Ich bin ein Berliner - What's the meaning behind it?

Question

I know it translates to "I am a Berliner". But what does it MEAN?

Answer 1

What JFK was trying to tell the citizens of Berlin was that he too was a Berliner like them and understood their feelings, living as they were then [1960s] in a newly divided city.

JFK made a connection between his then world and that of ancient Roma.

Here is the speech in question -which I saw live on German TV at the time while I was in the British Army in Germany.

Ich bin ein Berliner

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH6nQhss4...

Answer 2

Im from Berlin, Germany.

Answer 3

The reason people chuckle at this phrase is because of some silly German grammar faux pas.

I believe because JFK used "ein" instead of "eine" it sounded as if he was describing himself as an inanimate object.

There is a doughnut-type thing that is called a "Berliner."

So the joke is that he called himself a doughnut.

The real meaning behind the phrase was that we are all citizens of the world, to ask not for whom the bell tolls. What effects one of us effects all, etc.

Answer 4

It was simply John F Kennedy's way of showing solidarity with the people of West Berlin during the partition of the city and the subsequent airlift operations to bring in supplies to the city.

Answer 5

I am a jelly doughnut

Answer 6

In my heart I am a Berliner! (Kennedy)

Answer 7

JFK meant to say i am a berlinner like im a new yorker. but in reality it means im a doughnut. he meant to say that he had alot in common with the german people.

Answer 8

It means "I am from Berlin" basically.

Ya know, Berlin Germany

Answer 9

It was the tag line of a speech that President John F. Kennedy gave to a crowd gathered in front of the Berlin Wall shortly after that wall was put up in 1961. He said that there were those who thought that communism was the wave of the future. To those he said "Let them come to Berlin" and repeated that phrase in German. He praised Berlin as an outpost of freedom inside the Soviet-controlled East Germany and said, because of that, he was proud to say "Ich Bin Ein Berliner". There was some amused reaction to this by some in the crowd because (at the time) "Berliner" was a brand of chocolate.

Answer 10

When the wall in Berlin went up in the early sixties President John F. Kennedy went to Berlin to speak to the German people and tell them that he too felt like a person from Berlin, being separated from countrymen and country women. It was a salvo in the Cold War between the Communists and the US and the Western Industrialized countries.

Answer 11

The USA President of the day, J F Kennedy said it on a visit to Berlin. He meant that he and the USA was in sympathy with the hopes and dreams of the people of Berlin. It was at a time when a wall divided the city and it resonated with the citizens.

Answer 12

Actually, when you use the article 'ein' with it, in German it means "I am a jelly roll". (Berliners are a pastry). The correct statement is Ich bin Berliner (I am an inhabitant of the city of Berlin).

Answer 13

It means that the speaker is from Berlin in Germany .

Also a "berliner" is a type of german pastry , kinda like a donut with jam in it , except it isn't as greasy.

So it could also mean that you are a jam filled pastry :)

Answer 14

it means that john f kennedy said that in his heart he was a berliner!

Answer 15

JFK used it to identify with struggle the Berliners on communist side of fence where experiencing, and imply that the West would help, plus it made super good TV in the States.

Answer 16

In Germany a Berliner is a doughnut, so Kennedy called himself a sugar coated cake!