Speech by Chancellor Helmut Kohl at the ceremony at Tempelhof airport to commemorate the Berlin Airlift on the occasion of the visit of President Clinton Thursday, 14 May 1998

Mr. President, my good friend,
Mr. Governing Mayor,
Excellencies,
Colonel Halvorsen and all other veterans of the Airlift present here today,
members of the armed forces of the United States of America and
the Federal Republic of Germany,
citizens of Berlin:

To you, Mr. President, I bid a very warm welcome here at Tempelhof airport in Berlin. This airport in the heart of the German capital symbolizes in special measure America's bond with Berlin. It stands for one of the most fantastic relief operations history has ever seen.

The fiftieth anniversary of the day the Berlin Airlift began is due in a few weeks' time. When the Soviet Union in June 1948 ordered a blockade of all overland routes to Berlin, it was the Western Allies who for months on end kept people in the free part of Berlin supplied from the air. Day in, day out those planes soon fondly dubbed "raisin bombers" by the people of Berlin landed right here at Tempelhof.

The Berlin population - but also all German citizens - learnt then what it means not to be alone in the hour of need. We know this city owes its survival and freedom during the Cold War to the resolve of the United States of America and the other Western Allies. Here in Berlin Ger-mans and Americans once again experienced, for the first time since the end of the Second World War, a mutual bond and commitment. And here in the course of time victors in war became protectors and partners, adversaries became allies and friends.

The Airlift came to symbolize the unshakable strength of purpose of the Western democracies. Their steadfast determination to yield not an inch in the face of the Communist threat was watched by the whole world.

This experience generated a desire to join together on a firm and long-term basis in the Atlantic Alliance, dedicated to the defense of peace and freedom. And in this Alliance we have for many years now been working together with great success.

The extraordinary help we received from the Western Allies just shortly after the end of the War was anything but a matter of course. And it took its toll in human life. The memorial here on Airlift Square commemorates those who lost their lives in the cause of freedom.

I am delighted that so many members of the American forces are with us today. And I would like to give a very special welcome to the veterans of the Airlift among your number. To the outstand-ing contribution you have made to German-American friendship I pay grateful tribute. We will not forget that American servicemen at a critical time defended security and freedom in Ger-many. May I assure you, the veterans of the Airlift, that we will always honor the memory of your comrades who lost their lives during those days. We also remember at this hour the fami-lies of those who did not return.

Over the past decades some 7 million American servicemen have been stationed in Germany. Together with their families, that makes about 15 million Americans who, in this country far from home, have helped, alongside our other Allies and of course also our Bundeswehr sol-diers, to safeguard peace and liberty. In their day-to-day contacts with Germans the American community here has built up a dense network of personal ties central to the close friendship between our two nations. It is not least this wealth of personal encounters, these everyday im-pressions and experiences which make German-American relations a meaningful part of daily life. The American forces in Germany are thus an important component of transatlantic friend-ship.

Friendship and partnership with the United States have for decades been fundamental to Ger-man foreign policy. Just how fundamental, indeed, we discovered over reunification.

As the watershed developments in Eastern Europe unfolded, nowhere did we Germans receive so much help and support as from our American friends. While others dithered, the Americans enthusiastically took the lead in encouraging and supporting us on the road to national unity. We owe it to the unswerving commitment of our American friends that the Wall, the barbed wire that divided Berlin and the whole country for so long finally came down.

You, Mr. President, and your Administration have consistently worked to strengthen German-American partnership. I for my part will never forget that day four years ago when we walked together through the Brandenburg Gate. In the moving speech you made on that occa-sion you emphasized that America would continue to stand now and for always by the popula-tion of Berlin and the German people.

Mr. President:
Let me assure you that in future America, too, will have in a reunited Germany a reliable part-ner and a true friend. There is, as Konrad Adenauer often put it, only one place for us Germans and that is at the side of the free peoples of the world.

Our relations are built on three foundations:

First, our common values, a shared spiritual and moral outlook and approach to policy-making;

Second, our common interests;

Third, our common commitment to a liberal world economic order.

The present time is one of dramatic change. In the spirit of transatlantic partnership Germans and Americans must stand together to meet the challenges of the 21st century. In the inter-national arena Germany is expected to assume greater responsibilities and we are ready to do our share, side by side with our partners. To me personally, it means an enormous amount to have you, Mr. President, at the present time as a friend and partner in the White House.

One of the prodigious joint tasks facing us is to overcome for good the legacy of a divided Europe during the decades-long East-West confrontation. We need to give the young democ-racies in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe a helping hand to help themselves and we need to integrate them firmly into international structures. A milestone along this road will be the NATO summit next April in Washington, where Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic will be admitted as new members of the Alliance.

At the same time we must strengthen our links with the other countries of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. And above all we need to enhance our relationship with Russia, for only together with Russia can security and stability in Europe be assured. By the same token we must also develop our relations with Ukraine.

Our goal is to complete the construction of the European house - with a permanent right of residence for our American friends - and enable the family of European nations to live together side by side in lasting peace.

Mr. President:
Close cooperation between our two countries remains the key to progress towards this goal. Our common commitment to human dignity, freedom and democracy remains the central premise of all we undertake.

We are traveling the same road. Let us now go forward with a sense of pride in what we have together accomplished and with a clear vision of a future in peace and freedom!

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