Tempelhof Airport Berlin:
A personal introduction to Berlin’s history
Alright, friends,
my first article in the “Berlin History” category – and honestly, I don’t really know where to start.
Maybe a bit about me first:
I was born in March 1994 in Berlin-Friedrichshain and I’m roughly the 10th generation from this neighborhood. My parents and a large part of my family grew up in the GDR and still tell stories from that time to this day.
And that’s exactly the point:
I think it’s incredibly important to listen to these stories – and to pass them on to the next generations.
Because this is exactly the time that shaped Berlin into the city it is today.
When my grandmother talks about her first experiences with the border, about the division in 1961 and how impossible contact with West Berlin was, about what the Stasi really meant, I realize every single time how little I actually know – and how much there still is to understand.
I feel like I owe it to my home, Berlin, to pass at least a part of this knowledge on.
Why this blog is about Tempelhof Airport Berlin
Before anyone starts smiling because I’m kicking off “Berlin History” with an airport, let me give you a bit of context.
I was sitting on the train today, listening to a conversation between a few older Berliners – the kind I always end up getting involved in. Especially when they speak in such heavy Berlin dialect that 90% of the people around them barely understand a word. Same situation as when my friends visit my grandma Jutta.
They were talking about "Flughafen Tempelhof" (Airport Tempelhof) and the 2008 referendum – the vote about whether the airport should remain open.
And then one of them said:
“That was so close back then…”
I couldn’t resist:
“It was exactly 80,000 votes that were missing.”
Why I know that so precisely?
We’ll get to that in a second.
What I find so interesting about this first blog:
We already have a complicated relationship with airports in Berlin today.
And yet, this exact place is emotionally charged for many Berliners like hardly any other.
And for me personally, Tempelhof is simply this:
the airport of my childhood.
This is where I first flew from in the early 2000s – to Croatia and Greece.
It was a different vibe back then.
More direct. More personal. Closer somehow.
Tempelhofer Feld today: a place without visible history?
If you walk across Tempelhofer Feld Berlin today, you don’t really notice much of that history at first.
Sure:
- the massive runways
- the monumental buildings
- the old airport
- But that’s about it.
The rest?
- People lying in the grass
- Kids learning how to ride a bike
- Dogs running around freely
- Somewhere there’s a coffee bike
- People doing laps on inline skates or bicycles
And on a good day, kites are everywhere in the sky
It feels light. Almost indifferent.
And that’s exactly the point:
Most people have no idea what actually happened here.
That’s probably also because of all the change in Berlin – more and more newcomers, more and more gentrification.
I have to admit, I’m pretty split on that myself. Not as one-sided as many of my born-and-raised Berlin brothers and sisters.
But that’s a topic for another blog.
Tempelhof Airport Berlin: why this place is so important
Flughafen Tempelhof is one of the oldest airports in Berlin.
It opened in 1923 and was later massively expanded under the National Socialists from 1934 onwards, designed by the architect Ernst Sagebiel.
The building that still stands today is one of the largest continuous structures in Europe.
But that alone doesn’t explain why this place holds such significance.
The Berlin Airlift 1948/49: Tempelhof as a lifeline
The defining moment in the history of Flughafen Tempelhof (Airport Tempelhof) was the time of the Berlin Airlift in 1948/49.
In an almost unreal rhythm – roughly every 90 seconds – planes were landing in Tempelhof.
Just let that sink in. Every 90 seconds. Insane.
In total:
- 227,246 flights
- within 462 days
These planes – often called “raisin bombers” – delivered everything the city needed to survive:
- coal
- food
- raw materials
- even entire industrial equipment
At that time, Berlin was a city of around two million people.
And Tempelhof was one of the central points that quite literally kept this city alive.
Why Tempelhof mattered so much to West Berliners
These memories of the Berlin Airlift also explain why Tempelhof Airport (Flughafen Tempelhof) was so emotionally charged for many West Berliners. For many, the airport wasn’t just infrastructure.
It was a symbol:
- of supply
- of connection
- of not being abandoned
Very different in the East:
For many East Berliners, Tempelhof had little to no meaning.
And this exact difference later showed up politically as well.
The 2008 referendum: why Tempelhof was closed
On April 27, 2008, the future of Tempelhof Airport was put to a vote.
The result:
The referendum to keep the airport open failed.
And it was incredibly close.
In the end, exactly:
→ 80,000 votes were missing
An initiative campaigned to preserve the airport, supported by well-known public figures.
Still, it wasn’t enough.
And the campaigns on both sides were anything but objective:
Supporters of keeping the airport open sometimes painted a picture as if the entire site would be demolished – even though it was clear that heritage protection would prevent that.
The opposing side, on the other hand, partly framed Tempelhof as a prestige project for the wealthy.
Even the Senate appeared with a stance that was factually correct, but perceived by many as arrogant.
East vs. West: a city that remained divided for much longer
The vote revealed something many people don’t like to hear:
Even almost 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Berlin was still divided.
The numbers speak for themselves:
In the East:
36% in favor of keeping the airport open
64% against
In the West:
71% in favor
29% against
One expert summed it up perfectly at the time:
You could still clearly trace the line of the former Wall in these results.
Why the Tempelhof debate was so unique
What made this conflict so special:
While Berlin was changing rapidly in so many areas, discussions around Berlin Tempelhof Airport suddenly became emotional like almost nowhere else.
What was often overlooked:
- Concepts for the future use of the site had already existed since the 1990s.
- A lot had long been planned – at least in broad terms (and honestly, I could hardly believe what some of those plans looked like).
And yet, the debate was happening as if everything was being decided from scratch.
What came after the closure
Flight operations officially ended on October 31, 2008.
After that, the search for new concepts for Tempelhof Airport began.
And the ideas were… let’s put it this way: creative.
Among the proposals were:
- a Formula 1 racetrack (honestly, hard to even imagine)
- a massive urban beach
- even something like a “second Hollywood”
What proved more realistic in the end was a mix of:
- parkland
- cultural use
- commercial space
- housing
The main building, in particular, was planned to host:
- media and creative companies
- museums
- cultural projects
One of the first concrete examples:
The fashion trade show Bread & Butter has been using large parts of the site regularly since 2009.
Tempelhofer Feld today: the largest inner-city open space in Germany
What many people don’t know:
Tempelhofer Feld Berlin is today
→ the largest inner-city open space in Germany.
The area is actually bigger than the country of Monaco. It's pretty crazy.
Since 2010, the site of Tempelhof Airport has been open to the public.
And that’s exactly what makes this place so special today.
You get:
- kilometers of former runways for cycling and skating
- huge open spaces with no development
- a sense of space you simply don’t expect in a city like Berlin anymore
This isn’t a park in the traditional sense.
It’s more like:
→ a massive open field right in the middle of the city
What you can do at Tempelhofer Feld today
Today, Tempelhofer Feld Berlin is one of the most versatile places in the city:
- Cycling on former runways
- Inline skating with no traffic lights or cars
- Flying kites when it’s windy
- Grilling with friends
- Urban gardening in community projects
- Events and large gatherings
- Walks with an unusually wide, open horizon (rare in Berlin)
There’s also one of the best mini golf spots in Berlin:
“nuture ART” – a mix of art, history, nature, and play. By the way, you can find exactly these kinds of insider tips on our blog, “Berlin Insider Tips”
And that’s exactly what draws people in.
Not just tourists – but mainly Berliners themselves.
Why this decision is still being debated today
The decision not to redevelop Tempelhof Airport, but to preserve it as an open space, was confirmed once again in 2014 – through another public referendum.
That was actually the first referendum I was able to take part in myself – at 20 years old, and honestly, I was proud to vote.
Many Berliners wanted exactly that:
→ no more housing blocks
→ no investor-driven projects
→ no further densification
But simply:
→ space
And that’s something that has become extremely rare in a city like Berlin.
And somehow, it still makes me a little proud to have played a small part in keeping this open space alive today.
How Tempelhof is perceived in Berlin today
Today, Tempelhofer Feld Berlin is, for many people:
- a symbol of freedom
- a place without pressure to consume
- a counterbalance to an increasingly dense city
At the same time, there is also criticism:
- too much unused space
- housing shortage vs. open space
- political tensions
And that’s exactly what makes this place so interesting.
Tempelhof is not just a park or a symbol of freedom.
It’s an ongoing conflict that still lives on today.
A first-hand perspective: Tempelhof during the Berlin Airlift
Marianne, 78 – born in 1948 in West Berlin at the beginning of the Berlin Airlift:
“I was born in West Berlin at the start of the Airlift. In the first years of my life, there was literally nothing. I no longer had a father, and my mother, as a single parent, had to borrow everything from our neighbors – from diapers to flour to blankets for the winter.
I wouldn’t know where we would have been at that time without our neighbors. Maybe that’s also why I later became a kindergarten teacher, out of a sense of compassion.
The atmosphere in the city was so heavy and uncertain, I still can’t fully describe it today.
Flughafen Tempelhof has a deep meaning for me. My mother told me so many stories.”
What many people don’t know: Even The Hunger Games: Mockingjay was filmed here
And honestly — if you walk across the old airfield or stand in front of Tempelhof’s massive facade today, parts of it already feel more like a movie set than a regular park.
So it’s no surprise that Hollywood ended up here.
Scenes from The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 were filmed at Flughafen Tempelhof, where the airport was used as part of District 2 in the film.
Rebel camp scenes, military sequences, concrete structures — and if you know the movie, you can actually recognize Tempelhof in several shots.
Conclusion: a place many people see – but hardly anyone understands
When you walk across Tempelhofer Feld Berlin today, you see:
people
leisure
freedom
What you don’t see:
- planes landing every 90 seconds
- a city fighting to survive
- a time when Berlin was completely divided
And that’s exactly the problem.
Berlin is full of places like this.
Places everyone knows – but hardly anyone understands.
And maybe that’s exactly the difference between:
→ seeing Berlin
and
→ understanding Berlin
If you want to truly start understanding this city, it’s not enough to just walk through it.
That’s exactly what this blog is for.
And that’s exactly what our guide is made for.
By the way, in this blog you’ll find a small selection of authentic walks across Berlin.
Berlin is not a tourist attraction. Berlin is a city.
See you in the real Berlin – or here in the next blog.
Take care 🖤
Sources: Book "Flughafen Tempelhof" by Carl-Ludwig Paeschke | Book "Der Flughafen berlin-Tempelhof" by Thomas Blau | Book "Tempelhof" by Helmut Trunz | Most images in this article are sample images and were not taken at the places featured.
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