ABOUT TEMPELHOFER FELD
Maintenance & Development
On Tempelhofer Feld, the sky, space and freedom seem boundless: since Tempelhofer Feld was opened to the public in 2010, Berlin has gained one of the largest urban open spaces in the world with international appeal. Where aeroplanes used to take off, there are now over 300 hectares of green leisure and recreation space for skating, strolling, gardening, picnicking, bird watching, kiteboarding and much more.
Tempelhofer Feld also offers an important shelter in the middle of the metropolis for rare animal inhabitants and protected plants.
The freedom and the unique history of the site inspire civic engagement: this is proven by the civil society projects in which residents and citizens of Berlin have successfully experimented with artistic, horticultural and social ideas and created a variety of offerings for the millions of annual visitors from Berlin and all over the world.
The commitment of the citizens continues to be in demand. The goals and contents of a cautious development of the field are being developed together with the population in a broad-based participatory process on the basis of the law for the preservation of the Tempelhofer Feld (ThFG) and the development and maintenance plan (EPP).
An urban open space with a multi-layered history
The history of Tempelhofer Feld is complex. Pioneers wrote aviation history here from 1883. In 1926, Deutsche Lufthansa was founded on Tempelhofer Feld, and the first airport building was completed in 1928.
From 1936-41, the National Socialists erected a gigantic new building in the shape of a quarter circle. At that time, the only concentration camp in Berlin was located on the airport grounds, where mainly political prisoners were imprisoned. Forced labourers who were used to build fighter planes were housed in the simplest barracks on the edge of the airfield.
During the Berlin Blockade in 1948/49, the Allies supplied the western part of the city with an airlift via Tempelhof Airport, making it an internationally known symbol of the defence of freedom as an airport of the US Air Force.
In 2008, airport operations at Tempelhof were discontinued, and in 2010 the former airfield was opened to the public for recreational and leisure use. Since 2015, an information path on the history of Tempelhof Field has documented sections of the eventful past.
In a referendum in 2014, the people of Berlin voted against building on the edges and in favour of preserving Tempelhofer Feld in its current state. As a result, the "Law for the Preservation of Tempelhofer Feld" (ThFG) came into force in June 2014, which defines the purpose of protection and the preservation goals.