Press Conference: Planned Move of the U.S. Embassy

Deutsche Version

Berlin, May 19, 2008
Ambassador William R. Timken, Jr.

I would like to thank the Dresdner Bank for hosting this press conference. Our new neighbors on Pariser Platz have been very hospitable and accommodating during the construction phase of our new Embassy. We look forward to reciprocating.

At the end of this week, we will be moving into the building, in preparation for the Grand Opening which this year will be combined with the Embassy's annual Independence Day reception on the 4th of July. On Independence Day, Americans celebrate freedom and democracy, both at home and around the world. For many years, America stood at arms here in Berlin and elsewhere in Germany to protect freedom in this country. It was a pillar of America's foreign policy. This year, as we return to the site of where the old American Embassy once stood, damaged by war and demolished to make way for a Wall that divided a city, a country and a continent, there is no better occasion to celebrate the triumph of those values.

We are honored that Chancellor Angela Merkel and former President George H. W. Bush will join us on this special occasion. I myself have often heard the Chancellor describe her involvement in the first democratic elections in the GDR in March 1990 and then, a few months later in December of that same year, in the first elections in a reunified Germany.

I have also heard, both from former President Bush and from others who were involved in the Two-Plus-Four negotiations and the developments that led up to the fall of the Berlin Wall, of America's insistence on the importance of German sovereignty. The United States wanted Germany to be a strong democratic partner in building a new Europe and a new transatlantic relationship. That vision is now a reality.

A group of Airlift pilots, including Col. Gail Halvorsen, will also participate in the Embassy's opening ceremony on July 4 as a tribute to the 60th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift. Back in 1948, those pilots were most certainly all too familiar with the original Embassy, the Blűcher Palace, as it stood in ruins beside the Brandenburg Gate. I can imagine how moving the Grand Opening of our new Embassy on the same site will be for those pilots. Their sacrifice has come full circle.

Music and entertainment will be provided on the 4th by the Berlin Konzerthaus Orchestra, the U.S. Air Force Jazz Band, and Stars in Concert. I have been very gratified by the many generous offers of sponsorship. I am confident that this special 4th of July program will suitably celebrate this important occasion. In keeping with Independence Day traditions, a public fireworks display will close the program on the evening of the 4th.

The fireworks are also the kickoff for the Amerikafest that the Federation of German-American Clubs is hosting on July 5 on Pariser Platz and around the Brandenburg Gate. We are very proud that the Federation has chosen to share their own 60th anniversary celebration with the Grand Opening of the new Embassy. The Federation was established 60 years ago on the same day that the Airlift began. Over the past 60 years, the Federation has been a cornerstone of German- American friendship. The clubs have sponsored countless exchanges and nurtured numerous partnerships of lasting value. Federation president Annette Thor is with us here today to brief you on the events planned for July 5. I would like to thank her and all the members of the clubs around Germany for the role they play in German-American partnership.

Our new Embassy is the symbol of that partnership in the 21st century and the future; but it is also a living monument to the past. It was in that spirit that the building was designed by Moore Ruble Yudell, the winners of the first U.S. State Department architectural competition in decades. Architect John Ruble is with us today to describe that process. The job he shared with his colleagues was to design a building that was completely integrated into the new heart of Berlin, while maintaining the principles and standards of American diplomacy. They have done just that.

These are very exciting days for the staff of the Embassy. Again we thank our very good friends in Berlin and around Germany for their support.

Question & Answer Session w/ Amb. Timken 

Q: Mr. Ambassador, one of the major concerns of the German public of course is security. I know this issue has been raised many times but still [people] everybody I talked to they come with ... Are there going to be snipers all over Pariser Platz now? Do people have to worry about the sight of someone carrying a gun, things like that? Maybe you could say something about that. Thank you.

Ambassador: Well, our state of policy is we do not comment directly on security but we have worked with the Berlin city police on an arrangement where we believe the facility will be safe from our point of view with a minimum disruption to anything in the public and unlike our existing location where we built the big barricades that actually shut streets off. That will not be the case here. As you know, the traffic flow on the other streets has been designed to use the protection of bollards. But as we occupy the building we will with the Berlin police be resolving any outstanding issues, but the main entire concept was to minimize any possible disruption to the community and I am quite sure we will achieve that in the end.

Q: Mr. Ambassador, who will be the main speakers on July 4, and will Gerhard Schröder be among the guests and among the speakers maybe?

Ambassador: Not among the speakers. The speakers will be myself, President Bush and Chancellor Merkel and that's it. We are trying to hold a short enough program that we can get through it in what may be the late evening heat. Sometimes on July 4 it can be quite warm. There will be roughly 4,500 people invited into Pariser Platz on a security pass basis and they will be standing. So the program cannot be too long. It would be an imposition on those people. We will be following every bit of protocol in inviting all the people from the German government and, of course, Chancellor Schröder as a former chancellor is more than welcome. We hope everyone will turn out for this great event. But the three speakers will be ... The program will run roughly from 7 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. and it will include myself, President George H. W. Bush and Chancellor Merkel and then the orchestra will play some and that will be the end of the formal program because the people in Pariser Platz will then have the opportunity to partake of the food and other things that are going on.

Q: Just two quick things. First, the old building. Can you explain what happens to that now and, also, you just mentioned that on the July 4 celebrations it's only going to be people with security passes in the main area. Is there a part that is open to the public as well that's involving, you know, maybe the kids of the JFK school here or other German-American facilities?

Ambassador: The old building will be returned to the German government. They actually own it. They will determine what to do with it in the long course of events. We will have nothing to do with that. For security reasons, obviously with the Chancellor and George H. W. Bush, we have to have a controlled access and the entrance into the Pariser Platz on July 4 will be by invitation only. There will be a process of passing through metal detectors etc. So we are somewhat restricted in what we can do. We will not have young people under the age of 18 in the invitations. However, eventually the fireworks obviously can be seen all over. They will take place when it gets to be dark and people outside of Pariser Platz will have an opportunity to see that and view whatever they wish to view from outside of Pariser Platz.

Q: Our clients are always interested in numbers, Mr. Ambassador. How much did it cost and maybe you could tell us the German shares, if there are any?

Ambassador: Obviously, it was well before my time, but the Embassy project originally was somewhere near 180 million dollars, but the Congress of the United States, trying to save money cut it to roughly 130 million. So, when you add in everything, it'll come out to be about 130 million, but in the process we had to eliminate the basement and part of the space, and that's one of the reasons that the architects have had to move the normal things that we call HVAC, heating ventilating air conditioning, that runs the building up into the building itself. So it changed somewhat from its original concept, but the number is about 130 million and there was a combination of German contractors and American contractors. I don't have the actual split.

Let me just finally conclude by saying that I do believe that this is the closing of a long circle dating back to before 1940 and all that's transpired in between, and now we are back to where we were at the heart of the German government and it is a historic moment and we are trying to create a historic event for both July 4 and her group for July 5. So I hope people will get the impact. As I have said before, this is not simply turning the key on a new facility. This is history in the making. Thank you and anybody who has a question for the architect: he's sitting in the front row.

Thank you all very much.