Embassy of the United States, Berlin
| Embassy of the United States, Berlin | |
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Native name German: Botschaft der Vereinigten Staaten in Berlin |
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Embassy seen from the southwest
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| Location | Pariser Platz 2 Berlin, Germany
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| Coordinates | 52°30′55″N 13°22′42″E / 52.515278°N 13.378333°ECoordinates: 52°30′55″N 13°22′42″E / 52.515278°N 13.378333°E |
| Opened | July 4, 2008 |
| Ambassador | John B. Emerson (since 2013) |
 Location of Embassy of the United States, Berlin in Germany
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The Embassy of the United States of America in Berlin is the diplomatic mission of the United States of America in the Federal Republic of Germany. The U.S. Embassy in Germany has not always been in Berlin, with the current complex opening in July 2008.
The U.S. Embassy in Berlin probably began with the 1797 appointment of John Quincy Adams to the then capital of Prussia, Berlin. At the time these missions in Berlin, Prussia were called legations, and there were other American legations in other parts of what would later become a unified German state. There were breaks in these formative years of German-American diplomatic relations where there was no official American diplomatic presence in Berlin. After the late 19th century the term embassy would be used to describe the American mission to the new unified German empire. There was also a break in relations with Germany during World War I. In these early years the embassy (or legation) of the U.S. in Berlin changed as frequently as a new Ambassador changed his residence, the two being the same. The last temporary embassy location was on Bendlerstraße 39 (now Stauffenbergstraße), close to the Tiergarten.
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 on April 15, 1931 before it could be fully utilized and converted for Embassy use. Money shortages in America, due to the Depression, plus soured relations with the Nazi regime (after 1933) further delayed the refurbishing of the damaged building. In fact Ambassador Dodd asked the State Department not to rebuild or refurbish on the site because of the use of Pariser Platz as a Nazi showcase for rallies and marches. In the meantime the Embassy operated out of a location in the Tiergarten area on Stauffenbergstraße (then known as Bendlerstraße). In 1938 Ambassador Hugh Wilson (Dodd's replacement) was recalled to the U.S. by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in protest over the Kristallnacht (the rampage orchestrated by the Nazis against Jews in Germany). In 1939 American Embassy staff moved into the chancery on Pariser Platz, now refurbished and usable, but made the move somewhat under duress because Nazi building head Albert Speer had ordered embassies in the Tiergarten area vacated in preparation for the grand Nazi city plan called Germania. From 1939 to 1941 there was no Ambassador assigned to Berlin, and the Embassy was led by a Chargé d'affaires. With World War II underway, and the U.S. still a non-combatant, the staff at the embassy had placed large letters spelling "USA" on the roof of the building hoping this might help avert British bombings. Nevertheless, British bombing of Berlin brought bomb damage to the U.S. Embassy chancery, and its temporary closure – or so it was thought. Four days after the attack on Pearl Harbor the U.S. and Germany were at war and the embassy ceased operations altogether and its personnel were interned for five and a half months in the Grand Hotel Jeschke at Bad Nauheim (United States Chargé d'Affaires Leland B. Morris and famous American diplomat George F. Kennan were part of this interned group). The Swiss, as a neutral state, took over the building for the rest of the war.
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