The Berlin Airlift at Tempelhof: an exhibition, a disappointment, a reminder
<p><strong>BERLIN</strong> — It’s not the first time I have bicycled to the former Tempelhof Airport, now a vast public park at “Platz der Luftbrücke,” literally <em>Air Bridge Square</em>. But this time I have not come here, to the top of a hill in the Kreuzberg neighborhood, to barbecue, exercise or walk a dog. Instead, I am here to visit a just-opened exhibition titled “Blocked Victors — Divided Berlin” that commemorates the 1948-49 Berlin Airlift, which provided a lifeline to a besieged West Berlin.</p>
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<p><strong>Four transport planes preparing to take off at Tempelhof airport, August 1948.</strong> Photo courtesy of the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum.</p>
<p>Exactly 75 years ago, during the early years of the Cold War, the Soviet Union blocked all land and water access to West Berlin, in an attempt to suffocate the western enclave in the city, which was surrounded by East Germany.</p>
<p><a href="https://medium.com/berlin-beyond-borders/tempelhofer-history-an-exhibition-a-disappointment-and-a-reminder-1b6f34bd1dae"><strong>Read More</strong></a></p>