This former
airfield is the city’s most unique park. Here you can jog, cycle, skateboard or
ride on a Segway down the disused runway. This space is extraordinary, having
been transformed from a fully functioning airport into a 368-hectare public
park in 2008. The terminal building can be seen from every point in the park,
reminding visitors of its past life. The public have utilised the space in
various ways. Weekends are especially busy, the park being used for barbecues,
picnics, dog training, Frisbee and mini-golf. Locals are extremely protective
of the space, and have turned some of the land into charming communal gardens,
reiterating the pervading feeling of community spirit.
The park’s
name was the origin of some controversy due to its dark past. Tempelhof Airport
was one of the world’s first, located unusually in the centre of the city. Hitler
wanted to expand the airport as a symbol of Nazi dominance, and the resulting
1.2km long building became one of the largest in the world. Columbia-Haus, one
of the buildings on the site, was formerly a Gestapo prison. It later became
Berlin’s first concentration camp, a notorious place of terror where Nazis
experimented with torture techniques. Later during the war, prisoners worked
gruelling shifts building aircraft for Lufthansa.
The
repurposing of the airfield as a free public park seems oddly appropriate. The
landscape at Tempelhof is one of the most special in Berlin. The lush green
grass contrasts starkly with the vast stretches of grey tarmac, still marked with
bold, white painted lines. Winds gust violently over the huge expanse of flat,
open land. Unlike its leafy neighbour Treptower Park there are few trees here,
the unbroken view across the field only interrupted by the odd multi-coloured
kite. Cycling down the runway with the breeze behind you is perhaps the closest
feeling you will get to flying whilst remaining grounded.
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