Berlin divided over 'Ronald Reagan Strasse'

[JCMach1]

More than two decades after the fall of communism, the German capital remains haunted by ideological divisions.

The Berlin city government, in which former communists share power, has long ignored demands that it should name a street or square after Ronald Reagan in honour of the former US president's role in bringing down the Berlin Wall.

Germany's centre-right government increased the pressure on Berlin last week by criticising the lack of a major ceremony in the city on February 6 to mark the 100th birthday of the president, who died in 2004... Nevertheless, an opinion poll for Focus this month showed that 52 per cent of Germans would be against a Ronald Reagan Street in Berlin, with 42 per cent in favour.

Reagan is far less popular in Berlin than the former US President John F Kennedy, still cherished for his June 1963 visit when he declared in a speech: "Ich bin ein Berliner."

That pledge of continued American support warmed the hearts of West Berliners, still reeling from the construction of the Wall two years earlier. Kennedy has a square named after him and a museum dedicated to him which is opposite the Brandenburg Gate... http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=post&forum=439

[JackRiddler]

1. GTFOOH, you made me think this had actually happened.

Disgustingly enough, Berlin is home to:

John-Foster-Dulles Allee

and

Kissinger-Strasse

not to mention the predictable boatload of German nationalist stuff, Bismarck and the Hohenzollerns and your Prussian legacy.

But hey:

Schiller
Pestalozzi
Goethe
Leibniz
Kant
Helmholtz

and a whole bunch of other artists and scientists and such all have their streets.

On the corner of Leibniz and Kant, which is kind of ugly, I'd always ask myself:

Kant. How do I know any of this is even real?
Leibniz. It is the best of all possible worlds!

On the East side you've still got a bit of Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht, Karl Marx...

Yeah, that's it: Ronald-Reagan-Strasse should end at Karl-Marx-Platz. A final joke.

[arbusto_baboso]

2. At least Berliners have some sense.

Unlike so many of the Reagan-corpse-humping dumbfucks in this country.

[jmowreader]

3. Actually, I know JUST the street to name after him

In East Berlin there's this great big junkyard that's full of old Soviet-made trucks. Just name the road leading to said junkyard after Reagan.

[somone]

4. How about a Ronald Reagan Sewage Plant

[kenny blankenship]

5. Fine. Name the street that goes past the SS cemetary in Bitburg after him.

Not in Berlin, I grant you - but the road that goes over Hitler's bunker already has a name, the Wilhelmstrasse, which probably can't be changed.

[JVS]

6. Your link is bad.