Berlining

"Emperor Wilhelm's Memorial Church (Berlin, Germany)" by Unknown - Original image: Photochrom print (color photo lithograph) Reproduction number: LC-DIG-ppmsca-00341 from Library of Congress

Wednesday was full conference day with my program.  We spent a lot of time in a conference room talking about individual experiences and giving feedback to the program.  The conference happened to be by the destroyed Kaiser Wilhelm I church, which is now the current Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.

The foyer to the old church is still preserved and has information of the history of the building.  The plaza surrounding the church has the new church, which has aspects that encircle the old memorial.

The new church has walls completely made of glass, which was very pretty:

After the conference and looking at the church, Sam, my friend Katie, and I met up with Will to go check out Tempelhofer airfield.  I'll tell this story in reverse:

     The Tempelhofer Feld is now a giant park for Berlin residents.  The old abandoned airstrips provide the perfect surface for roller-blading, kite-surfing with skateboards, bike-racing, barbecue, art, and general recreation. Like kite flying (please watch):

At one point the airfield became to small for modern air-travel and was going to be turned over for development.  But the people of Berlin fought and were able to make it a public space with only limited development.

For decades Tempelhofer was an important airport of Germany (First West Germany) for recreational travel. But is most famous for its role in the "Berlin Air Drop" or the "Berlin Air Bridge" which allowed the allied forces to fly supplies into Berlin after the USSR blockaded West Berlin.  During this time,a plane landed or took off from 1 of 3 Berlin airports around every 30 seconds (1000 per day) to supply the city with food and supplies.  At Tempelhof, 4,500 tons of supplies could be delivered in a day. It was an incredible feat of planning and timing to make the operation possible- Read about it!

--- Timeline Jump to Conception ---

The Tempelhofer airport was originally built but never completely finished by the Nazis.  It was supposed to be part of a much larger section of the city that would fit into the ideal architecture of their time.

The Tempelhofer airport was also the location of a Gestapo Prison / Labor Camp (the third one to be built at this time - 1933) and an SS Concentration camp- the only of which that was in Berlin.  The facility had existed during the Weimar republic but was closed due to disrepair; the rapid need for detention centers caused by political arrests in the first year of power caused the NS regime to re-open it.

From 1934-1936 it served primarily as a concentration camp, rather than just a political prison.  Its proximity to Berlin made it a particularly horrible place, as SS guards used opportunities to 'prove their loyalty' by inflicting harm on the prisoners.  In 1938 it was closed to make room for expansions to the airport.  No one associated with the Gestapo prison and SS concentration camp was ever prosecuted for their crimes against humanity.  Source: http://www.thf-berlin.de/