Skip Global Navigation to Main Content
Skip Breadcrumb Navigation
Skip Left Navigation
 

Re-Opening of the Henry Ford Building of the Free University of Berlin
Deputy Chief of Mission John M. Koenig

Berlin, April 16, 2007.
As prepared for delivery.


Professor Dr. Lenzen,
Faculty, students and friends of the Free University of Berlin,

On behalf of the Embassy of the United States of America, congratulations on the re-opening of the Henry Ford Building and the Auditorium Maximum.  This auditorium has witnessed some very special moments in the history of the postwar German-American relationship.  American presidents, politicians and professors have spoken here.  Both their words and presence were symbolic of the support of the people of the United States for the Free University of Berlin. 

In 1951, the Ford Foundation gave the largest grant it had ever given to an institution outside the United States to the Free University to help with the construction of suitable campus facilities, including this building.  An editorial published in the New York Times on June 19, 1954, the day this auditorium was officially inaugurated, pointed out, that grant was, and I quote, “larger in drama than in sum when one remembers where it will be spent…  Any one who has seen [the Free University] operating in defiance of obstacles and adverse conditions knows that it is in truth a fighting university, ardently aware of its place as a refuge for free minds and a beacon for free scholarship.  The Foundation could not have made a more spectacular investment in democracy.” End quote.

Speaking some 53 years later, I think it’s safe to say that the investment paid off.  Berlin, the capitol of a reunited Germany, is one of the most vivid symbols of freedom of our times.  The Free University has thrived and continues to thrive.

Generations of university administrators have taken to heart the advice offered by James B. Conant in 1954 at the dedication of this building.  Speaking more as an educator with twenty years of experience as the president of Harvard University than in his official capacity as U.S. High Commissioner, Conant stressed that universities must live and think in terms of the present and the future, not the past.  This current renovation and projects such as the new library -- "the Brain" -- are physical symbols of the Free University’s commitment to the future.  World-class research programs in areas as diverse as environmental sustainability, infectious disease, and global governance demonstrate the relevance of the University’s scholarly commitment to 21st century global concerns.  As an academic community, you have lived up to the high ideals of the students and professors who founded this University in 1948.

President Kennedy spoke here in this very auditorium on a June day in 1963.  He recalled how much Berlin, Western Europe and the world had changed in the 15 years since the founding of the Free University in 1948.  “West Berlin,” the President said, “has been blockaded, threatened, harassed, but still it continues to grow in industry and culture and size, and in the hearts of free men dedicated to the motto ‘Truth, Justice, and Liberty’.” Today the changes in our world are even more dramatic but this university has maintained its fidelity to these three ideals.  On that day, President Kennedy received an honorary degree which he proudly accepted on behalf of his fellow countrymen.  “Any university,” the President said, “if it is a university, is free. So one might think that the words ‘Free University’ are redundant. But not in West Berlin.” The President was proud to have of his association with this great center of learning.

 
I am sure that the associations and connections to individuals and institutions in the United States will remain as strong and vibrant as in the past – and that this newly refurbished “Auditorium Maximum” will continue to be the scene of a lively transatlantic and global dialogue about academic freedom, prosperity, and innovation.