The final knock-out for Berlin's Tempelhof Airport

Berlin - The fate of Tempelhof Airport, famous for its role in the 1947-48 Allied airlift operation to save West Berlin, is now sealed.
The Berlin authorities have officially confirmed that it failed to attract the 25 per cent support of the city's total electorate needed to make the city government reconsider its plans to shut the airport at the end of October.
The result showed that of 2,438,035 eligible voters in Berlin, only 881,035 citizens turned out on Sunday, April 27, to participate in the first referendum in the city's history.
Of that number 529,880 voted in favour of keeping Tempelhof open, or 21.7 per cent of the city's total eligible voters, falling short of the required 25 per cent support needed.
Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit had in the weeks before the plebiscite made clear he would in any case ignore the result of the non-binding referendum if it went against him - a stance that earned him sharp rebukes from opposition political parties.
Friedbert Pflueger, the city's conservative (CDU) opposition leader, hailed the result a 'great victory,' saying 60.2 per cent of those who voted on the day were for the airport remaining open, and the city government should respect their wishes.
But Wowereit has made clear Tempelhof will now be closed. An international competition is to be held to decide what to do with the huge airport grounds covering some 386 hectares.
The central airport building is to remain.
Already, the Babelsberg Film Studio company near Potsdam has announced that it is keen to make use of the airport hangars as a film location.
Tempelhof was first converted into a full-time airport in 1922. When the Nazis came to power in the 1930s, airport buildings were extended and designed to resemble the outspread wings of an eagle in flight. Soon the airport was one of the busiest in the world.
Hitler dreamed of it housing the Nazi air ministry, along with a vast spread of domestic and foreign airline offices. Below ground tunnels were excavated for huge petrol storage depots and an underground motorway.
Builders dug five stories below street level before construction was halted when war began.
In early 1945, with the Nazis facing defeat, Colonel Rudolf Boettger, the Tempelhof airport chief, was ordered to blow the place up.
Instead, as Russians troops arrived to seize the airport, he grabbed the Tempelhof blueprints, seized a bomb and blew himself up.
US troops took control of the airport in July 1945 and soon set about redesigning the six-metre Nazi bronze eagle atop the main airport building, which gave the name Eagle Square to the area.
The eagle's head was 'shaved,' painted white to resemble an American bald eagle, and its head severed from its ugly long-winged body.
Today the bald eagle is still to be seen on a plinth near the main airport entrance, as a symbol of US-German friendship.
The airport's most famous moment came in 1948-49 when the airlift saw vital food supplies flown in round-the-clock to save West Berlin's population of 2.3 million from starvation, after the Soviets sealed the city's land, rail and inland water routes.
It was a turning point - the moment when West Berliners no longer regarded US, British and French servicemen as occupiers, but rather as 'protectors.'
However, by the 1970s it was clear that Tempelhof's history was nearing its end. Its runways were not long enough to accommodate modern commercial aircraft.
Even so, airport campaigners pressed for it to remain open, saying it would make a splendid inner-city airport.



http://www.monstersandcritics.com/n...k-out_for_Berlins_Tempelhof_Airport__Feature_

 

Well, if they keep the main building, there's the potential for an outstanding museum of German aviation history!

 

That's right. With it's history, it would be a good idea.

 

Bid to Save Berlin's Iconic Tempelhof Airport Fails


Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Supporters of Tempelhof campaigned long and hard but lost the public vote on its future


A referendum on keeping Berlin's iconic Tempelhof Airport open has failed to gain the necessary support.


The vote, conducted in the German capital Sunday, April 27, secured the support of 21 percent of the city's electorate, against the 25 percent needed for it to be valid. The nonbinding vote had been pushed through by Tempelhof supporters.

Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit said the airport would close, as planned, at the end of October. Wowereit had been a vocal opponent of the effort to keep the airport open and called on Berliners to accept the vote's outcome.

Wowereit's Social Democrats (SPD) and their Left Party coalition partners mounted an energetic last-minute campaign against retaining the airport, characterizing it as "elitist."

The opposition Christian Democratic Union head Friedbert Pflueger pointed out that the SPD had always said that the Tempelhof vote was not binding. But Wowereit should not forget that 100,000 people voted to keep the airport open than had voted for Wowereit in the last election, Pflueger told the N24 television station on Monday.
City center location a problem, say critics
Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Tempelhof lies at the very heart of the German capital
Others who have called for its closure say Tempelhof's central location is a nuisance for residents and a security risk due to low-flying planes in a heavily populated area.
They have suggested the creation of a cultural and media center in its terminal and a park to replace its runways.
Tempelhof, Adolph Hitler's showpiece airport built in the 1930s, is said to be the third-largest building complex in the world.
It played a crucial role in the 1948-49 Allied airlift to save West Berlin from being strangled by Russian forces at the start of the Cold War.
The facility only served 630,000 passengers in 2006, compared to 12 million for Tegel Airport on the city's northwestern fringe, and 6 million at Schoenefeld to the southeast.
When Tempelhof and Tegel are closed, the expanded and modernized Schoenefeld facility is to become the capital's sole airport.


DW staff / DPA (nda/th)


Source: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3297002,00.html