Germany: U.S. Embassy Unveils Reagan Statue that Berlin Rejected
German broadcaster Deutsche Welle: Berlin “city authorities have always deemed a statue inappropriate”
After Berlin authorities refused to allow a statue of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan to be placed in the city, the U.S. embassy unveiled a 7-foot tall bronze replica of the former statesman on its compound.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dedicated the statue on the embassy’s terrace over the weekend, overlooking the Brandenburg Gate where President Reagan gave his historic 1987 speech telling Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall.” The ceremony marked 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
For at least a decade, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation has been urging Berlin to allow the statue to be placed in public, although— according to Germany’s state-run Deutsche Welle—the “city authorities have always deemed a statue inappropriate.”
“The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, which commissioned the artwork, expressed regret that it couldn’t be placed in a public space, as did former and current U.S. diplomats,” The Wall Street Journal reported.
The foundation had almost given up all hope, when U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell proposed the placing of the statue on the embassy’s terrace near the site where President Reagan gave his famous Cold War speech.
The WSJ noted that the current hostility towards the former U.S. president among some German politicians is rooted in “the West German left’s fierce opposition in the 1980s to Mr. Reagan’s unapologetic devotion to capitalism and his deployment on German soil of nuclear-capable missiles.” President Reagan’s “visits to Berlin were accompanied by violent riots from far-left protesters,” the business daily recalled.
“Berlin gets unwanted Ronald Reagan statue,” Germany’s state-owned broadcaster Deutsche Welle lamented Thursday. The “administration of the capital had so far rejected numerous applications from US officials and dignitaries. Despite this, the United States is going ahead with plans to erect a 7-foot statue of the late head of state on the balcony of their Berlin embassy.”
Deutsche Welle reported the unveiling of the Reagan statue:
A bronze statue of former US President Ronald Reagan was presented in Berlin on Friday, on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo unveiled the 7-foot (2.1-meter) statue, hailing it as a “monumental moment.”
The statue sits on the embassy’s terrace, overlooking the landmark Brandenburg Gate and the site where Reagan gave his famous 1987 speech urging Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to support peace and “tear down this wall.”
Pompeo praised Reagan, saying he “courageously denounced the greatest threat to that freedom, the Soviet empire, the evil empire.”
Today we dedicated a statue of Ronald Reagan atop the US Embassy Berlin on the new Ronald Reagan Terrace. #BerlinWall30 pic.twitter.com/uZ2hGv6hST
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) November 8, 2019
In an op-ed published in 26 European countries, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas omitted any mention of the U.S. in ending the Cold War and paving the way for German unification. “Germany unity was a gift from Europe to Germany,” German minister claimed in the op-ed celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall.
“Dear Minister Maas, on behalf of the late President Reagan, whom you don’t mention, and the millions of American Soldiers who served in West Germany along with other NATO Allies,” the former commanding general of the U.S. Army Europe, Ben Hodges, responded on Twitter, “We are very happy for a reunified Germany.”
German President, and socialist politician, Frank-Walter Steinmeier lectured the U.S. on “mutual respect” and slammed President Donald Trump’s American First policy in his speech marking the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
British newspaper Daily Telegraph reported:
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier urged the United States to be a “mutually respectful partner” and reject nationalism, in a clear salvo aimed at US leader Donald Trump as Germany on Saturday marked 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. (…) [I]n a swipe at Trump’s America First policy and his insistence on building a wall on the southern border with Mexico, Steinmeier voiced a yearning for a return of the transatlantic partner of the past.
“This America as a mutually respectful partner, as a partner for democracy and freedom, against national egoism – that is what I hope for in the future too,” said Steinmeier.
The hostility displayed by Berlin authorities towards President Reagan’s statue shows how the regressive left has permeated mainstream German politics.
Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, German politics has taken a worrisome turn. Germany’s ruling Christian Democratic Party (CDU), once a fierce political and moral force against Communism, is now openly mulling aligning itself with the Left Party, the successor of the East German Communist party. The anti-Capitalist left, cheered on by the German media and mainstream political parties, is dictating government policy in the name of climate activism. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government is committed to bankrolling the oppressive Islamic regime in Iran in open defiance of U.S. sanctions.
President Reagan’s “Berlin Wall” Speech
[Cover image via YouTube]
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Comments
One could also point out the growing antisemitism in even “mainstream” German politics. As Germany veers toward the hard Left it is becoming more comfortable embracing its sinister Nazi past.
Frankly I would rather not have Reagan’s name associated with modern Germany. Take the statue back!
We celebrate what was, not what is, or all of our statues would have little wheels underneath them so they could be moved around as the daily Narrative changes.
Was Reagan really that tall? Why do “artists” always or often find it necessary to exaggerate public figures?
He was bigger than life, for sure.
As far as I am concerned–it is not big enough.
Should be at least the size of the ancient Colossus of Rhodes, and be straddling the Wall section that’s been left standing.
NPR and the BBC have written Reagan out of Berlin history. I haven’t heard his name mentioned even once in the coverage over the last week. Funny that Trump gets mention but not the person who was singlehandedly responsible for the unification. Just another example of the Leftists rewriting history.
There is a memorial to JFK which is appropriate for his “Ich Bin Ein Berliner” speech–but there should be memorials for Reagan and also Truman for the Berlin Air Lift.
Exactly. Without standing firm West Berlin wouldn’t have survived the Soviet Siege. The sheer logistics of feeding and housing (coal etc) was YUGE during the Air Lift.
“the former commanding general of the U.S. Army Europe, Ben Hodges, responded on Twitter, ‘We are very happy for a reunified Germany.’”
I don’t share that sentiment at all. A unified Germany should frighten everyone. The 2d Reich (1871-1918) gave us WWI; the 3d Reich (1933-1945) gave us WWII. Frau Merkel is employing another tactic – massive amounts of Muslims – in what is clearly another attempt to assert Germany over all of Europe and more. Muslims have the built-in Jew hatred which propelled the 3d Reich, a hatred which simmers just below the surface in the heart of many, many Germans.
Europe forgot the major lesson of WWII…. Keep America in , Keep the Russians out and Keep Germany down. Could have added Keep the Muslims out… just too high a percentage within the faith that lust for jihad at all levels.
pfg – agreed.
The same Prussian/Saxon hubris and arrogance remain unchanged. Those character traits are just under the surface and cloaked by words like humanitarianism. Fouth Reich warfare is lawfare. EU judges are field marshalls. Culturally hostile refugees are their Waffen Stormtroopers.
Put the wall back up. Let them learn all over again.
That would solve the problem of Merkel, who started out in the East. Send her back. Am I allowed to say that?
Yah- How about we put a 200 ft one up in Poland on the border looking into Germany. Title will be “Don’t even think about doing that again.”
Marxist-Stalinist Antipathy directed at the US began just after the war. The same faction endures to this day. They willfully ignore the Marshall Plan while propping up fictions hailing Marxism. They’ve not undergone a ideological reformation /enlightenment since the street fighting days of the late 1917-1924. They’re throwbacks locked in amber.
That said – Berliners are under no obligatioj to erect a statue of a conqueror – at least that’s the symbolism I see in it. For instance – I’m unaware of statues of Lincoln and Grant erected on the steps of capitol cities in the deep South.
I don’t give a rat’s behind what Germans think now, but Berliners never considered Reagan a “conqueror” in the 1980’s. You’re weird.
This is the man the left called a dunce (as it does every Republican president). If only every American president were such a dunce, and had a small fraction of RWRs vision, courage, and commitment to human freedom and dignity. God bless you Ronnie, we need someone like you again
Don’t worry, they think democrat presidents are dunces too. The difference is the democrats go along with the eurotrash vision of a UN-ran world with socialists running the UN, so they refrain from openly calling them dunces.
Now put a statue of Trump up beside Reagan and the German meltdown would be complete.
We should remove our military from Germany and tell Putin he can have them.
1. A Trump statue would be political. Reagan isn’t.
2. Poland might have a problem with that.
1. The Germans denying the placement of the Reagan statue is political. I’d put up 10 more of Reagan and 11 of Trump to match.
2. I’d move the military to Poland.
Poland has offered to help pay for a US base there. Since Germany wants us out, but not our money the base generates for their economy, it would be great if all that money was being spent in Poland while making Germany happy that we were no longer there.
Poland has much more to fear from a Germany dependent on Russian gas imports than people realize.
Germany, the richest nation in the EU, in’t even funding it’s own military to keep it strong enough to defend Germany let alone send troops for it’s NATO commitments to help defend Poland if Russia decides they want part of it back like they did the Ukraine. People forget that when Germany invaded Poland Russia did also in keeping with the agreement they made on how do divide central Europe before Hitler eventually broke it to invade Russia. Then Russia “liberated” many of those nations that Germany conquered & never left creating the USSR.
Now the leadership in Germany is more aligned with Russia than they are with the US & don’t think Poland hasn’t noticed that. For them it’s only been 80 years since that German-Russian invasion & only 30 years since they finally got Russia out of Poland. They would dearly love to have a US military base & commitment to their security. The troops they sent to Afghanistan to fulfill their NATO commitment to the US after 9/11 actually helped fight the Taliban/Al Qaeda compared to the German troops who stayed in their base. They are far better allies than Germany has been. Something to do with foreign countries invading yours & “hanging around” for 50 years has that effect on you. Now Islam has been willingly asked to invade Germany & most of Europe but Poland has told them “Not in our country.” The EU…Germany…is now suing Poland through the EU to take their “fair share” of invaders & they aren’t yielding. Good for them.
It’s been clear for quite a while that the Germans don’t credit us, don’t like us, and don’t want us in Europe.
I’m happy, today, to oblige.
Our obligations to NATO ended on the last day in 1991 when the Soviet Union ceased to exist. There’s been no real point to NATO since that time. The German left has increasingly wormed its way into German politics and culture (just as here at home), and we get no credit for all we did after the war.
Fine. End our military presence in Europe.
Oh, the Poles will be unhappy, and the Baltic states will be threatened, you say. So what? The Poles have always been between two enemies and we’re not going to be able to change that. The Balts have been mostly conquered peoples since the end of the Teutonic League and again, we’re not going to change that.
Europe doesn’t want it. The Germans, French (outside of Normandy), Belgians, Italians, Spanish all have significant anti-American sentiment. The EU has a larger population than the US, and their combined GDP is respectable. They can defend themselves, and with us gone they’ll have to do so. Or, they can choose to knuckle under to the Russians, or, they can choose demographic and cultural extinction to the new Muslim invasion.
I’m not convinced anymore that Europe is essential to the survival of America. Might hurt us if Europe went under, but it’ll hurt them more. If the Europeans can’t see that then they can learn the hard lesson of experience.
I like keeping the Visegrad 4 in place. As for western Europe, we’ll have our Navy to defend against them, but politically they’re lost.
So when the Russians are at your back door, Germany, kiss my butt.
The “Deep Staters” of his day tried to stop him from using the term “Evil Empire”
I’ve found it amazing and appalling how quickly and easily East Germany conquered West Germany, politically, after unification. The election of Merkel, Easterner and child of a Stasi official, sealed that deal.
The Nixon/Reagan Drug Prohibition has been a horrible flop. If keeping people from drugs was the real intent.
Fighting the government made drugs very popular.
Only 30 years from Alcohol Prohibition. You would think a sizeable fraction would have remembered. Milton Friedman, Wm. Buckley, and George Schultz. And that was about it.