Hangars at Former Berlin Airport to House 1,200 Refugees

Faced with an unprecedented number of refugee and migrant arrivals, Germany is turning two hangars at the former Berlin airport Tempelhof into a temporary shelter for some 1,200 asylum seekers, AFP reported on Monday.

The airport is a symbol of the architectural megalomania of Nazi Germany and the airlift of 1948-49 when Allied aircraft carried food and fuel supplies to West Berlin during the Soviet blockade of the western part of the city.

The former airport has been turned into a park five years ago.

Now, 72 tents have been set up in one of its hangars, with each tent to shelter 10 refugees.

Berlin and other Geman cities are rapidly running out of space to accommodate a record number of new arrivals, AFP said. Up to a million of migrants and refugees are expected to arrive in Germany this year.