The Site Of The Berlin Airlift Now Serves As Refugee Shelter And Big Open Park

By Martin Kaste

Published August 11, 2018 at 6:19 AM MDT

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Thousands of Berliners come to Tempelhof on warm summer evenings, but there's always room for more.

Martin Kaste

Berlin's Tempelhof Field used to be a massive airport. It's famous as the site of the Berlin airlift — the effort in 1948-49 to keep West Berlin fed and supplied during a Soviet blockade. But the airport closed in 2008.

Now, 10 years later, Tempelhof Field is a huge park, and a home for refugees.

Here are some scenes, and sounds, from a recent visit.

Riding to the end of one of Tempelhof's former runways is a serious workout.

Martin Kaste / NPR

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Modular homes for refugees, erected recently in one corner of Tempelhof Field.

Martin Kaste / NPR

Tempelhof was the site of early experiments in aviation. It was expanded in the Nazi era, and was the site of a forced labor camp. After the war, it was both a U.S. air base and a civilian airport.

Martin Kaste / NPR