--- title: Barack Obama in Berlin: 'We Can't Hide Behind a Wall' description: In his first post-presidency speech in Europe, before a crowd of thousands, Obama appeared to reference Trump's border wall canonical: https://time.com/4794605/barack-obama-berlin-wall-angela-merkel-donald-trump/ author: Abigail Abrams article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-25T18:16:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T10:59:40.984Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Obama Tells Crowd in Berlin: 'We Can't Hide Behind a Wall' og:description: He spoke before a crowd of about 70,000 people og:url: https://time.com/4794605/barack-obama-berlin-wall-angela-merkel-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8ada68b66acb4cc7/6988cef2196cf40d890404b0/barack-obama-angela-merkel-germany-berlin-wall.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Obama And Merkel Discuss Democracy At Church Congress og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Obama Tells Crowd in Berlin: 'We Can't Hide Behind a Wall' twitter:description: He spoke before a crowd of about 70,000 people twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8ada68b66acb4cc7/6988cef2196cf40d890404b0/barack-obama-angela-merkel-germany-berlin-wall.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Obama Tells Crowd of Thousands in Berlin: 'We Can't Hide Behind a Wall' by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams May 25, 2017 6:16 PM UTC  German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former President of the United States of America Barack Obama arrive for a discussion on democracy at Church Congress on May 25, 2017 in Berlin, Germany. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former President of the United States of America Barack Obama arrive for a discussion on democracy at Church Congress on May 25, 2017 in Berlin, Germany.Steffi Loos—Getty Images by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams May 25, 2017 6:16 PM UTC Former president Barack Obama told a crowd in Berlin on Thursday that wealthy nations cannot “hide behind a wall” when it comes to dealing with disruptions around the world, and encouraged the audience to engage in democracy. The comments came at a discussion on globalization and democracy with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, according to [the](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/25/barack-obama-draws-crowd-of-tens-of-thousands-in-berlin)[ _Guardian_](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/25/barack-obama-draws-crowd-of-tens-of-thousands-in-berlin), marking Obama’s first speech in Europe since leaving office. Standing in front of the Brandenburg Gate, which was once cut off by the Berlin Wall, Obama told the audience of 70,000 people to “push back against those trends that would violate human rights or suppress democracy or restrict individual freedoms” and to “fight against those who divide us.” He said he was “heartbroken” by the [bombing in Manchester](http://time.com/4793896/manchester-terrorist-attack/?xid=homepage&pcd=hp-magmod) on Monday, which killed 22 people at an [Ariana Grande concert](http://time.com/4790753/manchester-attack-ariana-grande-girlhood/?xid=homepage), and went on to defend Merkel’s open door refugee policy, which has seen [significant criticism](http://time.com/4608314/berlin-terror-attack-angela-merkel/?iid=sr-link2) from many in Germany. Obama said he recognized the balance Merkel has to strike between helping those in need and protecting her own citizens, according to the _Guardian_. He emphasized that leaders need to explain to their citizens why globalization makes it impossible to isolate one nation from the problems of others. And as he faced the enthusiastic crowd, Obama appeared to take a shot at President Donald Trump’s plan to build a wall between Mexico and the U.S. without ever explicitly mentioning his successor. “When we provide development aid to Africa or we are involved in conflict resolution in areas where war has been taking place, \[or\] we make investments to try to deal with climate change … these things we do not do just for charity, not just because it’s the right thing to do or out of kindness,” Obama said, according to _The Guardian_. “If there are disruptions in those countries and conflicts and bad governance, war and poverty, in this new world that we live in, we can’t isolate ourselves, we can’t hide behind a wall.” Obama’s friendly reception in Berlin came in contrast to some of Trump’s recent appearances — including one with French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday, when the two men locked hands so tightly [their knuckles turned white](http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/trump-handshake-showdown-frances-macron-just-wont-let-go/). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4794605/barack-obama-berlin-wall-angela-merkel-donald-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4794605/barack-obama-berlin-wall-angela-merkel-donald-trump/"},"headline":"President Obama Tells Crowd of Thousands in Berlin: 'We Can't Hide Behind a Wall'","datePublished":"2017-05-25T18:16:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T10:59:40.984Z","description":"In his first post-presidency speech in Europe, Obama appeared to reference Trump's border wall","url":"https://time.com/4794605/barack-obama-berlin-wall-angela-merkel-donald-trump/","keywords":["Barack Obama","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8ada68b66acb4cc7/6988cef2196cf40d890404b0/barack-obama-angela-merkel-germany-berlin-wall.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Abigail Abrams","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8ada68b66acb4cc7/6988cef2196cf40d890404b0/barack-obama-angela-merkel-germany-berlin-wall.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Obama And Merkel Discuss Democracy At Church Congress","caption":"German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former President of the United States of America Barack Obama arrive for a discussion on democracy at Church Congress on May 25, 2017 in Berlin, Germany.","creditText":"Steffi Loos—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4794605/barack-obama-berlin-wall-angela-merkel-donald-trump/","name":"President Obama Tells Crowd of Thousands in Berlin: 'We Can't Hide Behind a Wall'"}}]}] ```