This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: July 25, 2008 - It was a crowd fit for a president.
More than 200,000 people gathered in Berlin, in front of the Victory Column, to witness U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's speech on Thursday. Not only did this number exceed expectations, but the audience was largely teenagers and young adults. According to German media reports, Obama also managed to attract a roughly equal number of men and women.
It certainly was a record crowd for any recent political event in Germany, and it was especially encouraging for Germans to see younger people take an interest in politics again. The last elections showed the lowest number of voters yet in a federal German election, especially in the age group of 35 and below.
The historic Berlin speeches by John F. Kennedy in 1963 and Ronald Reagan in 1987 are not forgotten. More than 400,000 people attended Kennedy's speech and 40,000 Reagan's. Expectations for Obama were thus high. As the German news outlet Der Tagesspiegel put it: President George W. Bush stands for war in Iraq, torture in Abu Ghraib, lawlessness in Guantanamo and most recently an economic recession and bank crisis. Europeans see the opposite in Obama.
In a city brimming with history, it is not surprising that a lot of attention was given to the location of his speech. Kennedy talked in front of the City Hall Schoeneberg in a divided Berlin before the Berlin Wall went up. Twenty-four years later, Reagan chose to talk in front of the Berlin Wall. Not far behind the wall was the Brandenburg Gate in East Germany. This location emphasized Berlin's and Germany's division.
Obama would have liked to talk in front of the Brandenburg Gate, a symbol for a reunited Germany, but could not get permission. He wound up choosing the Victory Column, built in 1873 as a symbol of Prussia's triumphs in the wars against Denmark (1864), Austria (1866) and France (1870-1871). Many critics were quick to point out that Obama selected a monument to war to deliver his speech. But in all fairness, the Victory Column is host to many parades and events. One of the best known is the Love Parade, a yearly demonstration for peace, tolerance and global understanding.
So how does Obama's speech compare to the those by his predecessors? One obvious difference is that Obama is a presidential candidate, not the U.S. president. And it is fair to say that the world has changed, compared to 21 and especially 45 years ago. The Berlin Wall, East Germany, the Soviet Union and the Cold War no longer exist. Replacing them are now world terrorism, global climate concerns and threats made by emerging nuclear powers.
Germans turned out in huge numbers to hear a speech by a candidate whom they hoped would address these fears. Germans also wanted to be part of history if Obama should win the upcoming elections.
In his speech, Obama emphasized the necessity of defeating terrorism. He reasoned that the United States and Germany would have a mutual interest in ensuring that Afghanistan -- the first NATO mission beyond Europe's borders -- would be a success. Yet these remarks were not well received in the audience: Germany would like to see that war end immediately and does not want to provide more troops.
Historically, American-German relations have been strong. They have only recently suffered from Bush's foreign policies. Obama's enthusiastic reception in Germany bodes well for an improvement in transatlantic relations.
When Kennedy delivered his speech, he was addressed Germany's Wirtschaftswunder (miracle economy) made possible by the American airlifts and the Marshall plan. Today, Germany's economy is in a recession; unemployment rates are high; social benefits are dwindling. This has led to a lack of trust and disinterest in politics. If Obama can get people interested in politics again, his mission to unite nations to solve global problems will have taken a large step to success.
Reagan challenged Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall. This sparked enthusiasm, but also fear of an escalating cold war played out in a divided Germany. At the present, Germany is concerned with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and a possible confrontation with Iran. Again, Obama emphasized the importance of unity to solve these problems. He wants to see the United States and Europe work together to persuade Iran to stop its nuclear ambitions. And he wants to see the whole world help the Iraqis to rebuild their lives, even when responsibility is transferred to the Iraqi government and the war will be brought to an end.
Maybe the biggest difference is that both Kennedy and Reagan could be sure that not only West Germany was listening raptly to their speeches, but the Soviet Union and East Germany as well. Berlin was center stage during the Cold War. Kennedy and Reagan both stressed Berlin's importance as an outpost to freedom, a beacon of hope during times of starvation and oppression.
Obama honed in on this point: "People of the world, look at Berlin, where a wall came down, a continent came together, and history proved that there is no challenge too great for a world that stands as one." But Obama also emphasized the point that "no one nation, no matter how large or powerful, can defeat such challenges alone." Of special importance for Germans is Obama's observation that "in the absence of Soviet tanks and a terrible wall, it has become easy to forget this truth."
Obama raises a point that is uncomfortable for Germans: more European commitment in Afghanistan and the Middle East and more responsibility in world politics. Maybe these words need some time to sink in. But maybe Europe needs to see a change in U.S. policy first before these words can be heeded.
Julia Gross Gloeckner is a German who moved to the United States in 2000 to work for Washington University in St. Louis as a Ph.D. biochemist.