Berlin Part V: JFK and LDS Church

President Kennedy visit. On June 26th 1963, President John F. Kennedy came to West Berlin. I stood near the Outpost Theater on Clayallee and anxiously awaited his visit to the American forces. It was a short visit but one I shall always remember. He had already given his famous speech to the West Berliners in Berlin Charlottenburg in which he said, inter alia, “Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free. When all are free, then we can look forward to that day when this city will be joined as one and this country and this great Continent of Europe in a peaceful and hopeful globe. When that day finally comes, as it will, the people of West Berlin can take sober satisfaction in the fact that they were in the front lines for almost two decades. All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words 'Ich bin ein Berliner.'"

President Kennedy in Berlin

On November 22, 1963, during the time I was a case officer, Faith and I were attending a small party at the home of my boss, Major Ray King. We were all shaken, to our very foundations, when we learned of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, which took place that day in Dallas, Texas, USA at 12:30 p.m. CST. I personally had favored Nixon over Kennedy, but still, he was a very likeable character as president, and I had admired his fortitude in dealing with the Soviets over their missiles in Cuba. The Berliners mourned the passing of the American president as though he were one of their own.

Es gibt Nachrichten, die die Welt erschüttern. Die uns aufwühlen, die uns erschrecken, die uns erzittern, die uns ausrufen lassen, „Mein Gott, wie konnte das geschehen!“ . . . Heute empfinden wir nur Schmerz. Heute ist es uns ein Herzensbedürfnis, der Familie des toten Präsidenten und dem ganzen amerikanischen Volk unser tiefempfundenes Mitleid auszusprechen. These few words from one of the Berlin newspapers on November 24, 1963 are representative of the feelings expressed at Kennedy’s death.

Church. During the first part of our stay in Berlin, we attended church services with the German Branch in Dahlem. I served again as young men's president, and that gave me many opportunities to work with the German members. At that time the Berlin mission consisted only of the branches located in Berlin. It had been organized from the North German or Hamburg Mission. Before the wall was built, we were able to meet some of the stalwart members of the church in East Germany.

One family, that of Walter Krause, impressed me immensely with its dedication to the church. They used to bring their son out to live in the mission home so he would experience the freedom of the West and the spirituality of the church. We once invited the Krause family home to have ice cream with us. I asked him why he didn't just do what others had done and remain in the West. He responded that his calling was in the East where the church needed him. I thought of him often after the wall went up, and he was cut off.

Branch President. President Percy Fetzer, who was the mission president, called me to organize the first serviceman's branch in Berlin. I was displeased to think that we would no longer meet with the Germans, but I accepted the calling nonetheless. I was certain that without us the German branch would founder, and I didn’t know where we would get the American membership to have our own branch. Nevertheless, we flourished to the point that years later the serviceman's branch became a full-fledged ward.

The German branch went through a terrible period with terrible leadership provided by a missionary who should never have been on a mission in the first place. I regret this outburst of a judgment I am not entitled to make. But this man had gotten married after receiving his call. For some reason that I shall never comprehend, they sent him and his new wife on a mission anyway. As branch president, he had one counselor who was a thief and a cheat, who embezzled and robbed several members of the branch. He never obeyed the Word of Wisdom. His behavior wreaked general confusion among the members of the church. The missionary branch president and his wife had a child who later died. I presided at the funeral and spoke. It was a very sad affair. I understand that this same man later went off the deep end, left his wife and went into a rather strange relationship with the church. It is pretty difficult to fool the Lord.

The German branch eventually worked out its problems when the second counselor took over. Brother Dlugus became bishop when a Berlin Stake was organized. Once again, I was positive that this was a mistake. Where would the Stake get sufficient priesthood holders to run it? But both the ward and the stake have done well. This was another lesson for me. Do not second-guess the Lord on how he runs his church.