Embassy of the United States in Berlin

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The Embassy of the United States in Berlin maintains diplomatic relations and represents United States interests in dealing with the German government. The U.S. Embassy in Germany has not always been in Berlin.

1 Embassy History
2 Pariser Platz site
3 Mission Germany
4 External links

[edit] Embassy History

The Embassy of the United States in Berlin probably began with the 1797 appointment of John Quincy Adams to the then capital of Prussia, Berlin. The Embassy of the U.S. would change as frequently as a new Ambassador changed his residence, the two being the same.

In 1930 the Blücher Palace, located on Pariser Platz, was purchased as a new and permanent home for the U.S. Embassy in Berlin. There was a fire in the Blücher Palace before it could be fully utilized, and it wasn't until 1939 that the 'new' U.S. Embassy was in full operation. World War II brought bomb damage to the U.S. Embassy, and its closure as the U.S. entered the war against Germany. At the end of World War II the damaged U.S. Embassy was just barely inside East Berlin (Soviet zone), stradling the demarcation between the Soviet and American sectors. The East German government demolished the ruins of the Embassy in April 1957. With the erection of the Berlin wall in 1961 the site of the former U.S Embassy, still owned by the U.S. government, was an inaccessible vacant lot that was part of the security zone separating east and west Berliners. The site became accessible after the Berlin Wall came down in November of 1989, but remained a vacant lot until the 2004 ground breaking for construction of a brand new U.S. Embassy.

After World War II and before 1998 Berlin was not the capital of West Germany, this was of course the city of Bonn. However the U.S. had a mission to Berlin located on Clayallee in West Berlin. This mission was technically part of the occupation powers (Allies), which was in force until foreign forces left Berlin in 1994 and Germany gained full sovereignty over Berlin. As such the mission to Berlin (west)was virtually independent from the U.S. Embassy in Bonn, operating in a historically unique position.

The U.S. eventually opened an Embassy to East Germany (GDR), and this was located in East Berlin at Neustädtische Kirchstrasse 4-5, just several blocks from the former Blucher Palace site. With the fall of the Berlin wall and the unification of Berlin in 1989-1990, the two buildings, now part of unified Berlin, were called Embassy Office Berlin, signifying that they were satellites of the Embassy still in Bonn. In September 1998 the Embassy in Bonn began a year long migration to Berlin, and for that year there was, as the U.S. Embassy described it, “one Embassy, two locations”. After 1999 Berlin was again the sole site for the U.S. Embassy in Germany. As of late 2006 the Embassy continues to operate out of a Chancery (the Neustädtische Kirchstrasse 4-5 building) and an Annex (the Clayallee building). The brand new embassy is scheduled for occupancy in early 2008.

Today Consular functions are carried out at the Clay building, located on Clayallee in Berlin's southwest, in the Zehlendorf district. In fact many Berliners still commonly refer to the Clayallee building as the 'Consulate', refering to the Consular function the old 'mission to Berlin' entity used to have. The building is one a series of buildings that formed the former headquarters of the Luftwaffe during the Nazi years. This complex became the headquarters of the Berlin Brigade, part of the United States Army Berlin command in Berlin during the Cold war years. The complex had numerous buildings, several of which were quite large. One of these had one portion of one its wings serve as the U.S. State Department's Comnsular functions. Unique to Berlin at that time, U.S. Army MP's served as guards to this U.S. State Department facility, instead of the normal Marine Security Guard contingent at all other U.S. Embassies. After the U.S. Army left Berlin in 1994 this building in its entirity became A U.S. State Departmtent facility. The other buildings have largely reverted to the German government.

From the Clay building, and some five miles away in the Mitte (central downtown) district of Berlin, is the current Chancery at Neustädtische Kirchstrasse 4-5. The building was built in the late 1800's as a club for German officers, and after World War I became the home to a craft guild. This five storied, gabeled building was leased to the U.S. by the East German government as the site of the U.S. Embassy to the GDR in the early 1970's. The building no longer retains any of its original interior features. The exterior retains much of its original stone facade.

[edit] Pariser Platz site

The new Chancery under construction will have its main entrance facing north towards the famous Pariser Platz. Its eastern side would be fully abutting an existing bank building, and the west side of the land would be on a main road artery. The south side would also be on a street, facing towards the German Holocaust memorial. Pariser Platz is most famous for the Brandenburg Gate at its western entrance. Also very close by is the Reichstag building, home to the German Bundestag. The significance of the location, and the prestige it brings to the US Embassy is hard to overstate. Located on Pariser Platz, or on the same city blocks that surround Pariser Platz are the French and British embassies as well as the Hotel Adlon. It is worth noting that with the exception of the Brandenburg gate, which was heavily damaged in World War II, all other former structures that surrounded Pariser Platz were destroyed in the war or later demolished by the East German government by 1960. From that time until after German unification in 1990 Pariser Platz was nothing but open fields on either side of the street Unter Den Linden. Construction of replacement buildings finally began in the mid 1990s, and by the late 1990s was complete, with one very obvious exception: The proposed U.S. Embassy building. Its absence was reminiscent of a missing tooth in a mouth otherwise full of teeth. Construction plans and approval by the US Congress for the new US Embassy Chancery were slow in coming, but by the mid 1990s everything was in place. However by that time governmental funding issues in Washington, DC saw the project languish. The 1998 United States embassy bombings and the subsequent focus on embassy security saw the needed waiver of security standards rescinded by the Diplomatic Security Service, the law enforcement and security arm of the U.S. State Department. High-level talks between the U.S. and German governments over security issues at the Pariser Platz site would drag on for almost five more years before an agreement was reached and a new security waiver was issued by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.

The main sticking points for the U.S. side had been the amount of 'stand-off' distance between the public street and the Embassy facade, with fears of a vehicle-borne bomb being the biggest factor taken into consideration. The proposed realignment of the street on the west side of the proposed Chancery was met with alarm by historical preservationist, who argued that the street realignment would take away from the Brandenburg gate's appearance. Also, on the south side of the proposed Chancery is the recently completed German national Holocaust memorial, which is officially known as the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This memorial itself was mired in deep controversy during its planning and construction. Moving the street south of the proposed Chancery would likely impinge on the Holocaust memorial.

Slight variation to the above referenced streets bordering the Chancery site were agreed upon. The U.S. State Department, but not particularaly the Diplomatic Security Service which was holding out for increased 'set-back', planned to increase wall and window strength in case of a bomb blast.

The new Chancery will likely not be big enough to house the large number of U.S. Embassy personnel. It is possible that one of the two currently used Embassy buildings will continue to be used after the new Chancery is occupied, most likely the Clay Allee building. Parking will be severly limited at the new Chancery.

[edit] Mission Germany

The U.S. Embassy in Berlin oversees all of the U.S. Diplomatic functions in Germany, including U.S. Consualtes in Frankfurt, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich and Dusseldorf. The Embassy will refer to this in a collective term: "Mission Germany". However, the U.S. Consulate in Frankfurt, actually a Consualte General which is the largest U.S. Consulate in the world, has vast regional responsibilites for Europe, and other nearby areas. This sets it apart from the Embassy in Berlin. The Consualte in Frankfurt ascerts a certain amount of independence from the Embassy in Berlin, and has done so for several decades. In practical terms the Consulate in Frankfurt is somewhat self sufficient, whereas the other U.S Consulates in Germany rely to a greater degree on the Embassy in Berlin to provide oversight and support in areas such as finance, general services and security. A few offices part of Mission Germany have stayed in Bonn, occup[ying a small portion of tne former U.S. Embassy site. This was done to allow effective liaison with a few German federal agencies who did not make the move to Belrin.