German Pride Quotes
Kennedy had gone to West Berlin in the midst of the Cold War and the worst of the Berlin Wall. This quotation was a great example of symbolism in politics. His presence. his delivery of the line in German, the statement identified him personally and the United States with the Berliners who were surrounded by Russian dominated East Germany, endeared him to Berliners, Germans, Europeans and freedom loving people the world over even though he stated no policies, goals, or programs. His identification said it all.
When the Nazis took over the German government, Schrodinger, a world famous scientist, at one of his major scientific lectures, gave an analogy that was critical of Hitler and the Nazis. The crowd of scientists wildly applauded. The Nazi agents took note of the speech. In 1938 Hitler had solidified his hold on Germany, Schrodinger was threatened with loss of his academic position and possibly a concentration camp. Since the scientist was so world famous, the Nazis persuaded him to issue a public statement of loyalty of which this quotation was part. It was published in all the German newspapers and scientific journals. Later, in the midst of WWII, Schrodinger was fired anyway on the grounds of “political unreliability”. See {629746} for Schrodinger’s letter of apology to his colleague Albert Einstein for his weakness in issuing the original apology.
