Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 13, 1994 TAG: 9408040039
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: BERLIN LENGTH: Medium
The first American president to visit the city since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of the country in 1990, Clinton walked from the parliamentary Reichstag building through the historic columns of the Brandenburg Gate. Standing in what was once East Berlin, he celebrated the end of a divided Germany in both English and German.
``Nothing will stop us. All things are possible. Nichts wird uns aufhalten. Alles ist moeglich,'' Clinton, who studied German as a Georgetown University student, said to roars from a crowd estimated at 100,000. ``Berlin ist frei. Berlin is free.''
It was a day infused with history and symbolism as Clinton visited the city where his boyhood hero, John F. Kennedy, proclaimed solidarity with the people of divided Berlin and where Ronald Reagan - forced to stand on the other side of the gate - challenged his Soviet counterpart, ``Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate.''
As Clinton extolled the transformations of the last five years, he also set out his vision of a democratic and integrated Europe and pointed to the difficulties Germany and other nations face in achieving that goal.
``Now, you who found the courage to endure, to resist, to tear down the wall, must find a new zivilcourage - the courage to build,'' he said. ``Here, in Germany, in the United States and throughout the world, we must reject those who would divide us with scalding words about race, ethnicity or religion.''
Later, Clinton marked the end of nearly 50 years of American military presence in Berlin, presiding over a deactivation ceremony for the Berlin Brigade.
The Army unit patrolled the city during the Allied occupation, manned the crossing between East and West at Checkpoint Charlie and helped resettle the refugees that streamed here from the East in 1989. Now, with U.S. troops leaving Berlin, its members are being sent elsewhere in Germany or home.
``I say to all of you, the members of the Berlin Brigade: America salutes you,'' Clinton told the troops as they stood at attention in broiling sunshine. ``Mission accomplished.''
At the Brandenburg Gate, Clinton stood with German Chancellor Helmut Kohl in what was once the no man's land beyond the wall. A giant video screen offered the president's speech in German.
``We stand together where Europe's heart was cut in half, and we celebrate unity ...'' he said. ``Berliners, you have won your long struggle. You have proved that no wall can forever contain the mighty power of freedom.''
Knowing that the president's speech would be compared with Kennedy's 1963 ``Ich bin ein Berliner'' address, White House officials left it to Clinton to decide at the last minute what - if any - sentences he would recite in German.
``In the name of the sentries at Checkpoint Charlie who stood face-to-face with enemy tanks, in the name of every American president who has come to Berlin, in the name of American forces who will stay in Europe to guard freedom's future - in all of their names, I say, `Amerika steht an Ihrer Seite, jetzt und fuer immer,' '' Clinton vowed. ``America is on your side, now and forever.''
by CNB