Berlin turns old Tegel airport into shelter amid refugee housing shortage woes
The German capital is expanding a temporary refugee shelter at its former airport, Tegel, to accommodate 3,600 Ukrainians.
Berlin has been struggling to host civilians who have recently fled Russian attacks on vital infrastructure ahead of the upcoming cold winter months.
While two former terminals at Tegel Airport were already opened for Ukrainian refugees in the spring, Berlin's state government is now racing to outfit two big tents on the tarmac with heaters ahead of the winter.
It has also opened a third terminal for registration of further arrivals and put up 900 new beds, officials said Wednesday.
"With Russian President Putin targeting the country's heat and water infrastructure and the temperatures going down below zero soon, the numbers of refugees can skyrocket at any time," Katja Kipping, the Berlin state government's senator for social issues, said.
"We must be prepared," Kipping said as she toured newly opened registration facilities at terminal C, adding that most regular refugee and asylum shelters in Berlin and elsewhere in the country were already overcrowded.
Finding new space for more people looking for protection in Germany needed to become a top priority, she added.
Tegel, also known as Otto Lilienthal after the German aviation pioneer, was the German capital's main airport since 1948.
The opening of the Berlin Brandenburg Aiport in October 2020 saw a gradual transfer of operations to the new hub leading to Tegel's legal decommissioning in 2021.
Notable for its hexagonal design, Tegel — considered to be one of the city's landmarks — was supposed to be turned into a new neighbourhood branded as Urban Tech Republic.
But then, the war started in Ukraine.
Germany has taken in 1 million refugees from Ukraine
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