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The airport used to deliver supplies to West Berliners during the Cold War will be transformed into a refugee shelter this week, Berlin state government announced on Sunday. 'Germany has reached its limit', says minister (13 Sep 15) Family who were face of crisis find home in Berlin (11 Sep 15) 4,000 soldiers on alert as 40,000 refugees expected (11 Sep 15)Refugees will begin moving into Berlin's disused Tempelhof Airport "in the next few days," Mayor of Berlin, Michael Müller, told broadcaster RBB.As the former airport winds down after last weekend's Lollapalooza festival, 800 refugees are set to move into one of the former hangars.A heated airdome will be erected inside the hangar, and portable toilets installed for last weekend's festival will remain in place for asylum seekers to use, Müller explained.Those staying at Tempelhof will also have access to sanitary facilities at the nearby Columbiabad swimming pool – with shuttle-buses provided to and from the pool.The eventual aim is to transform two of the former hangars into accommodation blocks, Berliner Morgenpost reports.A lifeline for Cold War West BerlinersBerlin's Tempelhof airport closed in 2008, after over 80 years of service.The airport's original terminal was built in 1927 and was reconstructed by the Nazis in the 1930s.At over 300,000m², the main terminal is one of the largest buildings in the world.During the Berlin Blockade in 1948 and 1949 Tempelhof played a key role in the Allied Forces' famed Berlin Airlift.The Airlift saw over 2.3 million tonnes of food and fuel delivered by plane into the western part of Berlin which had been blocked off from the rest of Germany by Soviet troops.Tempelhof continued in operation until 2008, when protests failed to stop the airport closing down.
