On 26 June 1963, President John F. Kennedy gave a speech in support of the citizens of West Berlin after the erection of the Berlin Wall. During that speech, Kennedy proclaimed solidarity with the citizens of Berlin by stating “Ich bin ein Berliner” (i.e., “I am a Berliner”). Afterward, rumors began to circulate that Kennedy had made a grammatical error and had referred to himself not as a citizen of Berlin, but rather a German confection similar to a jelly donut. This misconception was partially solidified in the public consciousness by a 1988
It’s worth recalling, again, President John F. Kennedy’s use of a German phrase while standing before the Berlin Wall. It would be great, his wordsmiths thought, for him to declare himself a symbolic citizen of Berlin. Hence, “Ich bin ein Berliner.”
What they did not know, but could easily have found out, was that such citizens never refer to themselves as “Berliners.” They reserve that term for a favorite confection often munched at breakfast. So, while they understood and appreciated the sentiments behind the President’s impassioned declaration, the residents tittered among themselves when he exclaimed, literally, “I am a jelly-filled doughnut.”
Where did the “jelly doughnut” claim come from? In parts of Germany, a jelly-filled pastry is known as a Berliner. This particular style of pastry originated in Berlin in the 16th and
The real debate hinged not on vocabulary but on grammar, specifically on Kennedy’s use of the article ein. In German, a person proclaiming himself to be a resident of an area generally dismisses using an article prior to the noun, akin to saying “I am American” rather than “I am an American.” By calling himself “ein Berliner” instead of merely “Berliner,” Kennedy was therefore, according to some, referring to himself as the pastry and not as a person.
In the Times article, it was even claimed that the audience immediately made the association between Kennedy and a donut and began to giggle. Viewers of the video taken of the speech can quickly debunk that aspect of the legend themselves, however:
What remains is the question, did Germans really think Kennedy called himself a jelly donut, and … well, did he? Kennedy wrote the speech with the assistance of Robert Lochner, who was, in fact, a Berliner, and a chief German interpreter for the United States during World
In fact, the line was penned by Lochner himself, as he wrote later: “As we walked up the stairs to the city hall in West Berlin for Kennedy’s major speech, he called me over and asked me to write on a piece of paper in German, “I am a Berliner.” I did, and when we got to West Berlin Mayor Willy Brandt’s office, while the hundreds of thousands of Berliners were cheering outside, Kennedy practiced it with me a few times before going out on the balcony for his historic speech.”
Claims that audience laughter could be heard during the speech itself are actually heard in response to Kennedy’s joking remark, “I appreciate my interpreter translating my German,” made after the applause died down from the first time he uttered the famous line, which he had scrawled out phonetically in his notes.
Kennedy’s famous line was penned by someone who was raised within Berlin itself and was an accomplished and highly regarded translator in his own right. In proclaiming “Ich bin ein Berliner,” therefore, JFK was no more referring to himself as a pastry than someone calling himself a