Voices From the German-American Past / Stimmen aus der deutsch-amerikanischen Vergangenheit

(English translation: see below)

Ich habe diese beiden Dokumente zufällig gefunden...

Beide beziehen sich auf wichtige Reden - von wem?

Bei welchen Gelegenheiten?

Die deutsch-amerikanischen Beziehungen waren nicht immer so schwierig wie heute.

English translation

Found these two documents by chance...

Both relate to important speeches - by whom?

The occasions?

German-American relations weren't always as difficult as they are today.

Comments

[Gabi]

David,
wo haben Sie die Dokumente gefunden?

[Jeffrey -- New York]

Kommentar ueber "ein" aus "Ich bin ein Berliner":

www.serve.com/shea/jfkberl.htm

JFK, June 26, 1963:

>Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect. But we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in -- to prevent them from leaving us. I want to say on behalf of my countrymen who live many miles away on the other side of the Atlantic, who are far distant from you, that they take the greatest pride, that they have been able to share with you, even from a distance, the story of the last 18 years. I know of no town, no city, that has been besieged for 18 years that still lives with the vitality and the force, and the hope, and the determination of the city of West Berlin.

Und heute? Wir sprechen mit die Leute von Irak.

[Jeffrey -- New York]

Natuerlich ist die zweite aus Ronald Reagan. Nov. 9, 1987; Brandenburg Tor.

>On June 12th, 1987, President Reagan stopped in West Berlin and spoke at the Brandenburg Gate to commemorate the city's 750th anniversary. Taking advantage of new openness in Moscow, he spoke against Communism and called for the demolition of the Berlin Wall. His words took the form of a plea, a genuine outcry for liberal reforms. And it worked too, as the Wall was ultimately opened in 1989 and torn down in 1990.

Warum hassen die Deutsche die Amerikanerin?

Ich komme aus die USA und verstehe nicht.

[Steffan]

Another one you can ask about: In the American Civil War, who was the Union 11th Corps?

Short answer: Ethnic Germans from Pennsylvania. They were new enough immigrants that most of them still spoke German.

And they fought, if not terribly well, to preserve the Union.