26 juin 1963 à Berlin-Ouest

Ecouter le discours au format mp3 (42 sec)

Contexte historique :

Voici les mots que John Fitzgerald Kennedy prononce lors de son discours devant l'Hôtel de Ville de Berlin-Ouest, le 26 juin 1963.

Depuis la construction du Mur de béton et de barbelés par le régime communiste est-allemand de Pankow le 13 août 1961 tout autour des zones d'occupation alliées, Berlin-Ouest apparaît comme une enclave de liberté au sein du bloc communiste.

En visite à Berlin, JFK, président dde la plus grande puissance du monde, se doit de montrer l'attachement de monde libre au peuple berlinois. Devant des centaines de milliers de personnes, il prononce un discours resté célèbre, après avoir répété durant plus d'une heure la prononciation des expressions allemandes.

Voici la majeure partie de son discours en traduction française, ainsi que sa version originale intégrale :

"Beaucoup de gens dans le monde ne comprennent pas ou prétendent ne pas comprendre la grande question qui oppose le monde libre et le monde communiste. Qu'ils viennent à Berlin !

Certains disent que le communisme est la voie de l'avenir. Qu'ils viennent à Berlin.

D'autres encore, en Europe et ailleurs, disent que nous pouvons travailler avec les communistes. Qu'ils viennent à Berlin !

Il y en a même qui reconnaissent que le communisme est mauvais, mais qu'il permet de réaliser des progrès économiques. Qu'ils viennent à Berlin ! [... ]

Ce qui est vrai de cette ville est vrai de l'Allemagne - une paix réelle et durable en Europe ne pourra être assurée tant qu'un Allemand sur quatre se verra privé du droit élémentaire des hommes libres, qui est de choisir librement. [... ] Tous les hommes libres, où qu'ils vivent, sont des citoyens de Berlin, et c'est pourquoi, en tant qu'homme libre, je m'enorgueillis de dire : Ich bin ein Berliner."


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

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 is an 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 a wall up to keep our people in, to prevent them from leaving us. I want to say, on behalf of my 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 with you, even from a distance, the story of the last 18 years. I know of no town, no city, that has been besieged for 18 years that still lives with the vitality and the force, and the hope and the 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 no satisfaction in it, for it is, as your Mayor has said, an offense not only against history but an offense against humanity, separating families, dividing husbands and wives and brothers and 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 be assured as long as one German out of four is denied the elementary right of free men, and that is to make a free choice. In 18 years of peace and good faith, this generation of Germans has earned the right to be free, including the right to unite their families and their nation in lasting peace, with good will to all people. You live in a defended island of freedom, but your life is part of the main. So let me ask you as I close, to lift your eyes beyond the dangers 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 the day of peace with justice, beyond yourselves and ourselves to all mankind.

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 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."

Par cette dernière phrase, JFK ne veut pas dire qu'il se sent berlinois mais que les Berlinois étant les symboles de la liberté face à la prison communiste, il est fier, étant lui-même un homme libre, de se dire Berlinois, tout comme 2000 ans plus tôt, les hommes étaient fiers de se dire Romains (Civis Romanus sum).

Après la chute du bloc communiste, le mur de Berlin sera ouvert le 9 novembre 1989, et démantelé définitivement après la réunification des deux Allemagne le 3 octobre 1990.