Tempelhof in danger
Posted: Sat Aug 07, 2004 3:17 amIt is undoubtedly Europe's most eccentric airport. It boasts its own transvestite revue show, a tank full of edible carp, and a history that few of its rivals can match.
But time finally seems to have caught up with Tempelhof, the lifeline to West Berlin during the airlift of 1948-49, but now scheduled for closure.
"It would be a catastrophe if they shut it," said Tempelhof's veteran tour guide, Klaus Eisermann, as he strolled the cavernous but largely deserted arrivals hall. "Berlin would lose a chunk of its history."
Mr Eisermann and his colleagues are fighting a rearguard action to try to prevent Tempelhof - the most imposing Nazi-era building left in Berlin - from closing in October.
The airport, in the centre of the German capital, played a crucial role in the cold war, when the allies used it to supply the city after Stalin closed all land routes to West Berlin. Back then an allied plane landed every 90 seconds. These days, only a handful of flights arrive each day.
But time finally seems to have caught up with Tempelhof, the lifeline to West Berlin during the airlift of 1948-49, but now scheduled for closure.
"It would be a catastrophe if they shut it," said Tempelhof's veteran tour guide, Klaus Eisermann, as he strolled the cavernous but largely deserted arrivals hall. "Berlin would lose a chunk of its history."
Mr Eisermann and his colleagues are fighting a rearguard action to try to prevent Tempelhof - the most imposing Nazi-era building left in Berlin - from closing in October.
The airport, in the centre of the German capital, played a crucial role in the cold war, when the allies used it to supply the city after Stalin closed all land routes to West Berlin. Back then an allied plane landed every 90 seconds. These days, only a handful of flights arrive each day.
