Free University Freedom Prize 
Berlin, December 4, 2008
DCM John M. Koenig

Professor Lenzen,
Professor Bartoszewski,
Dr. Pflüger,
Professor Nolte,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Dr, Genscher,
Mr. Eichel,
Ladies and gentlemen,
A special greeting to Prof. Dr. Stanislaw K. Kubicki, the first student enrolled at the Free University in December 1948,

This -- and every anniversary of the Free University of Berlin -- has special significance for the United States.  It is a privilege to attend this ceremony and, on behalf of the Embassy, to congratulate the Free University on six decades of dedication to its founding principles.  Sixty years ago, the Free University was a refuge for free minds and a beacon for free scholarship.  It was conceived as a "community of teachers and learners" by those who in the early days of the Blockade appealed to U.S. General Lucius Clay and West Berlin's Mayor Ernst Reuter for a new school.  From those early beginnings, the faculty and students of the Free University of Berlin were idealistic, their standards high, although the campus and facilities were makeshift. 

With the financial support of the U.S. government and institutions such as the Ford Foundation, the Free University was able to build upon those dramatic beginnings -- and thrive.  And it continues to thrive.  That was confirmed by the decision of the German Science Foundation to include the Free University of Berlin in the German government's Initiative for Excellence.

I believe that decision also underlines the fact that the vital ingredient in the success of any university is the free spirit of inquiry.  The Free University is a symbol of academic liberty.  This institution has been through dramatic times, parallel to the extraordinary history of Berlin.

When the Berlin Wall went up in August 1961, pessimists predicted a mass exodus of students and teachers from West Berlin. But in fact, the reverse happened.  When it began its winter semester that year, the Free University was jammed to overflowing with a record enrollment. "Afraid?" said one professor. "Of course we're afraid, all of us. But this is Berlin, so we simply don't show it." Another teacher said, "Everybody has become much more serious. The students seem to be braver, or perhaps just less nervous. The Wall has unified us." 

When President Kennedy visited Berlin, he visited the university.  “West Berlin,” he 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’.”  That is the motto of the Free University.  Over six decades -- decades that have seen marked by great challenge as well as enormous opportunity -- as an academic community, this institution has lived up to the high ideals of the students and professors who founded the Free University in 1948. 

The Free University’s "Freedom Award" recognizes the extraordinary relationship of this institution to the cause of freedom.  The award honors those who have contributed to expanding freedom in political, social and academic arenas. 

Professor Władysław Bartoszewski is a very worthy recipient and it is as an honor for me to be part of this ceremony.  Last year, Professor Bartoszewski received a similar award from the American Embassy in Warsaw.  I bring greetings from Ambassador Victor Ashe.  As Ambassador Victor Ashe said at that award ceremony back in March 2007, “While fighting for others’ basic values of freedom, democracy, and human rights, Professor Bartoszewski repeatedly risked his own freedom and life. His entire life has been committed to public service for the benefit of Poland and its people.” ” 

Universities must live and think in terms of the present and the future, not the past, but Professor Bartoszewski’s story, like the story of Germans, from East and West, who over four long decades refused to give up on a dream of freedom, belongs to the lessons of history.  These lessons of history underline the obligation of universities to turn out "citizens of the world" -- willing as President Kennedy said to "commit their energies to the advancement of a free society."

Again on behalf of the Embassy of the United States of America, Professor Lenzen, congratulations on the 60th anniversary of the Free University of Berlin.