BERLIN -- President Bill Clinton, at the Brandenburg Gate that once symbolized a divided Europe, told a throng of cheering Germans Tuesday: "Berlin ist frei!"


"Everything is possible, Berlin is free," he said, speaking carefully phrased German. "Amerika steht an Ihre Seite, jetzt und fuer immer," Clinton said, repeating in English: "America is by your side, now and forever." Clinton studied German in school but is not fluent in the language.


Clinton -- the bulk of his speech was in English -- advised young Germans: "Believe you can live in peace with those who are different than you."


Clinton exhorted people everywhere to ignore the forces of division and racism, including neo-Nazis in Germany.


"We must reject those who would divide us with scalding words about race, ethnicity or religion," he said.


"We stand where Europe's heart was cut in half and we celebrate unity," said Clinton, the first U.S. president to visit reunited Berlin and the first to visit the eastern sector since Harry Truman in 1945.


"The Berlin Wall is gone. Now our generation must decide what will we build in its place," Clinton said.


He took a cue from his political hero, President John F. Kennedy, and delighted the crowd by uttering several phrases in German.


"Ich bin ein Berliner," Kennedy had declared on June 26, 1963, identifying the United States with West Berlin, an island of democracy surrounded by the Berlin Wall and communist East Germany.


"Half a century has passed since Berlin was first divided," Clinton said. "In that time, one half of this city lived encircled and the other half enslaved. But one force endured: your courage."


Pariser Platz, the plaza beneath the gate, was packed with people for Clinton's speech. Police estimated the crowd at from 50,000 to 150,000, including many school children who were given the day off for Clinton's visit.


The Brandenburg Gate is 200 years old and stands just on the eastern side inside the wall that had divided the two Berlins. The wall was built in 1961 and torn down in 1989. Germany was reunited in 1990.


Clinton spoke near the site of what had been the pre-World War II American Embassy. When Germany completes the moving of its seat of government from Bonn back to Berlin by the year 2000, he said, America will build a new embassy in Berlin.


German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who spoke before Clinton, proclaimed: "Long live the friendship between Germany and America."


"For over 40 years this city was divided. As such it was a visible reminder to the whole world that the division in Germany and of Europe had to be overcome," Kohl said.


Berlin was the final stop of an eight-day European trip for Clinton.