Thursday, 14 August
Berlin’s largest refugee shelter to close by year’s end
Berlin’s largest refugee accommodation, a makeshift city of lightweight halls on the grounds of the former Tegel Airport, is set to empty by the end of the year. At its peak in 2022, the so-called “arrival centre” held 5,500 people, morphing from a temporary reception site into a semi-permanent home as plans for smaller, decentralised shelters stalled.
Today, around 2,000 remain, for the first time allowing enough space to dedicate an entire hall to women. “That’s been very positively received,” says DRK site manager Kleopatra Tümmler, who defends the shelter against its “worst in Germany” reputation: hot meals, medical care, and social services were always provided, she says – even if the surroundings were austere.
The centre cost the city more than €1 million per day to run, a figure now under investigation by the Berlin Court of Auditors. Much of the scrutiny focuses on the state-owned Messe Berlin, which managed the site and billed for security services with a 15% markup, which was later cut to 9%. Critics, including SPD deputy Jörg Stroedter, called it a waste of public funds; officials countered that the 2022 opening took place in “an acute emergency” as thousands arrived from Ukraine.
By December, the halls will be gone, replaced by a 2,600-bed container facility designed for short stays of 72 to 96 hours before registration and relocation. That, says LAF president Peer Junge, is what Tegel was meant to be in 2022. Whether it stays that way depends on what happens next: “If arrivals surge again, we may have to rethink.”
