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| REMARKS
BY FRANCIS GARY POWERS, JR. |
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| Marienfelde Refugee Center Museum |
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| April 14, 2005 |
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| Lorton, Virginia |
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REMARKS FOR FRANCIS GARY POWERS, JR.
Founder, Cold War Museum
Lorton, Virginia
Marienfelde Refugee Center Museum
Berlin, Germany
April 14, 2005
Guten Habend!
I'm very honored to be here this evening. This has been a wonderful day for me-vunderbar!!!
I'm happy to see Berlin again. I was here in 2003 and it is such a beautiful city. I love the culture and heritage-and, of course, I also love the bratwurst and the beer! Vunderbar!
I want to thank the people who made this trip possible: Mr. Harald Fiss; Major Arik Komets; Dr. Helge Heidemeyer, and your Board member Baerbel Simon, who has been very helpful to me.
As the son of a famous Cold War figure, I grew up with the Cold War. I was 12 years old when my father died. I didn't know he was different from other fathers. To me he was just a father. As I learned about his significant role in history, I wanted to know more, and the hunger to know my father took on a greater life and purpose. I started my museum as a way to honor my father. Then as I got older, the museum took on a greater life and purpose, and it officially became the Cold War Museum in 1996.
The museum is dedicated to those whose deeds and sacrifices furthered democracy, but it also strives for an international understanding of one of the most intense periods and some of the most dangerous years in human history.
There has been little recognition of the Cold War. It is virtually unknown to the current generation. It seems impossible to imagine that a war that lasted for 45 years and changed the course of history could be forgotten-perhaps because it was a clandestine war, fought in secrecy and silence. Not on the usual battlefield.
Even Colin Powell recognized this. During a lecture he gave two years ago, he said his own grandchildren didn't even want to hear about it. He said he would tell his grandchildren, "Come here. Let Grandaddy tell you about the Cold War," and they'd say, "Here he goes again!" I hope by the time I have grandchildren (What a thought!) that they will know about the Cold War very well.
I guess one lesson that I hope our museums will teach is that even though our countries have disagreements from time to time, we are true partners from the heart, we share our most basic principles: a common experience of prevailing against wicked foes and a common love of liberty and peace. I know our two countries will prevail in our hopes for a better world.
Of all places, Germany is a pivotal point in Cold War history; 1,350,000 East German refugees passed through Marienfelde between 1953 and 1990, often with nothing more than a suitcase. And they didn't care. They wanted to be free.
The exciting thing for me is to be here and make this connection with the Marienfelde Refugee Center. What a fabulous source of information. One of the most important projects we share is trying to document Cold War stories in a oral history project. Locating and interviewing East German refugees and sharing their stories of survival.
Even though Marienfelde is a pivotal point, the Cold War is not confined to one city or country. There is a Cold War museum or memorial in the capitol of almost every Eastern Bloc country: Bucharest, Sofia, Latvia, and many others.
I did not found the Cold War museum with the idea of just glorifying America. I have a dream of seeing a whole network of Cold War museums around the world working together to keep this incredible period in history alive.
There is so much we could do to educate people on the many aspects of the Cold War. I would like to see a central Internet home page that would give easy access to information about all the museums and memorials. We could share our mobile displays.
As a final goal, we would all eventually partner together and form an International Association of Cold War Museums. I know this is a big dream but dreams should be grand.
Before I close, I would like to ask for your help. We need support from the international community, especially Germany. I would like to ask the German people to write their elected leaders to support our Cold War Museum in America. We do not yet have support from the German Embassy in Washington, DC. Your letters on our behalf would matter a great deal.
This is has been an outstanding day for me. And once again I congratulate Mr. Harald Fiss and everyone who made the Marienfelde museum an outstanding legacy, not only for the German people, but for all people, to make sure this amazing period in world history will always be remembered.
Thank you very much.
Francis Gary Powers, Jr.
Founder
The Cold War Museum
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