Sixty years ago, when the Soviets were tightening their grip on Berlin with a blockade of the city, the United States did something amazing - it flew as much as 5,000 tons of food into the city every single day for more than a year. It was a staggering operation that saw one C-47 or C-54 landing every 90 seconds at Berlin's Tempelhof Airport.
Even as Germans celebrate the anniversary of the Berlin Airlift this week, they're mourning the loss of Tempelhof. The airport that saved a city is to be closed, the victim to a basket-case city government and the expansion of Berlin's Schönefeld Airport. Many in Germany believe the airport is a testament to the strength of Berliners and the city's triumph over the Soviet Union and should be spared.
"It should remain open as a document," 89-year old Gabriele Leech-Anspach recently said of Tempelhof. The airlift, she said, helped keep her alive during the Soviet siege. "It's a reminder of history."
Many Berliners agree, and they fought valiantly to save the airport when city officials announced Tempelhof was to be closed.
A referendum on the airport's future was on the ballot this year, prompting passionate campaigning by those on both sides of the issue.
Those calling for closure argued the airport - one of the world's first commercial airfields - is a relic serving private planes and a handful of regional flights. The airport loses nearly $16 million a year, money the bankrupt city doesn't have to lose - especially when it's spending big money to renovate the sleek but soulless Schönefeld Airport.
Supporters of the airport, thousands of whom wore red JA! TEMPELHOF bracelets, played the nostalgia card, celebrating Tempelhof as the site of what many consider the first battle of the Cold War. They weren't all sentimentalists, though. Some of them argued that Tempelhof's central location makes it ideal for business travel, and its stunning terminal - architect Norman Foster called it "the mother of all airports" - shouldn't be shuttered.
The referendum passed, but it didn't matter. Not enough Berliners bothered to vote, so the results were invalidated. And so the airport will close in October, with no decision on what will become of it.
During a ceremony marking the anniversary of the Berlin Airlift during the Berlin Air Show this week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel recounted the historic event and thanked the United States "for helping the country during a difficult hour."
It is ironic that the ceremony took place at Schönefeld.
Photo of Berlin Airlift monument at Tempelhoff Airport by Flickr user medienfrech.
