Class News

Michael Nagel ’64 visits Berlin and reflects on JFK

September 15, 2020

Michael Nagel emailed:

On a recent visit to Berlin, standing in front of the Brandenburg Gate (right), I was reminded of President JFK’s historic most famous anti-Communist speech there on June 26, 1963, with the Wall just behind him on the East side of the Gate, dividing Berlin and Germany. He was not a real Berliner, with the Wall remaining until 1989, but his speech certainly gave the West Berliners much needed moral support at the time, ending his speech with “Ich bin ein Berliner.” Since Berlin was my first home from 1941-45, I could actually say I am a real Berliner.

Four years before, on January 5, 1959, as fate would have it, JFK as Massachusetts Senator had handed me my US Citizenship naturalization document being a resident in Winchester MA at the time. This was a very happy moment, having arrived in the US “illegally” under the top secret “Operation Paper Clip” in 1949, which brought a selection of top German scientists and their families to the US after the war.

Fast forward to 1967, two months before my 26th birthday, I was called into the Winchester draft board office, as a US Citizen, to be drafted for service in Vietnam. Luckily the officer in charge of interviewing me took an interest in my unusual background, especially when I told him about my memory of bombing raids on Berlin. He was quick to empathize with me when I told him I was not at all keen to be in a war zone again, especially as he admitted to being on the very Allied planes doing the bombing on Berlin. He was kind enough to put my name into the files on a delayed basis after my 26th birthday to avoid being drafted!

On the 3rd of October, 2020, Berlin/Germany will celebrate the 30th anniversary Day of German Reunification. Berlin’s new international airport will also finally open, as Berlin has become Europe’s most exciting dynamic city, like a Phoenix miraculously arisen from the ashes of WWII, Nazism, and Communism!