A journey though pictures
It was one of the most sensational events in German post-war history: US President John F. Kennedy’s visit to Germany in June 1963 and its sensational culmination in West Berlin. The final sentence of his speech, which was heard by around 450,000 people who were gathered at the square in front of the Schöneberg Town Hall, is legendary to this day: “Ich bin ein Berliner”.
On the 50th anniversary of the event on 26th June 2013, the Stadtmuseum Berlin presented a selection of photographs from Kennedy’s visit to Germany in the Schöneberg Town Hall which had never been shown in public before. They were part of the Berlin journalist Rolf Goetze’s (1921-1988) estate. Rolf Goetze was one of the very few to have documented this major media event in colour. His work, which captured the effects of the state visit, is fascinating. Unlike the photographs taken by his colleagues, his pictures have never been used by agencies. Here you are given the exclusive opportunity to see them in a picture gallery.
Welcoming Kennedy before entering the Cologne Cathedral, 23/6/1963.
A young woman selling stamps at the Bonn Marktplatz, 23/6/1963.
After his arrival at the American military airfield in Hanau, 25/6/1963.
Departing in the US President’s state carriage, a Ford Lincoln Continental, which had been flown in, 25/6/1963.
RIAS director and interpreter Robert H. Lochner, John F. Kennedy and Willy Brandt at Tegel, 26/6/1963.
The convoy of vehicles close to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, 26/6/1963.
The Brandenburg Gate draped with flags and a board bearing an appeal from the GDR government to Kennedy, 26/6/1963.
From toddlers to pensioners, people of every generation welcomed the state visitor, 26/6/1963.
John F. Kennedy during his famous speech on the balcony of the Schöneberg Town Hall, 26/6/1963.
An apartment block across from the town hall made for a convenient lookout, 26/6/1963.
Banners bear witness to the fact the land-locked West Berliners were pinning their hopes on the USA, 26/6/1963.