Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Tempelhof Airport
A five-minute walk south along Mehringdamm from its intersection with
Bergmannstrasse, housing fades away to the flatlands of
Tempelhof Airport
(U-Bahn
Platz der Luftbrücke). he airport, opened in 1923, was once Germany's largest; the
present complex was built in 1936-41 and is one of the best surviving examples of
Nazi architecture. A huge bronze eagle that surmounted the building was removed in
the 1960s, ostensibly to make way for a radar installation (the eagle's head can still be
seen at the entrance to the airport), but you can't help thinking that its removal
probably had more to do with its being an ugly reminder of the Nazi past. After the
war the airport was used for visiting dignitaries and the military, and a light load of
small carrier flights, until it finally closed in 2008. he old terminal buildings now
serve as events venues, while the runways themselves have been turned into what is
technically continental Europe's largest park (daily 6am-9.30pm) - a great place to
go cycling, walking or roller-skating - or simply to have a barbecue or picnic.
It was to Tempelhof that the Allies flew supplies to beat the
Berlin Blockade
of
1948-49 (see box, p.124) and the
Luftbrückendenkmal
, a memorial in the centre of
the
Platz der Luftbrücke
that forms the entrance to the airport, commemorates the
airmen and crew who died in crashes. he memorial represents the three air corridors
used, and forms half of a bridge: the other half, “joined by air”, is in Frankfurt. Inside
the airport a small exhibition shows photographs of its building and the Blockade
- mostly publicity shots of gleaming USAF pilots and scruffy kids, with little on the
role of Tempelhof in the war years.
7
THE BERLIN BLOCKADE
1948
49
The
Berlin Blockade
was the result of an escalation in tensions between East and West in
the late 1940s. These came to a head when the Western zone introduced the Deutschmark as
currency in June 1948; the Soviets demanded that their own Ostmark be accepted as Berlin's
currency, a move that was rejected by the city's parliament. Moscow's answer to this was an
attempt to bring West Berlin to its knees by severing all road and rail links to the Western zones
and cutting off the power provided by plants on the Eastern side. There was now only one
month's food and ten days' coal supply left in the city.
The British and Americans realized that they had to support West Berlin, but were unwilling
to use military force to push their way in overland. After some consideration it was decided to
try and supply the city by air: the Soviets, it was gambled, would not dare risk an international
incident - possibly even war - by shooting down Western aircraft. However, there were serious
doubts as to whether it was possible to sustain two million people by an airlift. The only
previous attempt on a comparable scale - maintaining the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad -
had been an utter failure. Berlin's needs were calculated at 4000 tons of supplies per day, yet
the available aircraft could carry fewer than 500 tons.
Nevertheless the airlift began on June 26, 1948 and at its height nine months later, it had
become an around-the-clock precision operation with planes landing or taking off every
thirty seconds, bringing 8000 tons of supplies to the city each day. Winter was exceptionally
tough. Power cuts and severe food rationing reduced living standards to the level of the
immediate postwar period. The Russians made supplies available in the eastern half of the
city, but relatively few West Berliners - in a spirited show of defiance - chose to take
advantage of them.
The Soviets called off the Blockade in May 1949, but they had been defeated in more ways
than one. Though it cost the lives of 78 airmen and crew and millions of dollars, the airlift
thwarted Stalin's attempt to expel the Allies from West Berlin. Moreover for the occupying
British and Americans the propaganda value was enormous: aircrews who a few years
previously had been dropping bombs on the city now provided its lifeline. Photographs of the
“candy bomber” - a USAF captain who dropped chocolate bars and sweets from his plane on
small parachutes for the city's children - went around the world. No longer were the occupiers
seen as enemies, but rather as allies against the Soviet threat.
