Ada Quonsett
26th Apr 2008, 14:49
It boasts a tango school, a carp farm, underground bunkers and a cabaret bar. To make ends meet it rents out its main hall as an after-hours venue for corporate parties and fashion shows, whose models strut across what is the largest stretch of linoleum flooring in the world.
Welcome to Tempelhof, which is in fact an airport that, when not entertaining, offers passengers flights from Berlin to a handful of obscure destinations, such as Bydgoszcz in northern Poland and Vaxjo in southern Sweden.
Now Berliners are being asked to decide on the future of one of the first, and certainly most eccentric, commercial airports in the world. A referendum tomorrow on whether to close it is expected to attract more voters than normally turn out for an election.
"More than 80% of Berliners want to keep the airport open," said Andreas Peter, head of the citizen's group that gathered the signatures that forced the referendum - the first in Berlin's history. "It's the people who should say whether it closes."
In an age in which airports are mainly associated with stress and frustration, it is surprising to find one that is held in such affection. But Tempelhof - said to be the third largest building in the world after the Pentagon and Ceausescu's People's Palace... so big that a third of it has never been used - is one of the city's most potent symbols.
Built in 1923 and later greatly expanded by the Nazis, it came into its own during the cold war when the Soviets blocked access to West Berlin in 1948 in an attempt to starve it into submission. The US military launched a rescue operation from the skies. For almost a year Berlin was supplied with food and fuel by air. At the height of the airlift, which cost the lives of 48 British and American pilots, one allied aircraft landed at Tempelhof every 90 seconds.
"It was our lifeline and I'm incredibly attached to it," said Henry Wede, who worked at the airport for almost 40 years.
But the city of Berlin has been fighting for years to close Tempelhof, saying it loses millions of euros and is not suited to the needs of modern aviation.
Leading the fight is the mayor, Klaus Wowereit, who once admitted that boarding an aircraft beneath the airport's graceful curved roof "makes me feel like I'm in the farewell scene from Casablanca", but who insists it is no longer viable. It makes a loss, causes noise pollution and is dangerously close to a densely populated area, he says.
Berlin, he insists, should instead be putting its resources into making sure the Berlin-Brandenburg airport under construction to the south-east of the city is a success. According to a court decision, the new airport, which will finally allow Berlin to become a long-haul hub, can open only if Tempelhof and the city's other airport, Tegel, are shut down.
Supporters, including the country's bestselling tabloid, Bild, actors and business leaders, argue that if Tempelhof is closed, Berlin will have lost forever an asset that other capitals would dearly love to have. While Tempelhof cannot cope with larger planes, it is ideal for smaller propeller aircraft flying within Europe, as well as for private jets. It is located 10 minutes from the city centre.
Several attempts have been made to save what the architect Lord Foster has called "the mother of all airports". The most high-profile comes from Ronald Lauder, heir to the American cosmetics firm Estée Lauder, who wants to invest €350m (about £275m) to take over what he has referred to as "Berlin's Statue of Liberty" and turn it into a luxury medical clinic with patients being flown in from around the world.
Anti-airport campaigners have responded with posters stating: "An airport for the super rich? We won't be fooled," and Wowereit accused Lauder of trying to play "the rich uncle from America" before rejecting his idea.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has waded in, insisting the airport should stay. "The continued operation of Tempelhof is not only of significance for the economy and jobs, it's for many and for me personally a symbol, with the airlift, of the history of this city," she said.
Regardless of the referendum's outcome, Wowereit says he will go ahead with plans to shut Tempelhof in October. Planners are waiting in the wings with ideas for the hundreds of acres. The airfield could become anything from an ecologically friendly housing estate to a formula one racetrack and even a reproduction of Australia's Uluru - Ayers Rock - built from the rubble of Tempelhof.
Backstory
Formerly a military parade ground, Tempelhof was used as an airfield in 1909. Aviator Orville Wright made one of the first flight demonstrations there.
Tempelhof airport was built in 1923 - the world's second oldest commercial airport still in operation. In 1934 architect Ernst Sagebiel was commissioned by the Nazis to build a mile-long terminal complex in limestone. It was the world's biggest building, symbolising the "gateway to Germania". It has a curving canopy roof thatlets passengers disembark and enter without being exposed to the elements.
In 1948 Soviet authorities blockaded West Berlin. An airlift was launched using Tempelhof as its base, with thousands of "candy bomber" planes keeping 2.5 million residents alive for almost a year.
Despite its size, the distance between the check-in hall and boarding gates is no more than 150 metres, making it one of the most efficient and intimate airports. At its height in 1971, it transported 5.5 million passengers a year. The US military then took it over until the mid-1990s. It never recovered as a commercial airport.
Its legendary status was reinforced by its appearance in the Billy Wilder films A Foreign Affair (1948) and One, Two, Three (1961).
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/26/germany.secondworldwar
Welcome to Tempelhof, which is in fact an airport that, when not entertaining, offers passengers flights from Berlin to a handful of obscure destinations, such as Bydgoszcz in northern Poland and Vaxjo in southern Sweden.
Now Berliners are being asked to decide on the future of one of the first, and certainly most eccentric, commercial airports in the world. A referendum tomorrow on whether to close it is expected to attract more voters than normally turn out for an election.
"More than 80% of Berliners want to keep the airport open," said Andreas Peter, head of the citizen's group that gathered the signatures that forced the referendum - the first in Berlin's history. "It's the people who should say whether it closes."
In an age in which airports are mainly associated with stress and frustration, it is surprising to find one that is held in such affection. But Tempelhof - said to be the third largest building in the world after the Pentagon and Ceausescu's People's Palace... so big that a third of it has never been used - is one of the city's most potent symbols.
Built in 1923 and later greatly expanded by the Nazis, it came into its own during the cold war when the Soviets blocked access to West Berlin in 1948 in an attempt to starve it into submission. The US military launched a rescue operation from the skies. For almost a year Berlin was supplied with food and fuel by air. At the height of the airlift, which cost the lives of 48 British and American pilots, one allied aircraft landed at Tempelhof every 90 seconds.
"It was our lifeline and I'm incredibly attached to it," said Henry Wede, who worked at the airport for almost 40 years.
But the city of Berlin has been fighting for years to close Tempelhof, saying it loses millions of euros and is not suited to the needs of modern aviation.
Leading the fight is the mayor, Klaus Wowereit, who once admitted that boarding an aircraft beneath the airport's graceful curved roof "makes me feel like I'm in the farewell scene from Casablanca", but who insists it is no longer viable. It makes a loss, causes noise pollution and is dangerously close to a densely populated area, he says.
Berlin, he insists, should instead be putting its resources into making sure the Berlin-Brandenburg airport under construction to the south-east of the city is a success. According to a court decision, the new airport, which will finally allow Berlin to become a long-haul hub, can open only if Tempelhof and the city's other airport, Tegel, are shut down.
Supporters, including the country's bestselling tabloid, Bild, actors and business leaders, argue that if Tempelhof is closed, Berlin will have lost forever an asset that other capitals would dearly love to have. While Tempelhof cannot cope with larger planes, it is ideal for smaller propeller aircraft flying within Europe, as well as for private jets. It is located 10 minutes from the city centre.
Several attempts have been made to save what the architect Lord Foster has called "the mother of all airports". The most high-profile comes from Ronald Lauder, heir to the American cosmetics firm Estée Lauder, who wants to invest €350m (about £275m) to take over what he has referred to as "Berlin's Statue of Liberty" and turn it into a luxury medical clinic with patients being flown in from around the world.
Anti-airport campaigners have responded with posters stating: "An airport for the super rich? We won't be fooled," and Wowereit accused Lauder of trying to play "the rich uncle from America" before rejecting his idea.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has waded in, insisting the airport should stay. "The continued operation of Tempelhof is not only of significance for the economy and jobs, it's for many and for me personally a symbol, with the airlift, of the history of this city," she said.
Regardless of the referendum's outcome, Wowereit says he will go ahead with plans to shut Tempelhof in October. Planners are waiting in the wings with ideas for the hundreds of acres. The airfield could become anything from an ecologically friendly housing estate to a formula one racetrack and even a reproduction of Australia's Uluru - Ayers Rock - built from the rubble of Tempelhof.
Backstory
Formerly a military parade ground, Tempelhof was used as an airfield in 1909. Aviator Orville Wright made one of the first flight demonstrations there.
Tempelhof airport was built in 1923 - the world's second oldest commercial airport still in operation. In 1934 architect Ernst Sagebiel was commissioned by the Nazis to build a mile-long terminal complex in limestone. It was the world's biggest building, symbolising the "gateway to Germania". It has a curving canopy roof thatlets passengers disembark and enter without being exposed to the elements.
In 1948 Soviet authorities blockaded West Berlin. An airlift was launched using Tempelhof as its base, with thousands of "candy bomber" planes keeping 2.5 million residents alive for almost a year.
Despite its size, the distance between the check-in hall and boarding gates is no more than 150 metres, making it one of the most efficient and intimate airports. At its height in 1971, it transported 5.5 million passengers a year. The US military then took it over until the mid-1990s. It never recovered as a commercial airport.
Its legendary status was reinforced by its appearance in the Billy Wilder films A Foreign Affair (1948) and One, Two, Three (1961).
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/26/germany.secondworldwar