70 Years of Liberty Bell - After 70 Years: The Freedom Bell as Cold War Symbol

An article from the brochure “70 Years of Liberty Bell in Berlin – 1950 to 2020”

from David E. Barclay

The 70th anniversary of the Freedom Bell represents a good opportunity to reflect on the importance of symbols and symbolism in the history of the Cold War and in the relations between Germany – particularly Berlin – and the United States. It reminds us as well that the meaning and resonance of symbols can change significantly over the course of the years as political and cultural circumstances also change.

Seven decades after the dedication of the Freedom Bell, and three decades after the end of the Cold War, it is sometimes easy to forget the power of the symbols with which it was originally associated. It is also important to remember that symbols are not simply misleading representations of the past. They are ways of sorting and arranging our cultural associations and ultimately our memories.

The Freedom Bell was conceived in the early days of the Cold War as an expression of solidarity and shared democratic values between the people of the United States and the people of (West) Berlin in the wake of the Soviet blockade and Airlift. Along with the Luftbrückendenkmal erected in 1951, it also plays an important role as one of the first physical expressions of what was later described as “America’s Berlin” during the “heroic phase” of the Cold War before the early 1960s. Other architectural examples are for instance the Kongresshalle, the Amerika-Haus, the Ford-Bau at the Freie Universität, or the Amerika-Gedenkbibliothek.

All the ceremonies surrounding the Freedom Bell, from its inception to its dedication, included powerful symbolic elements that evoked shared democratic values and an emerging special connection between the United States and the “outpost of freedom.” Typical in this respect was Maxwell Taylor’s “vow of freedom,” which in later years was repeated by the radio station RIAS every Sunday at noon, along with a tolling of the bell.

The bell thus came to represent not only the shared values of Americans and Germans but also the freedom-loving, anti-totalitarian, democratic spirit of West Berliners and, by extension, Germans in general after the horrors of National Socialist tyranny and the looming presence of Soviet Communism. It is significant that visiting dignitaries in West Berlin were usually presented small porcelain replicas of the Freedom Bell as symbols of the half-city’s defiant democratic spirit.

At the same time that the Freedom Bell had a powerful symbolic significance, it also served very useful political purposes in the early 1950s, both for its American and German supporters. Ernst Reuter, Willy Brandt and other political allies were justifiably concerned that, with the pressures of the Korean War and global preoccupations in general, Americans might well forget about West Berlin in the aftermath of the successful Airlift. (Indeed, throughout the Cold War the leading politicians of West Berlin were almost always worried that the US would “forget” about the city, or leave it in the lurch.)

Thus a campaign of psychological and political mobilization in both countries was politically helpful to them as a reminder to the Americans of their long-term responsibilities in the heart of Europe. Powerful political symbols like the Freedom Bell were essential aspects of that mobilization.

Rathaus Schöneberg and, with it, the Freedom Bell continued to serve as symbols of West Berlin and its democratic spirit for decades. They served as the backdrop for many notable events in Berlin history, including the “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech of John F. Kennedy in June 1963 and the famous celebratory gathering on the evening of 9 November 1989.

But symbols change. Beginning in the 1960s, and especially after the Four Power Agreement of 1971, West Berlin no longer seemed to be a flash point on the front lines of the Cold War. What the historian Ann Tusa calls an “abnormal normality” had come to characterize the island city.

The relationship with the United States as “protective power” of West Berlin also began to shift. “America’s Berlin” turned out to be, historically, a relatively short-lived phenomenon of the early Cold War up to the 1960s, despite the continued presence of the US in Berlin until 1994. With those historical shifts, the physical reminders of a special relationship between Berlin and the US tended to lose their original symbolic value. The imagery originally conveyed by the Freedom Bell began to fade from the consciousness of Americans and Germans alike.

Recent discussions have called attention to the ideological function as well as the transitory nature of historical monuments and memorials. The Freedom Bell is no exception, as its original purpose no longer seems especially relevant. It now serves as an extremely impressive reminder of the city’s remarkable history, of the ideological confrontation of two superpowers during the first phases of the Cold War, and of an earlier close connection with the United States. As an important part of local history, however, it remains firmly anchored in the cultural memory of many Berliners, and it continues to toll, as it has for seven decades.

"70 Years of Liberty Bell in Berlin – 1950 to 2020"

A brochure celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Berlin Freedom Bell

On October 24, 2020, the Berlin Liberty Bell at Schöneberg City Hall turned 70 years old. To mark the occasion, the District Office of Tempelhof-Schöneberg published a 40-page brochure, written in German and English, which deals with the history of the Liberty Bell, its symbolism and individual significance for the citizens of Berlin.

Content:

• Greetings of the District Mayor
• The history of the Berlin Freedom Bell
  • Berlin Post-war years and the Division of the City
  • The Berlin Blockade and the Berlin Airlift
  • The conception of the Freedom Bell and the Crusade for Freedom
  • The Berlin Freedom Bell
  • The Ravages of Time
• 70 Years of radio broadcasting
  A contribution by Deutschlandfunk Kultur
• After 70 years: The Freedom Bell as Cold War Symbol
• The freedom I love
• Facts and figures
• Acknowledgements and Imprint

• PDF Version of the brochure