Tempelhof was built in the 1930'ies as part of Germany's - and Hitler's - plans to create a German empire, with Berlin as it's capital. The Tempelhof main building is shaped as an eagle in flight, with the departure hall as the eagle's body.
The Air Bridge Monument commemorates the event in 1948-49, when the Soviets closed all road and rail access to Berlin, and an air bridge or Luftbruecke was set up, with thousands of airplanes flying supplies into besieged Berlin. For 14 months, everything was flown into Berlin through Tempelhof Airport and kept the city alive. There is a similar monument at Frankfurt am Main which was the other end of the Air Bridge.
Unfortunately Tempelhof's time as an airport is coming to an end. The Berlin authorities have decided to close Tempelhof in favor of a new Berlin Brandenburg International Airport, and in a poll Berliners in neighboring Kreuzberg voted to close Tempelhof as well. All but a senior citizens home's inhabitants, who probably remember just how much Berlin owes to the lifeline that Tempelhof once was between Berlin and the free World.
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