SFU Berlin at Tempelhof Airport

The History of Tempelhof Airport

When SFU Berlin moved into Tower 9 of the former Tempelhof Airport building in autumn 2013, it marked the first time a university had been established on this site – a place that is unique not only within Berlin but also steeped in history. This text traces the long and eventful history of a place that, for over a hundred years, has been shaped by the political upheavals of the 20th century, by war, persecution, destruction, flight and the search for a new, safe home for millions of people.

Written in May 2019 by Assoc. Prof. DDr. Martin Wieser.

Plan of Tempelhofer Feld, 1907

The early days – from farmland to airfield

Towards the end of the 18th century, the ‘Großes Feld’ (Great Field) between Tempelhof and Schöneberg was rezoned by Frederick William I from agricultural land to a military parade and drill ground. At that time, the site extended westwards beyond the Tempelhofer Damm and bordered directly on the Hasenheide to the north. Over the decades, a horse racing track, a swimming lake and several sports pitches, amongst other facilities, were established on the site. As early as the beginning of the 19th century, the site was a popular local recreation area for the people of Berlin.

As well as the military and the civilian population, Tempelhof Field was increasingly used by pioneers of aviation at the end of the 19th century to showcase their latest achievements: hot-air balloons, Zeppelins and, eventually, the first motorised aeroplanes could be marvelled at on the field. In August 1909, Count Zeppelin arrived at Tempelhof in the LZ6 airship to the applause of 300,000 spectators; a few days later, Orville Wright flew laps over the field, setting not only a new altitude record of 172 metres but also a record flight duration of over 35 minutes.

In 1910, the land was purchased by the City of Berlin and parts of the site were rezoned for housing. In 1923, part of the undeveloped area was first set aside for air traffic and equipped with a runway, two hangars and a station building. Civil air traffic began in October 1923, and by the end of the year, 150 passengers had already been handled at Tempelhof Airport. Air traffic increased gradually in the following years, necessitating further construction work to expand the facilities. Nevertheless, part of the field remained open to the public for recreational use. On 7 June 1927, the American pilot Clarence Chamberlain landed at Tempelhof, thereby setting a new long-distance record for the first transatlantic flight carrying passengers from the USA to Germany. The Columbiadamm, now situated on the northern side of Tempelhof Field, is named after his aeroplane, the Miss Columbia.

Concentration camps and arms production: THF after 1933

In 1910, the land was purchased by the City of Berlin and parts of the site were rezoned for housing. In 1923, part of the undeveloped area was first set aside for air traffic and equipped with a runway, two hangars and a station building. Civil air traffic began in October 1923, and by the end of the year, 150 passengers had already been handled at Tempelhof Airport. Air traffic increased gradually in the following years, necessitating further construction work to expand the facilities. Nevertheless, part of the field remained open to the public for recreational use. On 7 June 1927, the American pilot Clarence Chamberlain landed at Tempelhof, thereby setting a new long-distance record for the first transatlantic flight carrying passengers from the USA to Germany. The Columbiadamm, now situated on the northern side of Tempelhof Field, is named after his aeroplane, the Miss Columbia.In addition to the military and the civilian population, Tempelhof Field was increasingly used by pioneers of aviation at the end of the 19th century to showcase their latest achievements: hot-air balloons, Zeppelins and, finally, the first motorised aeroplanes could be marvelled at on the field. In August 1909, Count Zeppelin arrived at Tempelhof in the LZ6 airship to the applause of 300,000 spectators; a few days later, Orville Wright flew laps over the field, setting not only a new altitude record of 172 metres but also a record flight duration of over 35 minutes.

As early as 1896, a ‘military detention centre’ with 156 cells had been built on the northern edge of Tempelhof Field on Prinz-August-von-Württemberg-Straße (which was later incorporated into the airport grounds). From July 1933 onwards, this building – now renamed ‘KZ Columbia’ – became one of the first theatres of Nazi terror: Shortly after the NSDAP’s ‘seizure of power’, SA, Gestapo and SS units combed through the whole of Berlin to rob, arrest, interrogate and torture Jews and political dissidents. Among the prisoners at Columbia Concentration Camp were such prominent figures as Leo Baeck, Friedrich Ebert Jr, Erich Honecker and Ernst Thälmann. The “Columbiahaus”, run by the SS, mainly housed members of the SPD and KPD. In July 1933, 80 people were detained here; three months later, their number had already risen to 400. In total, between eight and ten thousand men were held at this site, which served as a sort of ‘training centre’ for future concentration camp commanders, such as Arthur Liebehenschel, who was deployed as a guard at the Columbiahaus from August 1934 and became camp commander at Auschwitz in November 1943. The successful escape of SS guard Hans Bächle, along with two prisoners, from the Columbiahaus in April 1935 attracted international attention. In Czechoslovakia, Bächle gave an interview in which he reported on ill-treatment, beatings, methods of torture and executions at the Columbiahaus. The international protests during the Olympic Games, which were held in Berlin in 1936 and were deliberately exploited by the NSDAP leadership for political propaganda, but also the deportation of prisoners to outlying concentration camps, ultimately led to the closure of the Columbia concentration camp in November 1936.

Whilst political terror took place behind closed doors in the rooms of the former ‘military detention centre’ after 1933, the adjacent airfield was deliberately used for Nazi mass propaganda. Over a million people gathered at Tempelhofer Feld on ‘National Labour Day’, 1 May 1933, to witness the NSDAP’s first mass spectacle to be broadcast nationwide. Like no other place, the vast expanse of the field served as the perfect stage for Hitler and Goebbels’ spectacle. Whilst the leaders of the labour movement were being persecuted and imprisoned, the NSDAP leadership also usurped the very public holiday that was originally intended to foster international solidarity amongst all workers.

Although the terminals and check-in areas at Tempelhof Airport had been continuously expanded and enlarged since the mid-1920s, by the early 1930s capacity limits had been reached, making a complete rebuild of the airport into a ‘major airport’ Tempelhof. These plans coincided with Hitler’s vision of establishing a Reich capital, ‘Germania’, which was intended to reflect the boundless claims to power of National Socialism in urban planning as well. Under the direction of Göring’s Reich Ministry of Aviation and the architect Ernst Sagebiel, planning began in July 1935 for what was then the world’s largest building in terms of floor area. The building housing the Columbiadamm concentration camp was demolished in 1938 as part of the construction work. Today, a memorial at the junction of Columbiadamm and Golßener Straße commemorates the victims of Nazi persecution at the Columbia concentration camp.

After the outbreak of war, the production facilities of Weser-Flugzeugbau-AG and Lufthansa were relocated to the hangars at Tempelhof, even though construction of the building had not yet been completed (and could not be fully finished by the end of the war). Thousands of prisoners of war and forced labourers from Eastern Europe – mainly from Poland, the Czech Republic and Russia – were housed in barracks at the northern end of the field, where they were exploited under inhumane hygienic conditions for construction work on the site and for war production. As excavations carried out by the Institute for Prehistory and Early History at the Free University of Berlin have shown, remains of the barracks camps from this period can still be found beneath the surface of the airfield today.

As the city of Berlin came under increasingly frequent bombardment, armaments production was relocated from Tempelhof. The fact that the new airport building sustained only relatively minor damage was probably due to the Allies sparing selected buildings from bombing to such an extent that they could later be used to house their own soldiers.

The Airlift and a Place of Refuge: Tempelhof during the Cold War

After the end of the war, Tempelhof Airport in the US-occupied sector of Berlin was used as a military base; flight operations were able to resume as early as August 1945. The establishment of the ‘Air Lift’ in June 1948 is internationally renowned and remains firmly anchored in Berlin’s collective memory to this day. Following the blockade of West Berlin by the Soviet occupying forces, who hoped to force West Berlin to surrender in this way, the entire population of West Berlin was supplied with many thousands of tonnes of coal and food by the Western powers’ ‘raisin bombers’ until May 1949. To this day, the Air Bridge Monument on Platz der Luftbrücke, with its three struts, commemorates the flight corridors of the three Western powers.

Even after the end of the Soviet blockade, Tempelhof remained a key theatre of the Cold War. The so-called ‘Green Barracks’ on the western side of the site on Tempelhofer Damm served, in the early 1950s, as one of the accommodation facilities for people from the Soviet Occupation Zone/GDR who had fled to Berlin and were to be flown from there on to the Federal Republic of Germany. Although Tempelhof Airport was used as a military base by the US Army until 1993, part of the airport was returned to civilian use as early as 1951. Before the transit route was established, air travel was the only way to leave Berlin without being subject to GDR controls. Thus, even after the end of the ‘Air Bridge’, Tempelhof remained a theatre for the global political power struggle between East and West, but also for the fears, worries and hopes of those people who had become pawns in this struggle.

An end and a new beginning: Tempelhof today

The military significance of Tempelhof Airport quickly faded into the background following the fall of the Iron Curtain. The end of its military use was eventually followed by the cessation of civil aviation in October 2008. Parts of the listed building have been refurbished and occupied by the city administration and the executive; many smaller units are leased by various public, private and charitable organisations, projects and bodies, whilst the airfield has been open to the public for recreational use since May 2010.

In the wake of the rapid rise in the number of refugees following the Syrian war in 2015, Tempelhof Airport once again became a place of refuge for people who had been forced to leave their homes. For months, and in some cases years, several hundred people were housed in makeshift accommodation in the hangars, where they had to wait for more suitable accommodation. Until early 2019, Hangar 1 at the airport also housed the State Office for Refugee Affairs’ initial reception centre for new asylum seekers. In addition, during the winter months, ‘Kältehilfe’ – an emergency night shelter for homeless people – was set up in one of the hangars.

As a young university, SFU Berlin is committed to keeping alive the memory of the complex history of the Tempelhof airport site, whilst at the same time helping to shape its future: It serves as a reminder of the social responsibility of the academic disciplines – for they, too, made a significant contribution to the political and racially motivated persecution and expulsion of people who were detained at Tempelhof. However, as a place of refuge for people who had lost their homes, the airport was and remains a place of rescue, solidarity and humanity, where people from the most diverse backgrounds and life stories came together, both voluntarily and by force. As a space steeped in history yet open to the future, Tempelhof Airport has the opportunity to develop into a liveable, open and participatory space of unique scope in the heart of Berlin. The challenge of shaping this space for the future whilst remaining mindful of its history rests not only with politicians, but with all users, residents and visitors to the former Tempelhof Airport.

Further information:

Bibliography

• Mission: Air Bridge. The Sky over Berlin 1948–1949. Nicolai, Berlin, 1998.
• From Airfield to Sea of Meadows – The History and Future of Tempelhof Airport. Quintessenz, Berlin, 2000.
• Appropriating buildings to house refugees: Berlin Tempelhof. Forced Migration Review, 2017.
• The Utopia of Nothing. On the Transformation of the Tempelhof Field in Berlin, dérive, 2011.
• Columbia-Haus. Berlin Concentration Camp 1933–1936, Edition Hentrich, 1990.

Links

• Richly illustrated views of the airport grounds: here and here
• Fragments on the history of Tempelhof Field under National Socialism.
• Initiative: Community-oriented development of the Tempelhof Airport building.
• Booking guided tours: the airport building and the field.