Touring The Kennedy Museum, officially called simply The Kennedys, was a refreshing and inspiring venture. Berlin has so much to offer to every recreational taste---gritty art and music; classical art and opera; "green spaces" and parks; saunas, gymnasiums, bars, shopping and loads of museums and other historical sites---that a tourist might decide against bothering with something as un-cosmopolitan or un-German as a museum dedicated to an American president. WRONG.
"Ich bin ein Berliner"
That declared sentiment resonated and remains memorable because it was a pledge to freedom and democracy for all over the world; not just America with its hamburgers, Mickey Mouse, front yards; not just to prosperous Western world; but also to East Germans repressed by concrete division. President Kennedy's brief visit to Berlin became more than a blimp on a world leader's travel itinerary.
And the museum is more than a nice stop. Maybe because the items on display are NOT so old as what one encounters in traditional city museums they feel more personable. Behind glass cases are President Kennedy's dress shirt, Hermes briefcase, memos (handwritten and typed), as well as personal effects of other relatives including Eunice Kennedy Shriver, brothers,
Robert and Edward, and Jackie O. There are so many enlarged photographs and the entire layout feels bright, minimal, streamlined. Even the bathrooms are subtly marked and "hidden" behind wall paneling. A bookstore with a colorful catalog adorns the vestibule.Currently, the museum has devoted a small space highlighting---celebrating---President Obama's comparative meteoric rise and grasp of the world's imagination. Some of the photographs even show the two men in similar poses.
All my life, people have told me that my father changed their lives, that they got involved in public service or politics because he asked them to. And the generation he inspired has passed that spirit on to its children. I meet young people who were born long after John F. Kennedy was president, yet who ask me how to live out his ideals. Sometimes it takes a while to recognize that someone has a special ability to get us to believe in ourselves, to tie that belief to our highest ideals and imagine that together we can do great things. In those rare moments, when such a person comes along, we need to put aside our plans and reach for what we know is possible. We have that kind of opportunity with Senator Obama.... I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president — not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans.Admission: 7 euros (student rate 3.50)
Caroline Kennedy (Jan 2008)
museum website
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