I want to draw your attention to something going on just a few meters next to where I live. Please read on. (Note: The text is not from me but I fully support it. SAVE THE TEUFELSBERG in Berlin!
The U.S. Field Station Berlin Veterans Group (FSBVG at http://fsbvg.org) has launched a campaign to convert the former Field Station building located atop Teufelsberg hill into a Cold War Memorial.
U.S.
military veterans of Europe and citizens of Berlin, Germany, have been
writing to FSBVG seeking its help to SAVE TEUFELSBERG since last year.
The timing is auspicious for beginning this action now. 2009 is the
20th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. 2009 is also the 15th
anniversary of the hand-over of the Field Station Berlin facility on
Teufelsberg.
FSBVG
proposes to turn the facility on Teufelsberg hill into the "Major
Arthur D. Nicholson" Cold War Memorial. The choice of name for the
memorial is to preserve the memory of the last casualty of the Cold
War, the USMLM tour officer who was killed by a Russian sentry near
Ludwigslust March 24, 1985. The purpose of the memorial is to recognize
the countless men and women of the Allied Western Armed Forces who
stood resolutely shoulder-to-shoulder with the West Berliners during
the Cold War, ensuring that the island of freedom known as "West
Berlin" remained free.
The
facility stands on one of the highest points in Berlin, and can be seen
for miles in every direction. It is hoped that it will serve as a
constant visible reminder of the resolve of the Western Allies to
defend Berlin during the Cold War, and of Allied friendship with the
newly reunited Germany and with Europe.
Berlin
already has an Allied Museum in the former American Sector of Berlin,
located in the re-purposed U.S. military movie theater known as "The
Outpost." The new memorial atop the Teufelsberg in the former British
Sector of Berlin would make an excellent annex for the museum. This
multi-sector approach would serve to underscore the joint effort of the
Western Allies that was required to keep Berlin free.
John
F. Kennedy once said, "Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest
boast is 'Ich bin ein Berliner'." The men and women of the Allied
Western Armed forces felt this same sense of pride in being Berliners,
perhaps, even more strongly than Kennedy, because they actually lived
in Berlin, sharing the fate of those whom it was their duty to defend.
While in Kennedy's day, the Wall was "the most obvious and vivid
demonstration of the failures of the Communist system, for all the
world to see," today the Wall is gone.
Kennedy
looked forward to the day "when this city will be joined as one,"
adding that "when that day finally comes, as it will, the people of
West Berlin can take sober satisfaction in the fact that they were in
the front lines of freedom for [almost four and a half] decades."
Though Kennedy did not live to see it, that day has come.
The
proposed Cold War memorial on Teufelsberg is intended to replace the
Berlin Wall as the most obvious and vivid demonstration of the "sober
satisfaction" felt not just by the members of the allied military
forces who stood watch in West Berlin during the Cold War, but also by
the Berliners themselves, a number of whom have asked for the help of
FSBVG in preserving the Field Station facility on Teufelsberg.
In
Kennedy's view, "all free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of
Berlin," and, therefore, the monument is for all those who, like
Kennedy, "take pride in the words, `Ich bin ein Berliner'."
To learn more about the "Save Teufelsberg!" campaign, visit
I urge you to make every effort to support this initiative.
