With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

Magic Mountain for Berlin?

The city of Berlin has long been trying to decide what to do with the monumental Tempelhof airport, built in the heart of the city by the Nazis. Some of the most recent proposals include a 1,000 meter mountain and a gigantic red-light district.

"The mother of all airports" is how star architect Sir Norman Foster once described Berlin's Tempelhof airport. Visitors to the site might agree. Built by the Nazis as the entry point to Hitler's never realized Third Reich capital Germania, the impressive terminal stretches 1.2 kilometers around one end of the airfield.

Since the end of October, though, the airport has been closed to air traffic, and the city of Berlin has been scratching its head about what to do with the enormous field in the heart of the city.

Help, though, has arrived. On Monday, the city revealed a dozen of the suggestions -- sent in by hopeful architects and city planners -- currently under consideration. The most titillating? Why not turn the site into an enormous red-light district?
Read entire article at Spiegel Online