Containers stand in the former Tempelhof airport.
© dpa
A new large-scale accommodation for refugees opened in Tempelhof on Thursday.
It offers 840 places in containers located in hangars 2 and 3 of the former airport. "There are now around 30,000 accommodation places in Berlin. There have never been so many in this city," said Franziska Giffey (SPD), the governing mayor, at the opening.
According to Giffey, Berlin has provided initial care for more than 360,000 Ukrainian war refugees this year, and experts estimate that up to 100,000 have remained in the city. In addition, around 100 people from other countries came seeking asylum every day, Giffey said. For this reason, Berlin has already created around 8,000 new places in accommodation this year.
On Friday, 200 already registered asylum seekers who were previously accommodated in the initial reception centre in Reinickendorf are to move into the hangars in Tempelhof. There are a total of 217 sleeping containers with 4 sleeping places each. The capacity of 868 places is not fully utilised, as the rooms are not to be occupied by a fourth person in the case of a family of three, for example.
Until shortly before the opening, it was not clear who would be the provider of the accommodation. The corresponding contracts had only been signed shortly before, on Thursday morning, said the acting president of the State Office for Refugees, Carina Harms. She too expressed satisfaction with the opening, partly because the accommodation had been approved and built within 16 days. "Berlin has made it clear here in an exemplary way what happens when everyone has the same goal and pulls together."