'Trump Has Created A Huge Chasm' In U.S. Society: Capitol Siege Viewed From Berlin
The violent insurrection attempt at the U.S. Capitol stunned many in Germany, especially those who grew up in the American sector of then-West Berlin.
Every day at noon, Berliners are reminded of the American ideals of freedom and democracy as the Freedom Bell rings out from a tower of the government building from where President John F. Kennedy gave his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech in 1963.
Modeled on Philadelphia's Liberty Bell, the 10-ton bronze bell arrived in 1950 as a gift from The American Committee for a Free Europe to the people of what was then West Berlin.
At the beginning of the Cold War, it served as a symbol of U.S. solidarity, a sentiment already shown in the years following World War II with the Berlin Airlift and the United States' Marshall Plan aid funds.
Even today, many of those who remember the
