Embassy of the United States in Berlin
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| State level | bilateral | ||
| Position of the authority |
Embassy |
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| Supervisory authority (s) | United States Department of State | ||
| Consist | since 1797 | ||
| Headquarters |
 Berlin
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| ambassador | Robin Quinville (deputy) | ||
| Website | us-embassy.gov | ||
The US Embassy in Berlin is the seat of the diplomatic mission of the United States of America (USA) in Germany . The office is located in a new building on Pariser Platz a few meters from the Brandenburg Gate and was officially opened on July 4th, 2008 in the presence of former US President George HW Bush and Chancellor Angela Merkel , after the employees had already finished their work at the end of May 2008 recorded in the new building. The embassy was previously located in a building at Neustädtische Kirchstrasse 4/5 in Berlin-Mitte .
The ambassador was John B. Emerson until he was dismissed by the new US President Donald Trump in January 2017 . On May 8, 2018, Emerson's successor Richard Grenell handed over his credentials to Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier . Grenell officially resigned on June 2, 2020.
history
1797–1939: Changing embassy locations
In 1797, John Quincy Adams , who later became the sixth President of the USA , was the first ambassador of the USA to be sent to the then Prussian capital Berlin. The location of the embassy changed several times in the following time, as the premises were only ever rented. In 1925, for example, Vossstrasse 12 was specified as the seat of the diplomatic mission. The last embassy location to be rented after Wilhelmplatz was at Bendlerstrasse 39 (today's Stauffenbergstrasse) in Tiergarten .
1939–1941: In the Palais Blücher
The USA had been interested in their own embassy building in Berlin since 1924 and in 1930 signed a preliminary contract for the purchase of the Palais Blücher at Pariser Platz 2. Even before the final purchase of the property, a fire destroyed the palace on April 15, 1931 - the contract came for a short time later, however, for 1.8 million US dollars. However, the reconstruction of the building was delayed for several years. This was due on the one hand with the start of the global economic crisis prevailing in 1929 shortage of funds the US government and on the other hand, what the more important reason was the " seizure " of the Nazis in 1933 and the reluctance of the US president Franklin D. Roosevelt towards them. With the ambassador William Edward Dodd , who had studied at the University of Leipzig , Roosevelt chose a connoisseur of Germany. Dodd did not like Hitler , avoided dinners together and even refused to repair the Palais Blücher, located in such a prominent place, for the 1936 Summer Olympics in order to annoy Hitler.
After Albert Speer presented his plans to convert Berlin into the “ world capital Germania ” in 1938 and it became apparent that the embassy location on Bendlerstrasse would have to be abandoned, Dodd's successor, Hugh Robert Wilson, had Palais Blücher repaired.
From April 1, 1939, it was used as an embassy, but without an official ambassador, since on November 16, 1938, Wilson was ordered back from Roosevelt in protest against the November pogroms . Besides the two Wilson following business carriers (charge d'affaires) Alexander Comstock Kirk and Leland B. Morris also worked later very eminent historian and diplomat George F. Kennan as legation secretary at the embassy.
With the beginning of the Second World War on September 1, 1939, diplomatic relations between the USA and the German Reich were not discontinued. On December 11, 1941, four days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor , the German Reich declared war on the USA. The embassy was closed and the embassy staff were interned in a former hotel in Bad Nauheim for five and a half months .
During the war, the embassy of neutral Switzerland administered the US embassy building.
After the end of the war, combined with the division of Berlin into a four- sector city , the Palais Blücher, which was partially destroyed during the war, was located in the restricted area of the sector border between East and West Berlin and was therefore demolished in April 1957 by order of the GDR Council of Ministers .
After the war there was a representation of the USA in the Clayallee in Dahlem in West Berlin , the embassy in the Federal Republic of Germany was in Bonn .
1977–2008: In the former "Department Store for Army and Navy"
The US embassy to the GDR (not: the US embassy in the GDR because of the four-power status of Berlin) has been located in Neustadtische Kirchstrasse 4/5 since 1977 in the building of the former army and navy department store , since 1935 the House of German Crafts - and Chamber of Commerce .
After the political change , the embassy in Mitte and the representation in Dahlem were combined to form the "branch office of the American embassy in Berlin"; the US embassy was still in Bonn.
Since the relocation of the German Federal Government to Berlin on 7 July 1999 the building in the New Town Church Road to the official seat of the US Embassy in Germany was. However, the accommodation there was only a temporary solution until the move to the new embassy building on Pariser Platz. After the move, there are plans to transfer the federally owned building to the Czech Republic and in return to take over the Lobkowicz Palace in Prague .
Since 2008: New embassy building on Pariser Platz
The property of the former Palais Blücher at Pariser Platz 2 returned to the US after German reunification in 1990. In 1992 it was decided to build the embassy at this point. In 1993 a plaque was placed on the site announcing the construction of a new US embassy on the property.
The design from 1996 comes from the Californian architecture firm Moore Ruble Yudell. The start of construction was delayed for several years because the plan had to be revised several times. Difficulties were caused by the agreement of the security interests of the United States with Berlin’s interest in leaving Pariser Platz freely accessible in its entirety. The background for the Americans' increased need for security was the terrorist attacks on the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya on August 7, 1998 and the attacks on September 11, 2001 . For the 25 meter wide security zone at the rear, Behrenstrasse was swiveled for 1.8 million euros, in which the USA contributed 1.5 million euros. Furthermore, as with the neighboring British Embassy , retractable concrete bollards were erected around the building to keep vehicles at a distance from the building.
On October 6, 2004 made US Ambassador Dan Coats , the German Interior Minister Otto Schily and the Governing Mayor Klaus Wowereit together the groundbreaking ceremony . The topping-out ceremony was held on October 10, 2006.
The new building filled the last gap in development on Pariser Platz. Originally 180 million US dollars were planned for the construction, but the US Congress reduced the available amount to 120 million US dollars (around 95 million euros).
The new embassy building on Pariser Platz was officially opened on July 4th, 2008, the US national holiday , in the presence of the former US President George Bush , but the diplomats already moved into it at the end of May 2008. The Berlin building replaced Deichmannsaue Palace in Bonn which had been the seat of the United States Embassy in the Federal Republic of Germany since 1955 . Previously, the seat of the country's High Commissioner in the non-sovereign Federal Republic was located there .
Controversy
Architecture of the new building
The building is four and a half stories high and is architecturally based on the surrounding buildings. In the German media, the new building met with rejection and even horror. Above all, the “ fortress ” character and the “ banality ” of the facade were criticized .
Monitoring of passers-by
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According to a report in the Berliner Zeitung in November 2010, passers-by at the US embassy in Berlin are being monitored by a special unit without the knowledge of the Federal Ministry of the Interior , as is the case with other US embassies in Europe.
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Speculation about an NSA wiretapping center
In the headlines, the message came again in October 2013. As part of the monitoring and espionage in 2013 , the suspicion grew that from there since 2002 on behalf of the Government of the United States mobile phone calls throughout the government district as part of the so-called. Einstein project by Employees of the US secret services NSA and CIA would be wiretapped. According to media reports, Chancellor Angela Merkel's cell phone was particularly affected. The embassy building is said to have already received special interception equipment when it was built, which, according to investigative journalist Duncan Campbell, is located in the attic behind a facing made of special dielectric material. Images from a thermal imaging camera published by the ARD magazine Panorama also suggest this. The then US ambassador, John B. Emerson, reacted evasively when asked about the roof installations .
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution announced that it would expand its counter-espionage in return. In connection with the suspected wiretapping operation in the US embassy, Federal Minister of the Interior Hans-Peter Friedrich spoke of a criminal offense under German law, of a violation of Germany's sovereignty and of a shattering of confidence in the alliance partner USA, demanded a complete clarification of the allegations and threatened legal proceedings Steps on.
In November 2013, the Federal Prosecutor General Harald Range stated that he was “aware that the initiation of preliminary investigations in the political-diplomatic area could be very serious news.” A Zeit-Online comment then suggested that the reason for this was the risk of “ serious disadvantage for the Federal Republic of Germany ”according to § 153d StPO . On June 4, 2014, however, the Attorney General stated that he had initiated an investigation against unknown persons the day before "on suspicion of secret service activities in connection with the possible spying on a mobile phone of the Chancellor." Preliminary surveys had "sufficient factual evidence that unknown members of the US intelligence services spied on a mobile phone of the Chancellor [...] Merkel." Under the observation of his agency, the "possible mass collection of telecommunications data of the population by British and US intelligence services" remains. The US State Department then stated that the "most appropriate way" to deal with the issue was through "diplomatic channels". After it became known in July 2014 that German authorities suspected US authorities of espionage in further cases, including the case of BND employee Markus R. , who is said to have been controlled from the US embassy in Vienna , the federal government demanded the top representative of the US secret services in the Berlin embassy ( station chief of the CIA, Joint Intelligence Service ) on July 10, 2014 to leave the country. This diplomatic measure is considered an affront and is usually only used against agents of so-called " pariah states". According to information from the news magazine Bloomberg News , US Ambassador Emerson is said to have offered the federal government an espionage agreement based on the model of the Five Eyes Agreement , which she would have rejected because of German data protection regulations, among other things. The submission of such an offer was later denied. While reports of US espionage activities in government and political operations in the German capital increased in July 2014, the public excitement it sparked in Germany met with criticism and lack of understanding in the United States. As the news agency Associated Press reported in September 2014, the CIA is said to have temporarily banned its secret service "unilateral operations" with recruited information sources in Europe; the news magazine Der Spiegel interpreted the moratorium as a reaction by the CIA to outrage over the exposure of a German double agent and the NSA affair.
literature
- Jane C. Loeffler: The Architecture of Diplomacy. Building America's Embassies. Princeton Architectural Press, Princeton 1998, ISBN 978-1-56898-138-3 .
- Jane C. Loeffler: The Rows On Embassy Rows. New US Embassies from Berlin to Beijing stir controversy - but critics miss the point. In: Newsweek , June 28, 2008.
Web links
- Website of the US embassy in Germany
- Berlin Senate Department for Urban Development: building project Pariser Platz 2
- Niklas Maak : The message of the message. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung , April 21, 2008.
- Sonja Schewe: Berlin US Embassy. Envy of all diplomats. In: Spiegel Online , one day , November 7, 2010.
- The Return of the US Embassy in Berlin to Pariser Platz. Short film, produced on behalf of the United States Embassy in Berlin, 2008, YouTube video, 15:43 min.
- BStU , topic: Up close and personal with the class enemy
Individual evidence
- ^ Foreign consulates general and consulates in Berlin> America . In: Berliner Adreßbuch , 1925, I, p. 8.
- ↑ The relocation of the American embassy . In: Vossische Zeitung , April 2, 1929, evening edition, p. 3.
- ↑ Michael S. Cullen, Christian van Lessen: The last gap at Pariser Platz is closed. In: Der Tagesspiegel . October 9, 2006, accessed October 13, 2006 .
- ↑ Michael S. Cullen: Warrior Idyll. In: Die Zeit , March 7, 2008, No. 28.
- ↑ Entry in the Berlin State Monument List for the building Neustädtische Kirchstrasse 4/5
- ↑ Ulrich Paul: Swap US agency for Genscher balcony. In: Berliner Zeitung , March 25, 2009.
- ↑ Embassy of the United States in Berlin. In: arch INFORM .
- ^ Groundbreaking ceremony for the new American Embassy on Pariser Platz ( Memento from November 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Topping- out ceremony for the new building of the American Embassy in Berlin ( Memento from January 2, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Peter Neumann: With “Bratwörst” and “Pretzels”. In: Berliner Zeitung . October 11, 2006, accessed October 12, 2006 .
- ↑ a b Provincial gas station or airport hotel? ZDF aspekte , May 30, 2008
- ↑ cf. New US embassy opened in Berlin ( memento of March 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) at tagesschau.de , July 4, 2008 (accessed on July 4, 2008).
- ^ Bernhard Schulz: US Embassy. The hidden fortress . In: Der Tagesspiegel , May 26, 2008
- ↑ Hans Stimmann : Ugly but safe - the new US embassy. In: Die Welt , May 23, 2008.
- ↑ Security from freedom. Martin Kröger finds the US embassy dismissive. In: Neues Deutschland , May 26, 2008
- ↑ Damir Fras, Hannes Gamillschegg: USA have surveillance in Germany. Secret organization operates without the knowledge of the federal government. In: Berliner Zeitung , November 6, 2010.
- ↑ Citizens in Stockholm spied on by the US embassy. In: Tagesschau.de , November 7, 2010.
- ↑ NSA surveillance: Merkel's cell phone has been on the US bug list since 2002. In: Spiegel Online , October 26, 2013.
- ↑ NSA scouting affair: The US embassy as a listening post. In: Zeit Online , October 27, 2013; Konrad Lischka, Matthias Kremp: NSA spying scandal: This is how wiretapping systems work in US embassies. In: Spiegel Online , October 28, 2013.
- ↑ What is happening on the roof of the US embassy? In: Das Erste , accessed October 28, 2013.
- ↑ "Yes, we have electronics in this building". In: n-tv .de , accessed on March 10, 2015.
- ↑ Friedrich threatens the USA with legal action. In: Zeit Online , October 27, 2013.
- ↑ Is there a preliminary investigation into the NSA scandal? In: Deutschlandfunk .de , November 17, 2013.
- ↑ Zacharias Zacharakis: The Attorney General gives way to NSA affair. In: Zeit Online , November 19, 2013.
- ↑ Federal Prosecutor General on “Cyber Espionage” and “Chancellor Cellphone”. In: Generalbundesanwalt.de , June 4, 2014.
- ↑ Eavesdropping on Merkel: USA reacts annoyed to the German investigation. In: Spiegel Online , June 5, 2014.
- ↑ Espionage affair with the BND: Suspected US spy received orders from Vienna. In: Spiegel Online , July 12, 2014.
- ↑ Matthias Gebauer, Veit Medick : Reaction to espionage affair: First class expulsion. In: Spiegel Online , July 10, 2014; Alison Smale , Melissa Eddy: Germany Demands Top US Intelligence Officer Be Expelled. In: The New York Times , July 10, 2014.
- ↑ Patrick Donahue, John Walcott: US Offered Berlin 'Five Eyes' Pact. Merkel Was Done With It. ( Memento from July 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) In: Bloomberg.com , July 11, 2014 (English).
- ↑ Friedhelm Greis: USA angry about expulsion of CIA representatives. In: Golem.de , July 12, 2014.
- ↑ The USA were never interested in the “no-spy agreement” with Germany. In: Zeit Online , May 9, 2015.
- ↑ German politics apparently deliberately spied on. In: Zeit Online , July 13, 2014.
- ↑ Reaction to scandals: CIA allegedly takes a break from espionage in Europe. In: Spiegel Online , September 20, 2014.
Coordinates: 52 ° 30 ′ 55 " N , 13 ° 22 ′ 42" E