An abandoned airport in a major capital city is now used to house refugees from around the world.
Once a major airport just outside the country’s capital, Berlin’s Tempelhof airport now hosts refugees from Turkey, Syria, and Ukraine.
A refugee camp is just one of the many things Tempelhof has been used for, since the final plane landed in 2008.
In the 16 years since it has been used as a space for private events and exhibitions and the local park has been opened up to the public.
The runways, taxiways and areas outside the gates which saw tens of planes touch down during the Berlin Airlift have also been converted into a racetrack.
Construction on the transport hub, which today spans an area greater than New York’s Central Park, began just before the start of World War 2. Its main terminal was so large, it was briefly the largest building in the world.
Following Germany’s defeat, it was opened as a refugee hub for people fleeing west from Soviet-occupied areas. Later, it became crucial during the Berlin Airlift as the USA and UK flew planes in with food for West Berliners.
Tempelhof was first opened to refugees in 2015 when then Chancellor Angela Merkel converted the airport into what was Germany’s largest refugee camp.
Designed with a total capacity of 7,000 people in mind, the camp welcomed refugees from Turkey, escaping war in Syria.
Later, when Russia invaded Ukraine, a ‘Container Town’ was constructed on one of the old runways.
Speaking to Foreign Policy last year, Sascha Langenbach, a spokesperson for the State Office for Refugee Affairs in Berlin, said: “Last year, Tempelhof opened up again. We are currently hosting 850 asylum seekers in the hangars, many of them from Afghanistan and Turkey.”
According to Mr Langebach, some of the Ukrainian refugees waiting in the container town on the runway already have resident permits, but nowhere to live.
Not all of the refugees are from Europe, some escaped from Afghanistan just before the Taliban took power in the country.
Abdul Khaluq explained that it was difficult to live in the airport because there was no privacy and not much space in the 161 square foot container. However, he said it was “still better than being in Afghanistan right now”.
Tempelhof’s status as one of Germany’s largest refugee camps stands as an example of one of many similar facilities dotted around a country that has taken in thousands of refugees.
According to the BBC, Germany received around 25 percent of all first-time asylum applications in the European Union. Furthermore, of the 197,540 asylum decisions made in 2022, the country approved over 50 percent of them.
Express.co.uk has approached the State Office for Refugee Affairs for comment.
