The Prussians once paraded on the grounds that are now Tempelhof. Then, in the 1930s, the architect Ernst Sagebiel took what was a modest airfield and conceived the site as a gigantic entrance to Hitler’s new Germany.
Later, his brainchild — what the architect Norman Foster has called “the mother of all airports” — was used by the Americans to run the airlift that saved West Berlin from a Soviet blockade.
Tempelhof’s sweep and size, as well as its location in the center of Berlin, are so impressive that everything down to the airport signs and now disused luggage conveyors remain under legal protection as a monument.
Photo: AP
In fact, all its life, Tempelhof Airport has been writing chapters of the history of Berlin, so it was perhaps inevitable that it would land a leading role in the current one.
Today, it is in the throes of becoming Germany’s largest refugee center. For Tempelhof, that spells yet another transformation.
The new mission for the airport, which could house up to 7,000 refugees when work is completed, has thrust its employees here into improvised roles. They must figure out how to shelter, feed, heat, entertain and aid the new arrivals from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.
“There is no blueprint for something like this,” said Michael Elias, who leads Tamaja, the company that runs the refugee facilities, organizing everything from security to cleaning and the catering that delivers breakfast, lunch and dinner.
“At the beginning, you can only make mistakes,” said Elias, 46, who came as a child to Germany from Lebanon.
His office looks down on one of the four gaping 16m-high hangars where up to 800 refugees are currently accommodated in sparse spaces formed by temporary screens. Six double bunk beds sleeping 12 are squeezed into these spaces.
“It’s not space designed for living,” spokeswoman Constanze Doell said of Tempelhof Projekt, the city agency that is responsible for the overall development. “It’s an aircraft hangar.”
As the newly united Berlin melded its western and eastern halves, various uses were discussed for Tempelhof. However, in classic Berlin fashion, none were ever really decided. In the latest referendum in 2014, Berliners rejected a plan to build 4,700 homes, while leaving up to 85 percent of its vast green space open.
City planners who may have cursed that missed opportunity to build needed housing are now at least partly relieved; where permanent houses might have gone up, they can now erect prefab housing for refugees not housed in hangars.
Holger Lippmann, 52, who leads the Tempelhof Projekt, has certainly felt the effects of the airport’s evolving fate. He came to the job last summer as a place holder, having previously been charged, for 13 years, with selling off land the city thought it did not need.
Now he will stay at least two years and is among those interested in preserving every centimeter of city land to house not just refugees, but the increasing number of families staying in Berlin, or moving here, squeezing housing and schools.
A recent visit on a fairly mild, windy day yielded glimpses of refugees, many on cellphones, others lying listless in their cramped bunks, and children being entertained by volunteers from a circus group and the charity Save the Children.
Dozens of new units, each containing a toilet, washbasin and shower for individual use, awaited hookup. They were purchased after refugees, particularly women, declined to use communal showers.
Ideally, Elias said, refugees should spend just a few weeks here before moving through the system. He likens Germany to a society that used to cook with just salt and pepper.
“Now, we have a real potpourri,” he said.
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